How to use iOS Simulator 7 \ XCode 5 to test pre-iOS 7 UI (without upgrading the app for iOS 7)

Question

Compiling my app on XCode 4.6.3 and running it on iOS 7 works great.

Compiling my app on XCode 5 and running it on iOS 7 results a big UI mess I don't want to handle right now. (iOS 7 pickers, tabbars, tableviews etc')

Goal:

I want to be able to use XCode 5 and test my app on the iOS 7 simulator but still use the iOS 6 and lower UI and feel.

Reason:

I don't want to redesign my app to iOS 7 but I do want to make sure it runs fine on iOS 7 using XCode 5 iOS 7 simulator.

Is there a quick toggle on XCode 5 to force everything to stay the same?

Is doing something like using iOS 6 Base SDK in XCode 5 acceptable or a bit too much hacky?

Edit:

Using iOS 6 SDK doesn't help. You'll still get the iOS 7 look on your app, just more buggy.

Answer 1

This is the scenario:

• Your app works fine on iOS 6 and lower
• You want to test your app on iOS 7
• If you have iOS 7 on your device you'll need XCode 5 in order to test it on it
• If you want to test it on the iOS 7 simulator you'll need to install XCode 5 for it
• Compiling your working app on XCode 5 will break all hell loose and will force you to redesign your app at least for iOS 7
• The solutions suggested here so far will help you to see how your app will look like on iOS 7 but will not keep your iOS 6 and lower look on iOS 7.

Best solution I've found so far:

1. Update your current XCode to XCode 5
2. Download XCode 4.6.3 from here
3. Install it in a different location and Change the name of the app to XCode4 in order to differentiate between the two.
4. Find your XCode 5 app icon, right click it and select "Show Package Contents"
5. Locate the folder MacOS and move the xcode file outside of its folder. Those last two steps are to prevent you accidentally opening a project with XCode 5. An alternative is to change the default "Open With" app but for some reason that didn't work for me plus I wanted to be extra sure after I had one project opening with XCode 5 and the StoryBoard changed to be compatible to XCode 5 only. *
6. Open XCode 4.6.3 and run your project. In your simulator menu you should now See iOS 7. Even if in XCode top bar you'll see AppName->iPhone 6.1 Simulator , selecting iOS 7 on the simulator will run your app in iOS 7 and keep everything the same.

After the above you'll have two versions of iOS simulator. Version 6 and version 7 that contains iOS 7 Simulator.

Step 5: