Install iOS 6 simulator on Xcode 6

Question

My company still supports iOS 6 apps, but after installing the new Xcode(6) I only see iOS 7 & 8 simulators. Is there a way I can install iOS 6 simulator for Xcode 6?

Answer 1

iOS 6 is unavailable in Xcode 6. You will have to use Xcode 5 and run the simulator in Xcode 5. You are able to download older versions of Xcode at Apple's Developer Website. Click the looking for an older version of Xcode? link.

([Xcode] -> [Open Developer Tools] -> [iOS Simulator]).

Answer 2

You can install Xcode 5.1 side by side with Xcode 6 and run the iOS 6 simulator in Xcode 5.1 (install Xcode 5.1 in a suitably named subdirectory of Applications) - on Mavericks (not Yosemite).

You can also copy apps compiled by Xcode 6 into the Xcode 5 iOS 6 emulator and test them there.

There are two points to note - the directory path of an app in Xcode 6 is not easily predetermined - ensure the emulator app compiled by Xcode 6 is i386 and not 64 bit

To get around the former - get your app to announce it's location:

NSLog(@"%@", [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath]);

If you ask Xcode 6 to build for iPhone 4s/7.1 emulator you will get an i386 executable which you can move to the iOS 6 emulator.

Answer 3

What you can do is the following...

1. Download the older version of Xcode that came with an older SDK.
2. Install the SDK required.
3. At this point, the SDK will install into /Developer/.... location. Copy the installed SDK into /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/SDKs/

This worked for me as I was able to go all the way till SDK 5.1.

However, once you start using Xcode 6, the storyboard would have been upgraded. I cannot guarantee backward compatibility of Storyboard.