open iOS iPad simulator with React Native

Question

When testing a React Native app with react-native run-ios it opens an iPhone simulator.

You can change the virtual device to an iPad in the Simulator options, but the React Native app does not appear in the list of installed apps.

Is there a way to open an iPad simulator from the CLI?

Answer 1

--simulator flag is what you are looking for

For example react-native run-ios --simulator 'iPad 2' will run the app on iPad 2 simulator.

As a side node, if you need to get list of available simulators with their names use xcrun simctl list devices

Answer 2

Get device list with this command

xcrun simctl list devices

Console

== Devices ==
-- iOS 13.5 --
    iPhone 6s (9981E5A5-48A8-4B48-B203-1C6E73243E83) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 8 (FC540A6C-F374-4113-9E71-1291790C8C4C) (Shutting Down) 
    iPhone 8 Plus (CAC37462-D873-4EBB-9D71-7C6D0C915C12) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 (347EFE28-9B41-4C1A-A4C3-D99B49300D8B) (Shutting Down) 
    iPhone 11 Pro (5AE964DC-201C-48C9-BFB5-4506E3A0018F) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 Pro Max (48EE985A-39A6-426C-88A4-AA1E4AFA0133) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone SE (2nd generation) (48B78183-AFD7-4832-A80E-AF70844222BA) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (2DEF27C4-6A18-4477-AC7F-FB31CCCB3960) (Shutdown) 
    iPad (7th generation) (36A4AF6B-1232-4BCB-B74F-226E025225E4) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (11-inch) (2nd generation) (79391BD7-0E55-44C8-B1F9-AF92A1D57274) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation) (ED90A31F-6B20-4A6B-9EE9-CF22C01E8793) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air (3rd generation) (41AD1CF7-CB0D-4F18-AB1E-6F8B6261AD33) (Shutdown) 
-- tvOS 13.4 --
    Apple TV 4K (51925935-97F4-4242-902F-041F34A66B82) (Shutdown) 
-- watchOS 6.2 --
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 40mm (7C50F2E9-A52B-4E0D-8B81-A811FE995502) (Shutdown) 
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 44mm (F7D8C256-DC9F-4FDC-8E65-63275C222B87) (Shutdown) 

Select Simulator string without ID here is example.

iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation)

Final command

iPhone

• iPhone 6s

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 6s"

• iPhone 8

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 8"

• iPhone 8 Plus

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 8 Plus"

• iPhone SE (2nd generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone SE (2nd generation)"

iPad

• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) 4th generation

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation)"

• iPad Air (3rd generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Air (3rd generation)"

• iPad (7th generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad (7th generation)"