What does the Xcode 4.2 preference "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices" do?

Question

In Xcode 4.2, there is a new preference under the General tab called "iOS Device Discovery" with the checkbox option "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices."

What does this option do? Once checked, how can we use this new capability?

Answer 1

1. Plug your device into your machine.
2. Go to iTunes -> device -> Summary page and check the "Sync with this XXXX over Wi-Fi" option
3. In XCode, XCode menu -> Preferences -> General check the "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices"
4. Unplug your Device
5. On the device, go to Settings -> General -> iTunes Wi-Fi Sync and click "Sync Now"
6. In XCode, to go to Organizer -> Devices and cross your fingers.

Step 5 is what did it for me. I've been struggling for days unable to get my devices to appear, but when I wirelessly synced them from the device itself, the little wirelessly connected symbol popped up in the Organizer in XCode. Hopefully it will work you too.

Edit: The device has to awake for XCode to see it. When my device sleeps, it vanishes off the Organizer

Edit: This feature allows you to do all actions you could do on a device plug into your machine via a USB cable... only now without the cable. I've found this very useful to build to local testers with almost no effort on their part, run instruments like Leaks or Zombies to help track down pesky issues while your test is still comfortable sitting at their desk (instead of tethered to your machine).

Edit: This feature is no longer available as of Xcode 4.3.1 It will re-appear later when it has less issues (they are estimating in version 4.4).

2/2012 - This feature is still gone as of Xcode 4.6. There is currently no sign of it returning in near future, if ever.

10/2013 - Xcode 5.0 is here and there is still no sign the feature will return. We can pretty much assume it's dead for the foreseeable future at this point.

9/2014 - I have a report that wifi device capability does exist in Xcode 6.0. The hypothesis is having a device which is set up to wirelessly sync with iTunes. I have started testing, but so far have been unable to get positive results. Thanks to Steven Kramer for raising this possibility and the image.

Answer 2

In some future Xcode release, the "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices" option will allow you to debug your apps on your devices without connecting them to a USB port of your development Mac. I find this feature isn't ready for production use yet, but you may have better luck with it. Here is what you need to do to set it up:

1. Connect your device using USB, start iTunes, check "Sync with this iPod/iPhone/iPad over Wi-Fi" under its entry in Devices.

2. Start Xcode. Open the Devices tab of the Organizer window, and verify that your device has a green dot beside its name.

3. Disconnect your device from your Mac; verify that iTunes still sees it and can sync with it wirelessly.

4. Check "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices" under Xcode's Preferences. Wait a few seconds.

5. Your device should now have a green Wi-Fi symbol beside it. If not, toggle the "Support Wirelessly Connected Devices" checkbox off/on or restart Xcode, iTunes, and/or your device until it does.

6. You should now be able to select the device in the Scheme pop-up menu. Try selecting it and start debugging your app wirelessly. Good luck!

In my case, Xcode is able to install new development builds on the device, but it is not yet able to reliably run & debug it. Both LLDB and GDB have lots of trouble connecting to the device. Sometimes they do succeed, but it's not reliable enough for convenient development.