Where does the compiled .ipa reside when I compile and deploy the app for the iOS simulator from Xcode?

Question

I'd like to be able to pass around the version of my iphone application that was compiled for the simulator. The idea here is to be able to give copies of the app to different vms where they would deploy the app to the iOS simulator and run some tests.

But after I compile the app for the iOS simulator, I can't find the darn *.ipa. Does anyone know where it resides?

Answer 1

There’s no .ipa—Xcode copies the .app bundle by itself into the simulator. You can check:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/YourProject-<some garbage>/Build/Products/Debug-iphonesimulator/

(swap Debug for Release if you’re looking to distribute a release build, obviously), or, alternately, get the version that’s actually installed in the simulator from:

~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/<OS version>/Applications/<some UUID>/. 

You can copy that app bundle into another simulator by creating an arbitrarily-named folder in the above Applications directory and placing the .app inside it.

Answer 2

You can see where it is putting your build products by looking on:

Xcode Menu-> Preferences-> Locations

Or if you have project Specific settings they will be found by looking on

Xcode Menu-> File-> Project Settings

I think it builds the ipas from the products in those locations and loads them into the simulator. So you might not find an actual .ipa there you find .app in these locations.

If you want an ipa. Do an Archive build. Do an Ad Hoc distribution and save the resulting .ipa to your desktop.