Run iOS Simulator Without Launching Xcode By Using an Alias
Apple recently simplified the way Xcode is installed, bundling everything into a single /Applications/Xcode.app/ directory and removing the /Developer directory that used to exist. There are some advantages to this approach, but one of the annoyances is that you now have to launch the iPhone or iPad simulator by opening Xcode first. Well, that’s not entirely true, you can actually still directly launch iOS Simulator without opening Xcode first by creating an alias.
Create an alias to iOS Simulator by doing the following
- From the Finder, hit Command+Shift+G and paste in the following path:
- Select “iOS Simulator.app” and either drag it into the Dock, Launchpad, or hit Command+L to create an alias
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/
Alternatively, you can click here to grab a pre-made alias in a zip bundle that will open iOS Simulator automatically. Throw that on the desktop or in the Dock for easy access.
This applies to Xcode 4.3 and later. Previous versions stored the iPhone/iOS simulator elsewhere.
Great tip idea from @aral on Twitter, join 25,000 other fans and follow @osxdaily there too.
Or you can launch it once via XCode and simply add it to your dock via a right click. That’s what I’ve been doing since I started coding iOS apps.
Alternatively, you can also hit cmd + space, and search for it in Spotlight.