iPhone Simulator location

Question

Where on my machine is the iPhone simulator installed?

I'm been trying to find where a test application I run in the simulator is stored.

Solution 1

Simulator: ~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/

You can browse simulator files from that directory in Mac OS X.

Solution 2

Update for Xcode 4.4: While the iPhone simulator is still in the same place, Apple has included a shortcut to the iPhone Simulator at:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Applications

Changes since Xcode 4.3.1

Please note that the new version of Xcode is now available on the Mac App Store. Hence all the stuff that used to come with an installer is now packaged into Xcode.app.

Therefore the iOS Simulator binary is located here:

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/

The Apps installed in the simulator along with other configuration files are still here:

~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/

Here is an extract from the current release notes of Xcode 4.3.1

What's new in Xcode 4.3.1

Xcode is now distributed as an application, rather than as an installer. This change enables Xcode to be updated directly from the Mac App Store.

Solution 3

As of Xcode 6 and iOS 8 you’ll find it here:

~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/{cryptic number}/data/Containers/Data/Application/{cryptic number}/

or you can get it from below code execution:

 NSLog(@"Documents Directory: %@", [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject]);

Solution 4

Xcode 6 -> /Users/{YOUR NAME}/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/{DEVICE ID}/data/Containers/Data/Application/{APPLICATION ID}/

Or print it out in Xcode console

#if TARGET_IPHONE_SIMULATOR
    NSLog(@"Documents Directory: %@", [[[NSFileManager defaultManager] URLsForDirectory:NSDocumentDirectory inDomains:NSUserDomainMask] lastObject]);
#endif

Solution 5

The actual Simulator application itself is located at /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone Simulator

View more solutions

Comments

[Sophie Alpert]

That's not the location of the simulator, but the data files, which seems to be the OP's intent.

[Pablo Santa Cruz]

Yes. The directory I posted is what he/she is looking for. He/She'll find the test application he/she ran somewhere in that folder.

[progrmr]

You can use ~ in the path instead of /Users/INSERT_YOUR_USER_HERE, so it becomes: ~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/

[Besi]

I took the liberty of adjusting the path with ~ like progrmr suggested.

[abernier]

Answer is outdated, for me (xcode 4.3.3) it was in Xcode's package contents (then in Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Appli‌​cations/iPhone Simulator.app) as stackoverflow.com/questions/1567798/… mentioned

[Tony Gibbs]

for copy paste into terminal: cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/iPhone\ Simulator/

[Rob]

Here's where the Simulator.app is in Xcode 5.1.1: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneS‌​imulator.platform/De‌​veloper/Applications‌​/iPhone\ Simulator.app

[Deprecated Darren]

for xcode 5.1 was where mine is /Users/[USERNAME]/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/7.1/Applications/

[Josh Buhler]

Just to clarify, it'll be in your user Library folder, so the path would be ~/Library/Developer/<rest of the path>

[Awesome-o]

Are you sure this is for the iOS Simulator or the data that's stored by apps running in the simulator?

[Peter Stajger]

this answer is outdated and should be removed or unchecked