Xcode: "This app could not be installed at this time."

Question

Working with my first application for learning purposes. It goes well but has met into a problem with Xcode. When I try to run the application on the iPhone simulator this message always pops up "This app could not be installed at this time."

What is wrong? There are no errors when trying to build the app. Has tried to clean the build. Reinstall pods. Restarted Xcode. Erased all settings on the simulator device, however, the problems still exist.

The error message does not give me any information. Is there another logfile I could look into or something?

Solution 1

I managed to find the problem. The problem was that I had added some keys to a property list file that was not valid. I found the error by looking in the log file that was located here: ~/Library/Logs/CoreSimulator/

Solution 2

Reset the simulator:

Hardware -> Erase All content and settings...

Clean your project:

shift+cmd+K

shift+opt+cmd+K

This should fix your issue

Solution 3

I know the question has been answered but for others encountering the same issue I suggest following:

• Check simulator logs, if its printing something useful. First, selecte simulator then from menu option open Debug -> Open System Logs.

• Make sure only 1 simulator is running.

• Delete the older version of app from the simulator.

• If you importing a custom framework, make sure custom framework->bundle-id is not same as currentAppProject->bundle-id. If you are not sure then simply change the bundle-id of current project.

• Also some of the simulators can be buggy -> Simply change the simulator, it may resolve the issue, for me changing the simulator worked.

Solution 4

I resolved this issue to remove DerivedData from Xcode Preferences. and also Restart the simulator from Hardware.

Solution 5

rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/

View more solutions

Comments

[John]

Solved my problem which was due to localisation having stalled part way through leaving an Info.plist in the wrong place.

[Matthew Crenshaw]

Deleting the old version of the app from the sim fixed it for me.

[Emy]

For me the problem arise again. Actually, I was creating Umbrella framework and my both frameworks had same Bundle-Identifiers, changing the bundle id permanently fixed my issue.

[blueberry_chopsticks]

FWIW: I only had to clean the project for the app to install again.

[todd412]

Thanks, this was really helpful. Perhaps instead of giving us this useless and frustrating error message, Apple could suggest checking the simulator logs, even if it's left to the developer to identify the exact error.

[ArpitM]

My log had the underlying error that I had a bad key in Info.plist. THANK YOU!

[quangkid]

In my case, I don't know how they different but the Objective-C project run OK, but Swift doesn't

[Muhammad Umair]

In my case "custom framework->bundle-id" was same to the target project.

[Almas Adilbek]

The file named: CoreSimulator.log in ~/Library/Logs/CoreSimulator/ directory.

[ArpitM]

Ran into this problem again. The simulator log in the Simulator app wasn't reporting any problems. Simulator -> Debug -> Open System Log.... Only going to CoreSimulator.log with tail -f ~/Library/Logs/CoreSimulator/CoreSimulator.log reported the problem.

[sdsykes]

If you try to use a symlink to a framework you can get this error.

[Ethan]

Once the app is installed it will not allow me to reinstall - so this doesn't work for me.

[Ethan]

Fixed it for me. How annoying.

[raed]

@Ethan totally agree! Happy that I helped

[Jayprakash Dubey]

@Ethan : Why so?

[Ethan]

To be clear i didn’t down vote. But this didn’t work for me. What ended up working was resetting the device and cleaning the build and the project

[Pramod More]

Can you please explain your answer.

[marcomoreira92]

Thanks for the tip. I had this issue after I changed the bundle id but for some reason inside the WKAppBundleIdentifier of the Apple Watch app and the Apple Watch extension the ID was not correct

[MikeG]

i had a similar situation, deleting derived data worked for me as well

[Reece]

I think this is to do with Xcode caches; My error dialog message (the topic of this SO thread) included the details that something in a /caches/ folder could not be found; I recognized the command above from a while back (not sure if it was to solve the same problem) and ran it; fixed the problem for me; a useful command to keep in your xcode toolbox for sure.

[sleighty]

FWIW: I only had to reset the simulator for the app to install again :P

[Robbie]

what does "erase all contents and settings" mean...?

[Yvan]

@Robbie Simulator -> Hardware -> Erase all content and settings...

[Yucel Bayram]

This answer is not wrong, one of the solutions of this issue. I also use it.