Background on problem:
I have an iPhone 6s that has updated itself to iOS 13.4. Before the iOS update, I could code + run my app on the device from Xcode, great.
Now I can't run my app from Xcode on the device to test my code, as it says:
Xcode could not locate device support files
This iPhone 6s is running iOS 13.4 (17E255), which may not be supported by this version of Xcode. An updated version of Xcode may be found on the App Store or at developer.apple.com.
So I tried installing the latest Xcode (11.4) which now says I have to update my whole OS to Catalina.
I don't want to do this as my system is working fine and I have heard bad things about that release.
Question:
Is there a way I can get Xcode building to my iPhone without updating my whole OS and potentially screwing up my whole machine?
You cannot run Xcode 11.4 on Mojave but you can add support for iOS 13.4
Download the 13.4 image from this repo
Quit Xcode
Unzip the archive and move the folder into /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport
Launch Xcode
Consider that this way adds only the support for iOS 13.4, nothing else.
Update: This does not work with iOS 14 because iOS 14 requires Xcode 12.
Here's an alternative solution that doesn't require downloading files from an untrusted source:
Install the latest release of Xcode that runs on Mojave (currently Xcode 11.3.1). It can be downloaded from Apple's developer pages.
From the same page, download a release of Xcode that supports iOS 13.4 (for example Xcode 11.4.1). Unzip it, rename it to "Xcode-11.4.1.app" and move it to the Applications folder, but don't run it.
Add a symbolic link for iOS 13.4 from the DeviceSupport folder in Xcode 11.4.1 to Xcode 11.3.1, as described in Peter Steinberger's Gist.
If you use the versions used in this answer, the command to add the symbolic link would be
sudo ln -s /Applications/Xcode-11.4.1.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport/13.4 /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport
You can run Xcode 11.4 - 11.7 on your Mac which is running 10.14.
Download Xcode 11.4 ~ 11.7 from https://developer.apple.com/download/
Extract the .xip file, and you will get Xcode.app
Modify LSMinimumSystemVersion in Xcode.app/Contents/Info.plist from 10.15.x to 10.14
Now you can use Xcode 11.4 ~ 11.7 without upgrading to Catalina.
However, this trick doesn't work for Xcode 12, which requires some frameworks that do not exists in macOS Mojave.
My Apple TV 4K was running tvOS 13.3 and I upgraded to 13.4 which required that I use this technique to keep working with Xcode 11.3.1.
What is odd is that in the DeviceSupport folder, Xcode 11.3.1 only ships with tvOS up to 13.2. So how did it ever work with a hardware device running 13.3? I guess 13.2 and 13.3 are close enough that 13.2 still works.
13.4 does not work out of the box, so I copied both 13.3 and 13.4 from the Xcode 11.4.1 app into my 11.3.1 app. All is well again.
You can run Xcode 11.4 - 11.7 on your Mac which is running 10.14.
Download Xcode 11.4 ~ 11.7 from https://developer.apple.com/download/
Extract the .xip file, and you will get Xcode.app
Modify LSMinimumSystemVersion in Xcode.app/Contents/Info.plist from 10.15.x to 10.14.6
Now you can use Xcode 11.4 ~ 11.7 without upgrading to Catalina.
However, this trick doesn't work for Xcode 12.
I tried this trick on my mac mojave 10.4.6
Related
I'm using Mac 10.15 with Xcode 12.4 and my IOS is 15. I dont want to update my catalina os at all. Could i just download the IOS 15 folder and install it to my xcode?
You don't need to update your Mac with Catalina OS. You simply add device support files for iOS 15 into Xcode.
download device support file from this link
I upgraded to Xcode 11.3 and Catalina 10.15.2 recently. The release note stated
Xcode 11.3 includes SDKs for iOS 13.3
However, the iOS 13.3 deployment target, as well as the simulator, doesn't exist.
Edit:
The iOS 13.3 deployment target doesn't exist.
Is it a bug? Or a problem of my installation? Is there a workaround?
Edit: A Link to the apple developer forum Xcode 11.3: can't select deployment target 13.3 https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/126948
Additional screenshot:
I think you're right (even though I didn't believe it at first). When you look inside Xcode, the only SDK is iOS 13.2.
They didn't include the iOS 13.3 SDK even though the release notes claim that they did.
If you are on Catalina download Xcode Beta11.4, it supports 13.3.1
If you are on Mojave you will not be able to install Xcode Beta11.4 but there's still a way.
You can extract the DeviceSupport + SDK files from Beta11.4 copy them in Xcode 11.3
Do not forget the SDK files, without it it didn't work for me.
-M
I have installed Xcode 11 GM and can't find iOS 12.4.1 simulator anymore. iOS 12.4.1 was installed in Xcode 10.3, but it is not available in Xcode 11 for some reason (not only iOS 12.4 - other simulators are also missing). Moreover, I can't download it via "Add Additional Simulators..." - the latest one available is 12.2. Any ideas why so and how to fix? 🤔
Thanks!
iOS 12.4 simulator files can be found in the Xcode 10.3 app bundle. While you can't download it from within Xcode (at the moment), you can simply copy them to the folder where additional simulators are usually installed. Go to the following subfolder, it is located inside Xcode.app (10.3):
Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes
and copy the iOS.simruntime package to here:
/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Profiles/Runtimes
Rename iOS.simruntime to iOS 12.4.simruntime.
Restart Xcode 11.
The 12.4 simulator is now available (in Xcode 11.1 at least):
Apparently, with the latest IOS update, my version of Xcode could not build due to the following error.
Could not locate device support files. This iPhone 7 Plus (Model 1661, 1784, 1785, 1786) is running iOS 11.3 (15E216), which may not be supported by this version of Xcode.
Tried to install Xcode 9.3 via this link https://developer.apple.com/download/more/. But as it turns out, my Mac OS version sees the update as an incompatible version. Running on Sierra 10.12.6
Another option is to download the 11.3 device support at:
iOS 11.3 (15E217)
And don't forget to remove "(15E217)" from folder name, so it became "11.3". Restart Xcode afterwards.
Where to paste it according to comment of EdwardM
For those that don't know where to paste the contents of the zipped file. Find your Applications icon in the dock, right-click, "Open Applications". The folder will open in Finder. Right-click Xcode > Show Package Contents. Then go to Developer > Platforms > iPhoneOS.platform > DeviceSupport
I have the same problem, OS Sierra trying to run iPhone SE with 10.3 using Xcode 9.2 and I don't have the resources to update to High Sierra and Xcode 9.3.
Solution:
Find your friends who have Xcode 9.3
Ask them to right click on Xcode, Show Package Contents then navigate to Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport/11.3 (15E217)
Copy the 11.3 (15E217) folder to your old Xcode (9.2) with the same file hierarchy
Now you have Xcode 9.2 with iOS 11.3.
I just give you a device support file for iOS 11.4 (15F79).
which just on XCode version 9.4 (9F1027a)
Updated on 5 Oct 2018:
Xcode 10.0 (10A255) - iOS 12.0 (16A366) [Updated 21 Sep: #Nik
Burns confirmed that works]
Xcode 10.1 beta 2 (10O35n) - iOS 12.1 (16B5068g) [Please give me feedback if that works]
I have macOS 10.12.6
You can download Xcode 9.3 from https://developer.apple.com/download/
and extract the "11.3 (15E217)" folder from it
The fix really works.
please add both of "11.3 (15E216)" and "11.3 (15E217)"
keep all of them inside /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform
I recently stumbled upon the same problem, where I basically updated my iPhone X to the newest OS version, and (for reasons I will not go into) had to run the app on Xcode 9.2.
This thread was helpful, but there's one small caveat that even though I downloaded the newest support files from the provided Github project, and put them in the appropriate folder, I was still getting this error:
Say for example you’ve downloaded 11.4 (15F79) but after restarting and running again you get an error mentioning something like 11.4.1 (15G77).
The solution, as I wrote here, was to just rename the folder (so, rename 11.4 (15F79) to 11.4.1 (15G77)), restart Xcode and voila, it works!
Hope this helps someone 👍
I have macOS 10.13.4
I downloaded Xcode 9.3
Here you have the "11.3 (15E217)" it's work fine.
Quicker/Smaller Fix
This is probably due to outdated Xcode, if you don't want a big Xcode update due to limited storage/time then you can manually download the required support files instead of the whole update.
Download the files (depend on iOS veersion) from here
And then paste the downloaded files in below directory /Applications/Xcode/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport
I have a MacBook with El Capitan installed on it. I cannot upgrade to sierra! Because of that, I cannot install XCode 8.3.
Now I need to test an App with iOS 10.3 but I cannot build it with XCode 8.2.1 for iOS 10.3. I have an pyhsical device with iOS 10.3 but XCode wont let me run it on that device.
What to do now?
Doing so is still possible with this simple workaround:
Download the latest Xcode
Right click on the downloaded Xcode.app, select Show Package Contents. Navigate to Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport subfolder
Move the 10.3 folder to the identical location in your local Xcode 8.2.1 installation
Don't get disappointed. There is one way.
If you have access any of the mac that is running the latest xcode and up to date simulators, then navigate to this directory copy the simulators you need and past it on the same directory in your OSX.
You can then be able to run the app on the latest simulator and the updated physical device!
/Applications/Xcode8.3.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform
Unfortunately, you're out of luck. As this answer specifies, iOS 10.3 requires Xcode 8.3 or greater, which in turn requires macOS Sierra.