iOS 9 Simulator in Xcode 10.3 missing

Question

I am unable to download and install a iOS 9 simulator in current Xcode.

This is driving me nuts.

The Release notes for Xcode 10.3 say that it supports on-device debugging for iOS 8 and later (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes/xcode_10_3_release_notes/). So I suppose that should include iOS 9 simulators?

but it's not available to download for me:

What I tried:

Upgrading macOS to the most recent version (10.14.6)
Rebooting
Downloading an older Simulator image and copying it to Xcode, so that might pick it up (https://gist.github.com/NicholasTD07/3ffbaee9973ae06b5a12)
Downloading Xcode 7 and copying the SDK and Simulator SDK into my current Xcode (https://stackoverflow.com/a/13061104/4202492)
Also copying the simruntime folder (https://stackoverflow.com/a/26530576/4202492)

I think, simulators for iOS 9.3 and earlier were removed because of issue noted in XCode 10.2.1 Release Notes: `Simulators for iOS 9.3 and earlier might fail to launch Swift apps with the message: “dyld: Library not loaded: /usr/lib/libauto.dylib”. (49326587)` - see https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode_release_notes/xcode_10_2_1_release_notes — Alexander Ushakov, Jul 31 '19 at 16:18
yea, i've seen that note as well. it made me think that they still support iOS 9 simulators, as that was just the prior release and there was no deprecation warning in the 10.3 release notes. — Marco, Jul 31 '19 at 16:42
Unfortunately, Apple has long history of silent removing simulators so I’m not surprised — Alexander Ushakov, Jul 31 '19 at 17:01

Marco · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-01T07:58:41.510

10

Apple seems to have a history of removing simulators without announcing it.

Anyway, the solution was quite simple:

Download Xcode 10.2.1 and start it
Download and install the iOS 9 simulator in preferences
Quit and remove Xcode 10.2.1
Start Xcode 10.3 and use iOS 9 simulator

edited Aug 01 '19 at 07:58

answered Jul 31 '19 at 17:18

Marco

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I wouldn't call downloading a 10gb install for an hour just to be able to download the simulator a "simple solution".. it would be great if you or someone could explain how to do this without downloading an older Xcode as part of the solution – vesperknight Aug 21 '19 at 08:13
1

It does the job. Can hardly blame the poster for Apple removing stuff. With no better alternatives, I think @Marco could accept his own answer. – Sep 11 '19 at 12:23
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I was stuck with Xcode11, not being able to test iOS 9.3 & this worked, thanks! When I tried to add a simulator (iPhone 4s) with the just downloaded iOS 9.3 I got "The operation couldn't be completed. Invalid argument.", in both Xcode 10.2.1 & Xcode 11. I did: `sudo killall -9 com.apple.CoreSimulator.CoreSimulatorService` & that fixed the error. I managed to install the sim & it appears in Xcode 11 now :) But when I run my app it says it's not optimized & it may stop working in future versions of macOS. I think it must be talking about the sim, not my app. It may not work in Catalina... – endavid Oct 11 '19 at 22:42
Following these steps I get the error: `The iOS 9.3 simulator runtime is not supported on Mac OS X 10.15.7` – mu3 Oct 27 '20 at 17:28

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 31 '21 at 16:26

The Simulator for iOS 9.3 requires a 32-bit environment, so this only works up to macOS 10.14 (Mojave). It das not work for 10.15 and above! One solution on the Intel based Macs is:

install and run a Mojave VM
install Xcode 10.2.1
install under Windows/Devices and Simulators iPhone4S and select iOS 9.3
update to Xcode 10.3

iOS 9 Simulator in Xcode 10.3 missing

2 Answers2