this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Of course. Apple already has had emulators for iOS for years, it's how most devs do mobile development. I use an iPhone and iPad emulator at work to occasionally run our app to test it, it's way nicer than running on an actual iPhone or iPad (I don't have either anyway).
What emulator do you use? Does it run on Linux?
Apple provides an iPhone emulator as part of their official SDK. Free to download, but only runs on Mac.
No they don’t.
Would it run on my macOS 11 VM?
Probably. Go to developer.apple.com. You want to download Xcode and install the iOS SDK through XCode. You may need to make (free tier) Apple Developer Account before it lets you download.
Note that you can’t install apps from the iOS App Store on the iOS simulator; only a handful of system apps and anything you build for the simulator yourself.
Can't install any apps from the store on the macOS VM either, lol
They are referring to the iPhone simulator that’s part of Xcode and is exclusively available on Macs.
😑
AFAIK Apple does not release an iPhone emulator to the public. There is one third party emulator I’m aware of but that’s mainly intended for security research and not general development.
Hard disagree.
Xcode has a simulator that can run any model of iPhone or iPad. Works exactly like a real device.
Yup, that's exactly what I'm talking about. I think it's a real emulator given how crappy it runs, but I could be wrong.
Yes, that’s what I mean. It’s a simulator, not an emulator. It does not work exactly like a real device. For simple stuff, sure, but if you dive below the surface even a little it’s very different.
One example is anything to do with the GPU / Metal. It has a very different set of capabilities and limitations than actual iOS hardware.
Oh, I haven't needed to touch that yet. Good to know for the future!
If you want to test something performance sensitive, it sucks. But for regular edit/reload dev cycle, I much prefer it.
Also for anything UI related. You want to test how it actually feels to use, e.g. if you can reach the UI elements with one hand. Using it with a mouse on a monitor just doesn’t give you a good sense of that. Especially if your UI involves gestures.