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Set up your Mac for iOS development

The order to do things in: connect, Xcode, your Apple Account, GitHub, then your first build.

A first-time setup takes about an hour, most of it waiting for Xcode to download. Work through these in order:

  1. Connect. SSH for the terminal, Screen Sharing for the desktop.
  2. Install Xcode and the iOS simulator: Install Xcode and simulators.
  3. Add your Apple Account to Xcode so it can sign your apps: in Xcode choose Settings → Accounts, press + and sign in. Then select your team under Signing & Capabilities in your project.
  4. Install your tools: Homebrew, plus CocoaPods if your project uses it.
  5. Get your code: Use GitHub from your Mac, then git clone your repository.
  6. Build and run in the simulator, from Xcode on the desktop or from the terminal: Build and test from the command line.

Prefer editing on your own computer? VS Code Remote-SSH edits files on the Mac directly.

A real iPhone can’t be plugged into a Mac in our rack; see Testing on a real iPhone or iPad. Ready to release? Publish to TestFlight and the App Store.

Related

Install Xcode and simulatorsSign in with your own Apple Account, install Xcode, accept the licence, add simulators.Build and test from the command linexcodebuild and the simulator over SSH: list schemes, pick a simulator, build and run tests.Testing on a real iPhone or iPadDevices can’t be cabled to our Macs; use simulators here and TestFlight for real hardware.

Still stuck?

Signed-in customers can message us from the portal; we reply within 24 hours on business days (AEST).

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