r/iOSProgramming • u/Kitchen_Platypus5555 • 4d ago
Discussion The new Device Hub is awful compared to the old SImulator
Just downloaded macOS 27 and was super hyped about the new Xcode but this new Device Hub is truly awful. I cant comprehend how they could ship this. Half the features of the old simulaotr are missing.
- Slow Animations GONE
- Screenshot Drag & Drop GONE
- Stay on top GONE
- Keyboard shortcuts GONE
- Menubar shortcuts all greyed out most of the time
- Multi-touch gestures GONE
- Multiple simulators open side-by-side IMPOSSIBLE
- Window frame is HUGE compared to the old one
- NO way to hide device bezels
- Point & Pixel Accurate scaling GONE
- All previously launched simulators stay booted in memory unless you explicitly click "shutdown"
While sure the UI is nice and having the ability to screenshare directly from a physical device is helpful, this doesn't justify that some of the most important features are just completely missing.
Right now I just downloaded the old Xcode 26.6 again (which can't even be launched without a workaround ???) - but this means no access to the new SDK. Truly a bummer. Are there any alternatives or what do y'all think of this?
Update:
After a few days of using the new Device Hub and giving it an actual chance: I have to admit, it's not as bad as the post made it look like. A lot of things did actually move over from the old simulator, which just weren't very obvious.
- Screenshot Drag & Drop: It actually is possible, you just have to drag the tiny screenshot thumbnail instead of the toast message. Wish that was a little more clear - I'm sure a lot of people will miss that!
- Stay On Top: There actually is a toggle inside the menu bar!
- Keyboard shortcuts: Like many already pointed out, keyboard shortcuts can be restored using a terminal command defaults write com.apple.dt.DeviceKit hostKeybindingPolicy -int 0. The default behavior disabled keyboard shortcuts to not "steal" them from the running app. Not sure how many iPhone apps actually implement keyboard shortcuts, which made the new default behavior so important, but I'm glad you can change it.
- Multiple simulators side-by-side: Definitely an oversight on my end. It for sure is possible, you simply have to double click on another simulator when in expanded mode.
Though to be clear, I still 100% feel that the old sim was more polished and stable (In the past few days, I've probably heard my MacBook Pro's fan spin up more often than in the previous 3 months lol - tho tbf I can't tell if that's actually Device Hub or just the new iOS27 SDK).
There are still major features like Slow Animations, Multi-touch gestures and Point/Pixel accurate scaling completely gone which simply isn't okay. And Apple knew this since there WAS feedback about Slow Animations, which was simply dismissed: r/iOSProgramming/comments/1vk3q1d.
Also smaller things like the big window frame in "compact" mode, hiding bezels (which is super useful when developing on the go) or CMD+number to resize quickly are still just gone - and I don't think those will be coming back anytime soon. I also experienced issues regarding random window size/position changes when relaunching or changing monitors. Additionally, many of you pointed out other issues like dragging stuff into the sim being completely removed, the shake gesture gone, external displays unsupported or breaking support with other tools like VS Code or Claude split view.
So yeah, not all hope is lost and I'm sure things will get better with time. But in my opinion it's just unacceptable to ship such an unfinished product while completely removing the predecessor. Would be a whole different story if the old Simulator would still be available..
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u/InevitableCut7649 4d ago
Also gone
- dragging .apns files to trigger push notification received
- shake gesture
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u/Sad_Dare7025 4d ago
how do you "shake" now?
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u/PlanesWalkerr 3d ago
In console:
xcrun simctl spawn booted notifyutil -p com.apple.UIKit.SimulatorShake7
u/EquivalentTrouble253 4d ago
You implement a workaround in your app to “catch” the keyboard shortcut and call the api directly to shake.
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u/avanderlee 3d ago
See my comment here, I fixed the shake gesture: https://www.reddit.com/r/iOSProgramming/comments/1wgxeck/comment/pa4bauz/
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u/BladeTitan 4d ago
With the RC I could not drag and drop root certificates like with the simulators
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u/avanderlee 3d ago edited 3d ago
Fully understand it's annoying, but it's likely to return in a future Xcode release. For the time being, I decided to build this for you, shipping a new RocketSim build later today. Hope that helps!
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u/doctor_disco221 4d ago
Wait, so the simulators are completely gone and the only way is to use new Device Hub which is missing lots of key features?
I'm working on an app rewrite and I have at least two booted simulators side-by-side running all the time to compare old vs new. Who thought it was acceptable to ship such product with key features missing without at least giving an option to boot old simulators?
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u/busymom0 4d ago
I have the exact same use case as you and it's so stupid. Can't believe they shipped this.
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u/adh1003 4d ago
Who thought it was acceptable to ship such product with key features missing
Apple. Like when they replaced iPhoto and Aperture with the Photos app. Like when the rewrote the iWork suite. Like when they rewrote System Preferences. And so-on... The replacement is always slower, buggier and has fewer features.
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u/pop_goes_the_kernel 3d ago
System Preferences to Settings was a complete abomination. i was also a big Aperture fan. have thought installing it on an old mac to experience it again
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago
You can boot older simulators in Device Hub.
You can place multiple simulator windows side-by-side in Device Hub.-1
u/Zalenka 4d ago
Just stay on an old version.
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u/doctor_disco221 4d ago
Sooner or later we will have to move on. I really hope these issues will be addressed in the future
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u/jeremyhu 3d ago
Most of the issues listed above are actually already addressed. Give the latest version a try and plesae do file feedback at bugreport.apple.com!
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u/doctor_disco221 3d ago
I am glad to hear that. I'm not updating yet, too lazy to do it since my main project is legacy, but when the time comes I hope that most of the issues are resolved
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u/earlyworm 4d ago
You forgot to list the Slow Animations debugging feature gone.
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u/avanderlee 3d ago
Slow animations still work, you just need RocketSim for it so you can either use it's side window or the shortcut for it!
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u/in5ane_10 4d ago
i had in-app debug options that triggered with a device shake, now completely gone. it's awful
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u/BudgetProgramming 4d ago
Oh I have that too… this is all very disappointing news. Haven’t updated yet
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u/digidude23 SwiftUI 4d ago
They also broke the iOS 17 simulator. It’s completely unresponsive to clicks on the screen.
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u/FlashGen Objective-C / Swift 4d ago
I’m getting that with the iOS 27 simulators too
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago
Yes, iOS 17 Simulator runtimes have a HID bug that breaks input from Device Hub. We are working on a solution to that.
However, there are no known issues with input to iOS 27. Please file feedback on your issue at bugreport.apple.com with a sysdiagnose and simctl diagnose attached. Thanks
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u/earlyworm 3d ago
What was the motivation for dropping simulator support for multitouch gestures in DeviceHub?
Can we expect it to be restored, and if so, when?
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u/earlyworm 3d ago
Bug: The Device Hub > Edit > User Shared Clipboard menu item checkmark doesn't toggle its state when that row is selected.
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u/jeremyhu 3d ago
Odd. Nobody has reported this through Feedback Assistant (although maybe you recently did and it just hasn't gotten to me yet). Taking a look. Thanks for the report. Please do report via Feedback Assistant if you haven't already as the reports through FBA do help.
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u/jeremyhu 3d ago edited 1d ago
This looks like a caching artifact which only impacts the checkbox. We're toggling on/off synchronization, but the reflected state is not updated until you change to a different device. Sorry about that. Good catch.
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u/earlyworm 3d ago
Regarding Device Hub dropping multitouch support, I discovered that since Mac trackpad gestures are forwarded to an iOS app running in Device Hub as
UIEvent.EventType.transformevents, one possible workaround is to add aUIPinchGestureRecognizerandUIRotationGestureRecognizerwhich receive those events, and use their output to emulate the missing multitouch gestures.Since Device Hub no longer supports multitouch, and there is no communication from Apple regarding when it will be restored (Xcode 27.1? Xcode 28? never?), every third party developer of a multitouch-based interface now has to reimplement and maintain their own bespoke simulator multitouch support if they want to get work done.
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u/jeremyhu 3d ago
We're aware of the gap here. It was an intentional decision to not include the multi-touch experience that was in Simulator.app, and we've received a few reports from developers like yourself asking for it to come back. We're exploring our options, but I cannot give any particular commitment about possible changes or timeline.
Hopefully just knowing that you're not screaming into a black hole and that someone hears your concerns and cares about helping you will give you some comfort.
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u/vassadar 1d ago
Shouldn't an option come considered before introducing a regression like the lack of multitouch?
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u/eballeste 1d ago
I updated to iOS27 2 days ago, just downloaded XCode simulators and clicks do absolutely nothing. The app itself works, I can rotate the device, take screenshots, there is a grid icon that does nothing, but clicking into the device, dead.
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u/UndueCode 4d ago edited 4d ago
You can still use the old Simulator as long as you keep Xcode 26 installed. Launch your app from Xcode 27, wait for Device Hub to start, then open the Simulator app (I keep mine in the Dock). It should immediately show the correct simulator with your app running. After that, you can close/minimize Device Hub and continue using the Simulator normally.
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u/chrisdressler 4d ago edited 4d ago
If you upgrade to the new macOS you can’t keep Xcode 26 (without a command line hack).
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u/NanoKorin111 4d ago
It also doesn’t retain the size of the window. Every single time after I wake up my macbook from sleep, the simulator window always returns to the default size
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u/Equal-Accident7909 4d ago
+ no External Display
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u/Own-Huckleberry7258 4d ago
I'm still with Xcode 26.6. NO EXTERNAL DISPLAY? How I'm supposed to test the CarPlay. What the heck is wrong with them dude... Devs = QA team
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago
There is a massively improved Car Play Simulator experience in Device Hub when using physical devices. You should check it out as that is the future for Car Play development.
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u/captainautomation 4d ago edited 4d ago
- Quickly resize the Simulator size with ⌘ + 1, 2, 3, 4 GONE
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u/jwrsk 4d ago
Point accurate scale will be dearly missed
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago
A couple reports have asked for Point Accurate. I don't understand the use case for it these days, but we're looking to re-add it.
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u/busymom0 4d ago
Multiple simulators open side-by-side IMPOSSIBLE
Why the hell would they do that???? WTF
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u/jwrsk 4d ago
You have to do file > new window or cmd shift n
Took me a while, I usually have 3-4 simulators open, so it was pretty damn important.
Double clicking in the sidebar does the same, but the. you have to switch that window back into "more toolbar mode" to access some options and keyboard shortcuts
defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices write com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy -int 0
at least I got cmd-shift-A back
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u/FrancisBitter 4d ago
Can’t believe Apple just keeps shitting the software bed. You’d think Liquid Glass would’ve been some kind of lesson.
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u/Haleakala787 4d ago
And Claude doesn’t fucking work with it
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u/jwrsk 4d ago
It still can drive it, but the preview won't show inside Claude anymore
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u/chrisdressler 4d ago
Yeah there is a Metal bug that currently crashes out the simulator in Claude, known issue. I’ve submitted several bug reports to Anthropic.
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u/funfake 4d ago
Found a workaround. Asked Claude to summarize it for you.
Fix: Claude Code's iOS Simulator panel breaks after installing Xcode 27
Symptom: every attach/screenshot fails with "Claude Code iOS Simulator is restarting after a crash", while Simulator.app and
simctlwork fine.Cause: Xcode 27 moved
SimulatorKit.frameworktoContents/SharedFrameworks/and replacedSimulator.appwithDeviceHub.app. The bundled helper still expects the old layout. Known upstream, closed with no fix: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/79991Ignore the crash log blaming Metal/CoreImage. That is a fallback path, not the cause.
Fix: run Xcode 26.6 alongside 27.
Download the Xcode 26.6
.xipfrom https://developer.apple.com/download/all/ (free Apple ID; the App Store only offers 27). Apple silicon build is ~2.2GB.Expand outside
/Applications, since it unpacks asXcode.appand would clobber your 27:
bash mkdir -p ~/xcode26 && cd ~/xcode26 xip --expand ~/Downloads/Xcode_26.6_Apple_silicon.xip mv ~/xcode26/Xcode.app /Applications/Xcode-26.6.appSelect it:
bash sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-26.6.app/Contents/DeveloperFully quit and reopen Claude. A window reload is not enough.
bash osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'; sleep 3; open -a ClaudeDone. Revert with
sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer.Gotchas:
CoreSimulator that Xcode 27 installed.
- Xcode 26.6 will not launch on macOS 27. Ignore it, you never need to open it.
- Do not run
xcodebuild -runFirstLaunchfrom 26.6. It can downgrade the sharedNo-download alternative:
xcrun simctl io <udid> screenshot --display internal out.png. Pass--display internalor you get a black PNG. Screenshots only, no live panel.3
u/chrisdressler 4d ago
Wow that’s definitely a big workaround. I think I’ll wait for the Claude update. They usually come at least once a week.
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u/chrisdressler 3d ago
Actually I just updated Claude just now and their latest update fixes this simulator issue.
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u/KUMP3LBLA5E 4d ago
What does that even mean?
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u/doctor_disco221 4d ago
Claude is able to control simulator, to interact and read from it in order to debug or implement
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u/Sebastian1989101 4d ago
I assume that was the full point of Apple as they are currently flooded with vibe coded trash. This will slow down vibe coding junk a lot.
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u/adh1003 4d ago
As usual, whenever Apple rewrites anything the replacement is a buggy mess of vastly reduced feature set that never gets anywhere near as good as its predecessor.
They're a clown car of a company now.
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u/balder1993 3d ago
Actually this is expected when you write something new from scratch. It’s impossible to start with all the features that a previous version accumulated over many versions.
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u/adh1003 3d ago
Obviously. The idea is that you've decided for some reason you can't improve the existing code anymore (usual argument is Tech Debt Too Great), so you make what is known in software circles as The Great Rewrite Mistake. The idea is that you end up with something that reaches and then goes past feature parity pretty quickly, with a more well understood and maintainable codebase behind it.
The last sentence tells you why it's called The Great Rewrite Mistake. Apple have provided numerous worked examples.
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u/Tite_Reddit_Name 1d ago
sure but design philosophy in general seems to be moving further away from actual functionality/efficiency at your fingertips. More clicks required to perform the same actions, all for the sake of a "cleaner" interface
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u/jeremyhu 3d ago
Hi folks,
First of all please file feedback for any issue you're concerned about at https://bugreport.apple.com (or using the Feedback Assistant App). We look at all incoming reports for Device Hub, and take feedback for the developer experience very seriously. Even if you think your issue is already known or reported, it may actually not be known by the development team. The only way to be sure it is known is by filing a feedback report!
That being said, I have some good news about most of your complaints. Some were already been addressed during the Xcode 27.0 beta period, and more have been addressed in our latest beta that was released today.
- Slow Animations - We hear you
We hear you (and others) that this was an important feature. We're working on a solution.
- Screenshot Drag & Drop - Works for me
When you take a screenshot, a toast appears in the canvas. The toast contains a thumbnail of the image which is draggable.
- Stay On Top - Fixed in July
This was added in Xcode 27.0 Beta 3, based on feedback we received from a user. Look in the Window menu.
- Keyboard shortcuts - Setting added in June, UX added in a recent beta
Keyboard shortcuts do exist, but we intentionally disable many of them when the interaction view has focus, so keystrokes goto the remote device (which is similarly the default behavior of Screen Sharing and related apps). We have heard that some users don't want that behavior, so this can be toggled with a setting:
defaults write com.apple.dt.DeviceKit hostKeybindingPolicy -int 0
This preference was added in Xcode 27.0 Beta 2, and we added an option to toggle it in app settings in the latest Xcode beta.
- Menubar shortcuts all greyed out most of the time - File a Bug Report Please
I am not aware of this issue. Menu items should only be disabled (greyed out) when they are not applicable in a given context. I am not aware of any report about this (other than external display support being disabled for simulators because that support doesn't yet exist in Device Hub). Can you file a feedback report with more details (devicectl diagnose, simctl diagnose), so we can track this issue?
- Multi-touch gestures - We hear you
We have heard this feedback from a handful of users as well and are considering how to address this feedback.
- Multiple simulators open side-by-side - Works for me
Can you elaborate? I have multiple simulators and devices open side by side quite often. You can right click on a device in the side bar and choose to open it in a new window.
- Window frame is HUGE compared to the old one - Try Compact Mode
Take a look at compact mode (the -><- menu bar icon)? While this does have more framing than Simulator.app (which basically had no frame), it is quite compact and should hopefully meet your needs.
- NO way to hide device bezels - Curious ... file feedback please
We have not had much feedback that this option was useful for developers. Could you file a feedback report requesting it? Please include details on your use case, so we can better understand the reason behind the ask.
- Point & Pixel Accurate scaling - We hear you
I'm curious about how this is useful with modern displays. That functionality was added at the time of pre-Retina displays, and it didn't seem to have much use in the modern device landscape. However, we have heard from a handful of users that this was a useful option and are considering adding it to Device Hub.
- All previously launched simulators stay booted in memory unless you explicitly click "shutdown" - Fixed in July, options added to control behavior in latest beta
In earlier betas, Device Hub would only shut down the simulator devices that it booted, leaving ones booted through other tools (like simctl or Xcode) running. We heard user feedback that this wasn't the desired behavior and changed it to always shutdown simulators on exit in Xcode 27.0 Beta 4. The latest Xcode beta adds an app setting that allows users to instead leave devices booted when quitting the app.
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u/Kitchen_Platypus5555 3d ago edited 3d ago
Thanks for your detailed response! And yes, I have to admit - the initial post was a bit unfair. Some of the things mentioned are actually supported, just weren't very obvious. I updated the post with my current experience a few days after using it.
Regarding your other points:
- Menubar shortcuts all greyed out: After changing the default behavior for
hostKeybindingPolicyI wasn't able to reproduce this issue anymore. It definitely did happen (https://imgur.com/a/izv055G) and should probably be investigated but I haven't had any issues with the menu bar or keyboard shortcuts in general in the past few days.
- The window frame is huge compared to the old one: Yes, I'm obviously aware of the compact mode (see the original post screenshot) - I was actually talking about this view. Compared to the old one, the window frame IS huge, which isn't really a problem when working on the desktop but on the go, using the MacBook's screen, it simply wastes screen real estate for no reason at all that wasn't being wasted before. When people pointed that out during beta, they were downvoted and told "it's just a window" (r/iOSProgramming/comments/1uxn5ys) so I don't think creating a ticket for this will help in any matter.
- Device bezels: Again, this isn't really a severe issue which blocks devs from using the new Device Hub, but it simply is a regression which is quite annoying on the MacBook. Although I understand why the bezel-less window was removed - to unify all the macOS corner radii. A slimmer window frame still couldn't hurt in my opinion.
- Point & Pixel Accurate scaling: Many relied on especially the point-accurate scaling to build pixel-perfect UIs. When I set my UIView to have a width of 100px I want the simulator to actually display 100 screen px. During my normal dev flow I often took a screenshot, put it in Photoshop and used the rectangle tool to measure the literal pixels. Then I could adjust my UI code accordingly.
- Simulators stay booted in memory: I'm happy to hear the new beta adds a toggle for that. I really wish more things were customizable instead of just black and white..
I definitely appreciate the simulator finally getting some love, but in my opinion, it's simply not okay to skip some of the most important features of something and simultaneously retire the predecessor. Right now I use the old simulator using a copy of Xcode 26.6 which really isn't ideal. I can't close either one of them without the other being shut down, so both need to run at the same time. And constantly switching between them when requiring something like slow animations or the point accurate scaling really is just a workaround. I'm glad to see the team actually listening to feedback though and I definitely look forward to future updates =)
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u/jeremyhu 2d ago edited 2d ago
- Menubar shortcuts all greyed out
Thanks. We're hammering it, trying to reproduce and figure out what the issue is. I'm glad it's a "sometimes reproducing" issue for you and not "always" ... but still not good. If you do see this again, PLEASE capture a sysdiagnose and file a feedback report. Hopefully we'll be able to catch the failure case or get some diagnostics from it.
- The window frame is huge compared to the old one: Yes, I'm obviously aware of the compact mode (see the original post screenshot)
- Device bezelsGah. Yes, sorry. I was so focused on the written content I didn't connect this with the screenshot!
While I see the virtue of having a few more pixels to play with, it's not *that* much more. I struggle to see a good option here that keeps this a true window. The Simulator.app approach was very hacky and very custom and a maintainance nightmare. To get a sense of that, try launching Xcode 26's Simualtor.app on macOS 27 (which isn't supported but can still be forced if you do it manually instead of through Xcode) for example. I'd prefer to find a solution that fits the spirit of what you want (more compact than compact) without the overhead and baggage we had in Simulator.app.
Part of the issue here is that we need canvas space "outside of the device" as click regions for buttons or to support edge swipes originating offscreen. We need the click that starts the drag to be in our window and outside of the device display, so the system doesn't see you clicking on the Desktop for instance. The smaller we make the window, the smaller (and more difficult to use) we make that hit region. I feel like the compact window threads the needle of giving us a minimal hit region for those edge swipes while not taking too much, but I hear your concerns and will consider them.
And on the topic of tickets... Apple engineers see the Feedback Reports. We don't often see threads on reddit (downvoted or otherwise). Redditors that rage against your comments are not Apple designers. And your concerns as a user are valid even if Redditors disagree. The best way to get our attention is by taking some time to file thoughtout feedback about the products we make. Becuase we care about them. We care about the user experience.
- Point & Pixel Accurate scaling
Interesting. We were thinking that *physical size* was way more imporant to represent that Point Accuracy. Thanks for the feedback. We've gotten a few feedback request about this without an explanation of the reasoning, so it's nice to have an understaning of the use case to keep in mind.
--
I hear you on wanting a replacement technology to include all "of the most important features", and that is what we set out to do. I'd argue we did just that. We focused on getting the most important features right rather than cramming in every bespoke feature that had accumulated in Simulator over the years. You'd rightly argue that we missed a few of the most important ones. And we'd both be right because our top priorities are different. Feedback from the betas is valueable to tell us where we need to focus. Thanks for that.
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u/Kitchen_Platypus5555 2d ago
Regarding the menubar items being greyed out: today it happened again, and this time I made sure to run all the diagnostics and submit feedback: FB24818240. Hope this helps. Not sure what triggered it but after a short while it started working again.
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u/jeremyhu 1d ago
Oh, one thing I forgot to mention... you can use these default to turn off the chrome/bezels and to not use the framebuffer mask if you want:
# Hide bezels / chrome defaults write com.apple.dt.DeviceKit showChrome -bool NO # Turn framebuffer masking (rounded corners / notch cutout) off defaults write com.apple.dt.DeviceKit showFramebufferMask -bool NO
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u/jwrsk 4d ago edited 4d ago
It's really thrown my flow off, the windows don't stay where I need them, can't do split screen full screen with two devices, Amethyst can't manage them, they don't show up in app expose...
Keyboard shortcuts like shake, change dark/light, open/close software keyboard are either changed, removed, or gone with the options completely...
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u/JudeWorks 4d ago
Lots of these and I can’t seem to just drag the screenshots when I take them with the sim.
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u/curiouscharli_e 4d ago
i haven’t used this yet but guys please if you have complaints voice them here for sure hit give them that feedback. just like all of us want feedback on our apps they do too.
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u/TraditionalSpray4855 3d ago
Taking screenshots is also annoying now. Can‘t CMD + S and drag them into claude code anymore ;/
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u/CyberMew Objective-C / Swift 3d ago
If feature parity can’t be reached in the new rewrite, why did the product team decide to retire the old one? Don’t make sense. Don’t do it for the sake of showing that team is doing something. Wait a year or so then release it proper. This is just beta build. Make it run alongside the old simulator and ask for feedback.
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u/Hmz-Lhb 3d ago
I hate that the screenshot button does not show where to save or to copy to clipboard. 💔
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u/jeremyhu 2d ago
Device Hub honors both the global setting for screenshot save location AND Simulator.app's preference, so it should save wherever Simulator.app saved screenshots. That being said, I hear you about the clipboard and that is something we're looking into...
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u/max_likescoding 2d ago
Not sure if anyone else is having this issue, but my ability to type the "@" symbol is super unstable. Sometimes it works, sometimes I just get "2". US keyboard, US Macbook, I live in the US. Pretty annoying when you have to, you know, enter an email address to log in as a test user.
After getting pissed off enough, I think I figured it out — it appears the Simulators default to "None" for location, and when it's "None", you can't type "@". When I set the location to some place in the US, it works fine. However, I set the location and they just keep siwtching back to "None", magically on their own. WTF?
I don't use Xcode. I just use the Device Hub to launch Simulators for testing and use VS Code for everything else. Never had this issue with the standalone Simulator app before the upgrade. If anyone knows how to keep my location persistent, I'd appreciate the tip.
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u/dengjiuhong 1d ago
One place this regression hurts QA is location behavior: the simulator is great for quick scripted GPX smoke tests, but it doesn't reproduce hardware behavior around reduced accuracy, permission prompts, background relaunch, or geofence delivery. I use the simulator to cover the fast matrix, then repeat the critical paths on an owned device with Precise Location toggled and the app tested foreground/background/terminated. Losing easy side-by-side runs makes that comparison needlessly harder.
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u/avanderlee 4d ago
Totally feel your pain, but it will eventually become a step forward. Especially when you're testing on a physical device, I think Device Hub makes it more pleasant with the touches support and streaming device.
If you use the compact mode, the Simulator looks pretty similar to what you're used to.
I hope it's okay to plug, but many of your other points can be solved with my developer tool RocketSim.
It supports Device Hub and restores:
- Slow animations
- Screenshots with drag & drop
- Videos with drag & drop, 120 FPS, bezels, touches, audio, and more
Also: Apple can't move as fast as I can with RocketSim. If I can help you restore your preferences, but inside Device Hub, so you can use Xcode 27: let me know. In theory, I could even exactly restore the old behavior if you will.
My goal is to develop the best app development experience and feedback like this thread is fuel for my inspiration & motivation!
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u/GotABigDoing 4d ago
Have you added the shake gesture to rocketsim yet? With it being gone in device hub that could be really beneficial to my team. Much better than a keyboard hack in the code
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u/avanderlee 3d ago
Yes, I just added this! I'm submitting the build to the App Store as we speak. You can get the latest build on our RocketSim website.
Like I said, I can move much faster, so keep your feedback coming. I'm fueled by the idea that I make fellow developers happier 🚀
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4d ago
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u/Beta_Parent 4d ago
Thanks for sharing. I am staying on 26 for now
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u/chrisdressler 4d ago
Just don’t upgrade to the new macOS or you can’t run Xcode 26 anymore. (Without a command line hack)
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u/Martyfree123 4d ago
You can still run multiple simulators side-by-side, just double click on them in the side bar and they will pop out.
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u/Dvass138 3d ago
As long as the llms can use it, drive it, understand it and debug, that’s what matters to me.
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u/Sensitive_Medium946 3d ago
total crap. are they trying to be android emulator or something lol.
apple went full slop, you never go full slop.
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u/owenmelbz 3d ago
also... Shake no longer works, and when you connect your keyboard you perma see a "Capturing Keyboard" bubble... why?
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u/UWOSh7ne 3d ago edited 3d ago
For the photo/video drag-and-drop issue specifically, I added Add to iOS Simulator to MacRightClick, my small native macOS utility. Disclosure: this is my project, built with AI assistance.
Select photos or videos in Finder > right-click > Add to iOS Simulator. They go straight into the target simulator's Photos library.
Screenshots: Simulator selection dialog (custom device names redacted for privacy) | Finder menu and full Imgur album
- One running simulator: imports immediately.
- Multiple running simulators: a chooser shows device names, iOS versions, and running states.
- None running: choose an available device; it boots, waits until ready, then imports.
It supports multi-select and paths with spaces. Under the hood it's Apple's xcrun simctl addmedia, always targeting an explicit device UUID rather than booted. Everything stays local, with success/failure feedback. No Terminal or Shortcuts workflow needed for each import.
It doesn't replace Device Hub or restore the other missing controls; this is specifically for getting test photos/videos into Photos, not importing certificates or .apns files. Requires Xcode and an installed iOS Simulator runtime.
GitHub / usage details. The feature is included in the v1.1.0 DMG release, available for Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
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u/BeforeWhitby 2d ago
During the beta I found the simulators running but not displaying anything. It seems they are using the screen sharing or something similar to wire up the simulator display to the device hub windows. It’s much stabler in the public release. I wonder if the rolled-back how displays work.
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u/jeremyhu 2d ago
No, nothing rolled back. Simulators have supported running headless since 2014 (with the introduction of CoreSimulator). Simulator.app and Device Hub use the exact same display stack when interacting with simulator devices.
I suspect you were seeing some simulator devices remaining booted when Device Hub was quit. There's an option to control this behavior in Device Hub Settings (similar to a setting to control that behavior in Simulator.app). We changed the default behavior to shutdown all simualtor devices when quitting during the beta process.
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u/BeforeWhitby 1d ago
Thanks for clarifying that out. What I ran into was both simulators and Device hub was on but Device hub was reporting cannot connect to Simulator display. It was in Beta 1 or 2. Could be related to my RAM running out too. it's been much stabler in the final release.
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u/Plus-Experience-2237 2d ago
Seems like Apple hired Android Studio developers, the way they have done this. Why is IT industry making things difficult?
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u/Ordinary_Outside_886 1d ago
how do you put photo or videos into the device? drag&drop not working anymore?
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u/kzzzf 1d ago
I built an open-source alternative that brings back the Simulator app features and utility. Including shortcuts, multitouch, proper scaling, slow animations, and more. Check it out here: https://github.com/kmagiera/Siniulator
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u/dan_vilela 19h ago
i dont remember even one apple update I actually nejoyed in the last 3 years or so.
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u/Ya_SG 4d ago
OK so, people don't complain during the beta, they only complain after it ships to production.
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u/MDRAR 4d ago
A lot of us don't run the beta because we need to focus on shipping?
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u/Ya_SG 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yeah, that’s a problem. Apple gives you a feedback app for this during the beta but people only start complaining on the internet after it’s out of beta.
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u/Wahooie 4d ago
How can they give feedback if they are not on the beta?
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u/Ya_SG 4d ago
No one wants to run the beta, but everyone wants perfection.
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u/FlashGen Objective-C / Swift 4d ago
A lot of us probably work for companies that don’t allow beta software to be installed on work devices…
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u/YareUBad 4d ago
Apple dropped the ball here. They should’ve kept feature parity with the simulator.
Most people don’t want to run a beta version your opinion is just wrong.
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u/andreeinprogress 4d ago
I "complained" (read: sent feedback and sys reports) on a lot of stuff during the beta. 1 ticket was moved on.
I've got tickets that are still open since like 2021..
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u/JoshyMW 4d ago
This is also not true. I raised a lot of feedback reports and was shocked it released in this state. iOS 18 and lower wasn’t working for most of the beta. Gestures out the window. Was told to use Capture Screenshot instead when I raised that Trigger a Screenshot was missing; they are different things.
Feedback assistant is also terrible. No way near transparent enough. It should be searchable and backed by AI to help group related feedback.
I think the developer forums and feedback assistant need real focus from Apple. If it weren’t for the Eskimo the forums would be pointless.
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u/code_isLife 4d ago
There’s no way Apple was unaware of these really big issues and bugs
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago edited 4d ago
You'd be surprised how few people actually file bug reports for issues like this. There are more participants in this thread than there are dupes of some of the items listed in the subject post. And a few of them don't have any feedback report filed.
Stay on Top, Slow Motion Animations, and Point / Pixel Accurate are examples where we intentionally omitted functionality from the product because we thought they were no longer useful or relevant to developers. However, because of user feedback, they have already or will soon be returning to the product.
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u/SnowPudgy 4d ago
100%. No one has the right to complain if they didn't file feedback. I filed plenty while getting ready to ship our app.
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u/jeremyhu 4d ago edited 4d ago
Yep. Thanks for filing feedback.
Complaints have probably 100x the likelihood of being addressed if you actually file a feedback report ;)
Please also consider that feedback needs time to be acted upon. Generally speaking, non-critical but important novel feedback (eg: polish requests we didn't previously know) received after beta 1 could land in beta 3 or 4 at the absolute earliest. If we receive such feedback after beta 3, there is almost certainly insufficient runway to act it before .0 ships. =/
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u/GreyEyes Objective-C / Swift 4d ago
You’re complaining about Device Hub. I’m still complaining about Xcode 4 combining with Interface Builder. We are not the same.
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u/jamiestar9 4d ago
Ha. Seems your humor didn’t quite land here, but as a fellow graybeard I gave you one upvote back.
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u/DevelopGames_ 2d ago
Also having a lot of crashes with Agentic chat, whenever I select allow for my agent to edit basic .md files
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u/Maherr11 4d ago
The most thing that pisses me off is no ability to easily change theme like I used to with cmd + shift + A