How to Install Simulator Runtimes via Terminal

After a fresh Xcode install, CI environment setup, or removing old runtimes, you need to reinstall simulator runtimes before you can test on any virtual device. All installation commands run directly from Terminal.

Prerequisites

Set Xcode as the active developer toolchain and run its first-launch setup:

sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
sudo xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch

Both commands require sudo. If you have multiple Xcode versions installed, replace the path with the version you want to use (e.g., /Applications/Xcode-16.4.app/Contents/Developer).

Install All Runtimes

Download every platform runtime compatible with your Xcode version:

xcodebuild -downloadAllPlatforms

> Downloading iOS 26.2 Simulator (22A5XXX): Done
> Downloading watchOS 26.2 Simulator (22T5XXX): Done
> Downloading tvOS 26.2 Simulator (22J5XXX): Done
> Downloading visionOS 26.2 Simulator (22N5XXX): Done

Versions vary based on which Xcode version is active. The download runs in the foreground and can take 20+ minutes on slower connections.

Install Specific Runtimes

Requires Xcode 16 or later. Download a single platform runtime and export the disk image:

xcodebuild -downloadPlatform iOS -exportPath ~/SimRuntimes

Import the downloaded runtime:

xcodebuild -importPlatform "~/SimRuntimes/iOS Simulator Runtime.dmg"

Replace iOS with the platform you need:

xcodebuild -downloadPlatform tvOS -exportPath ~/SimRuntimes
xcodebuild -downloadPlatform watchOS -exportPath ~/SimRuntimes
xcodebuild -downloadPlatform visionOS -exportPath ~/SimRuntimes

visionOS is optional and weighs roughly 7GB. Skip it if you don’t target Apple Vision Pro.

Clean up the exported disk images after importing:

rm -rf ~/SimRuntimes

Verify Installed Runtimes

Confirm all runtimes are ready:

xcrun simctl runtime list

> iOS 26.2 (26.2 - 22A5XXX) - 3B5A7C9E-1D4F-4A8B-9E2C-6F8D0A1B3C5E (Ready)
> tvOS 26.2 (26.2 - 22J5XXX) - 7E9F1A2B-3C4D-5E6F-7A8B-9C0D1E2F3A4B (Ready)
> watchOS 26.2 (26.2 - 22T5XXX) - 2A4B6C8D-0E1F-2A3B-4C5D-6E7F8A9B0C1D (Ready)
> visionOS 26.2 (26.2 - 22N5XXX) - 8F0A1B2C-3D4E-5F6A-7B8C-9D0E1F2A3B4C (Ready)
> Total Disk Images: 4 (69.42 GB)

Default download cache location: ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode/Downloads/. Delete this folder to reclaim space after installation completes.

Troubleshooting

• Disk space: Each runtime is 2-8GB. Check available space with df -h / before downloading.
• Permissions: xcode-select and runFirstLaunch require sudo. Runtime downloads do not.
• Xcode not detecting runtimes: Restart Xcode, then verify with xcrun simctl runtime list. If the runtime shows as “Ready” but Xcode still doesn’t list it, run xcodebuild -runFirstLaunch again.