One of our favorite iOS emulators on the market is App.io. The app is free and it is very easy to use. The interface is so simple that it can be used by almost anyone. The App.io is available on both platforms; you can use it as iOS emulator for Mac and for Windows.
- Virtual Serial Port Driver PRO enables you to merge any number of real and virtual ports so that your serial apps/devices can exchange data with multiple apps/devices simultaneously. To achieve this, you just need to create a bundle of COM ports without In and Out sides.
- IOS emulator is a popular term because millions of people are looking for solutions to run iOS apps on Windows and Mac. Android open-source policies made plenty of things possible for PC users. A few lines of Google search can produce several results on the iOS emulators.
- By using an iOS Emulator, the user can install and run all the apps and games as can be done on an iPhone. App or game developers use iOS Emulators to properly scale or test their applications. Various iOS Emulators for MAC available in the market are listed below. Smartface Smartface is an iOS Emulator which is mostly used by app developers.
Important:The information in this document is deprecated in Xcode 9. For Xcode 9 and later, see Simulator Help by choosing Help > Simulator Help in Simulator.
Important The information in this document is deprecated in Xcode 9. For Xcode 9 and later, see Simulator Help by choosing Help > Simulator Help in Simulator.
Simulator allows you to rapidly prototype and test builds of your app during the development process. Installed as part of the Xcode tools, Simulator runs on your Mac and behaves like a standard Mac app while simulating an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Apple TV environment. Think of the simulator as a preliminary testing tool to use before testing your app on an actual device.
Simulator enables you to simulate iOS, watchOS, and tvOS devices running current and some legacy operating systems. Each combination of a simulated device and software version is considered its own simulation environment, independent of the others, with its own settings and files. These settings and files exist on every device you test within a simulation environment.
At a Glance
By simulating the operation of your app in Simulator, you can:
Find major problems in your app during design and early testing
Test your app using developer tools that are available only for Simulator
Learn about the Xcode development experience and the iOS development environment before becoming a member of the iOS Developer Program
This guide walks you through Simulator, starting with the basics of how to use it and moving on to the tools found within the simulator that can assist you in testing and debugging your apps.
Organization of This Document
Read the following chapters to learn how to use Simulator:
Getting Started in Simulator, to understand the functionality of Simulator, and gain a working knowledge of the various ways to launch it
Interacting with Simulator, to learn about the various ways of interacting with Simulator, including taking screenshots and changing the scale of simulated devices
Interacting with iOS and watchOS, to learn about the specific ways of interacting with simulated iOS and watchOS devices, including gestures and hardware manipulation
Interacting with tvOS, to learn about the specific ways of interacting with tvOS, including using the focus-based user interface and using external remotes with Simulator
Testing and Debugging in Simulator, to understand the tools available within Simulator to assist you with testing and debugging your apps
Customizing Your Simulator Experience with Xcode Schemes, to learn about additional ways to customize your Simulator experience through Xcode schemes
See Also
Apple provides these related documents that you may find helpful:
To learn the basics of developing iOS apps, see Start Developing iOS Apps (Swift).
To learn about the basics of developing watchOS apps, see App Programming Guide for watchOS.
To learn more about how you can customize your development experience within Xcode, see Xcode Overview.
To learn about the process of testing your app on a device, submitting it to the App Store, and distributing it, see App Distribution Quick Start.
Copyright © 2018 Apple Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Updated: 2018-02-15
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Do you want to run iOS apps on Windows PC? This can be done using iOS emulators for Windows or Mac. If you don’t own an iPhone, but want to try an interesting app that is only available for iOS, you can use iOS emulators to run the app on your Windows PC.
There are lots of iOS emulators, but not all are good. Some are too slow that they become frustrating. So, you won’t get a good experience. So, I decided to compile a list of best iOS emulators.
If you also want to try Android apps on your Windows PC, you can go with Android Emulators for PC.
Before I discuss the best iOS emulators, let me give you an overview of the emulator. Emulators are the programs that create a virtual OS on your system to run a specific program. The iOS emulators create an iOS virtual environment on your Windows PC to run iOS apps.
Here it is worth to note that simulators only create a virtual environment of software, but there is not the same hardware. So, few apps or features that are dependent on specific hardware may not work as it is. For example, the iOS app may use Touch ID but a laptop with no fingerprint sensor cannot provide that. So, this feature may not work.
It is also worth to mention that emulators need enough RAM to properly work. So, you should have a good system with at least 4GB RAM. The more RAM your system has, the better and smoother the emulator will perform.
Most of the time, good apps land on the iOS platform before hitting Android or Windows. If you want to try any such kind of app that is only available for iOS, you can try iOS emulators. Or a developer working on an iOS app needs to own an iPhone. If you do not want to buy one, try emulators.
Best iOS Emulators For Windows and Mac
1. Smartface
Smartface is my first choice as an iOS simulator for PC to run iOS apps on your Windows system. It is basically for developers who want an emulator to develop the apps for iOS. This emulator helps in properly testing the device for iOS without having an actual one. The emulator is not free and starts at $99, with a free version available to test it. It works fine.
I am keeping that at the top because it is the most feature-rich iOS emulator for PC available.
2. iPadian
As the name suggests, it is an iPad emulator that does a good job. It has been also a choice of professionals for long. The UI is self-explanatory and works fine. If your system is powerful enough, it works fine. It feels like you are actually working on an iPad. It comes with a Customizable interface and includes a Facebook notification widget as well. You should also note that it does not allow access to the official App Store, so you can only run apps that are designed especially for the iPadian simulator.
It is available for free and paid versions. So, you can go with anyone depending on your usage. If
3. Appetize.io
Appetize.io is a browser-based tool, so you do not need to download anything. It is helpful for iOS app demonstration and development. You just need to upload the app and then run it on the browser. It shows an in-browser preview, you can run iOS apps and perform different actions.
If you are an app developer, you can try this tool and test your app without installing anything.
The free version of the tool allows only 100 minutes a minute. If you need more, you can go with other plans depending on your usage.
4. AIR iPhone
AIR iPhone emulator is based on the Adobe AIR framework. It is easy to install and use the emulator. You just need to download and install it along with the Adobe AIR framework. After the installation, you can start running your iOS app without any issue. Few iOS features do not work on this. You can also not access all the applications that are available in the App Store. So, you cannot try all the applications available for the iPhone.
5. iPhone Simulator
iPhone Simulator is another good tool for iOS app developers to try iOS apps. Although you cannot access the App Store, you can run by upload the app files. It replicates an iPhone and you can play games and use apps properly. It is easy to use and is convenient for both advanced, and intermediate users.
6. Ripple
Ripple Emulator is available as a browser extension. So, you can install it in your Chrome browser and setup everything easily. The extension is still in beta, so you may face some bugs. Overall, it works fine and you can test or run iOS apps and games.
7. Xamarin
Emulate Ios Apps On Mac And Mac
Xamarin is also a popular name if you check for good iOS emulators for pc. Developers use it to execute native iOS apps. You can use execute as well as test all your iOS applications using the IDE for Visual Studio. It allows you to do all the functions seamlessly on Windows, and Mac. It can only run apps that are developed to run on iOS 8.0 or later. It is also a bit complicated to run, so suited for professional use rather than conventional use.
8. Electric Mobile Studio
Electric Mobile Studio has been designed to consider the iOS app developers’ requirements. So, you can use it for iOS app development and test on your computer. It can almost all of the iOS apps available in Apple’s App Store. So, not just your own apps, you can also run other apps including games to try on your PC.
Emulate Ios Apps On Mac And Iphone
It is heavy, so you also need to have at least 6GB of space on your system to run this emulator. It is also expensive. The trial version of this emulator is available for just 7 days and then you need to buy it for $39.99. If you are a professional developer looking for a.good emulator with lots of features, you can try this one.
9. iMAME
iMAME is basically for those who want to run iOS games on your computer and not into the iOS testing thing. It is light and doesn’t consume much resources. The games or apps run fine even on an average computer. It has simple and easy to use UI. So, you can use it without any issue.
Final words
I have added all possible good iOS emulators for Windows or Mac. So, you have iOS emulators for Windows and iOS emulators for Mac. You can check what emulator is available on your platform and what satisfies your needs. Most of these emulators are focused on App development and testing while some are focused on playing iPhone or iPad games on your system. Depending on your need, you can select any of these good iOS emulators.
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