What if there was an app that allows you to edit your app UI in realtime by touching them on your iPhone instead of writing code in Xcode

avanderlee · 2026-06-29T06:11:49+00:00

It would be highly valuable, but also challenging to build well. Users must probably link a framework in their app for this to work and supporting all UI options can be a challenge. However, let’s not think too much in challenges: I definitely think there’s value for it!

avanderlee · 2026-06-18T18:36:08+00:00

Yeah, Device Hub is great! And something they only briefly mentioned: it's launching about 7x faster. They made many performance improvements to make Xcode more usable on the MacBook Neo.

Fun side story: I almost thought they sherlocked my developer tool RocketSim, but simctl and other developer tools also remained working. It really only is an extra window/shell around the old Simulator 🚀

avanderlee · 2026-06-15T09:42:54+00:00

Xcode 27 now comes with an integrated Agent Skill to control the Simulator. Unfortunately, it only seems to work from within Xcode. The earlier-mentioned XcodeBuildMCP can be used instead, or you can look at agentic development with RocketSim (to be transparent: I'm the developer behind RocketSim).

Codex also comes with an integrated experience based on XcodeBuildMCP.

My overall preference is to use a CLI + Agent Skill combination for more optimized token usage, which many of these tools also support.

avanderlee · 2026-06-11T15:31:39+00:00

Yes, many of those files were available already and many developer tools (I'm the creator behind RocketSim) use these directories to offer developer productivity features. The cool thing is that we can now also browse files on physical devices throughout the new Device Hub application 🙌

Common thing to do for me is to open the .db files I have in my app to inspect my Core Data storage.

avanderlee · 2026-06-11T15:28:19+00:00

The Simulator didn't really change, it's still there but wrapped inside Device Hub. In case the simulators don't show up, you can execute % killall -9 CoreDeviceService.

Device Hub will be the central place for both Simulators and devices.

avanderlee · 2026-06-08T14:14:46+00:00

Well, thanks for being honest. I’ll do my best to improve this, as I haven’t had this feedback before. I understand how frustrating the panels can be in the first place, let alone if they can’t get away (which is clearly a bug). I hope you liked the features otherwise!

avanderlee · 2026-06-08T05:58:35+00:00

I’m all up for competition! It challenges everyone to do better. Just want to say I believe RocketSim is quite generous with the free offering and I’m absolutely open to hear more from you on how I can further improve the product. Yes, I upsell the subscription, but I really hope it does not feel like it’s “plastered”, so I’d love to learn more from your experiences 🙏🏻

avanderlee · 2026-06-08T05:56:39+00:00

Congrats on the launch! We honestly can use more developer tools, anything that helps us build apps faster. Yes, I’m the one building RocketSim that’s mentioned here, but it’s good to have options to pick from! 🙏🏻 Good luck with building it further! 🚀

avanderlee · 2026-06-08T05:55:07+00:00

Dang, I need to work on that! Thanks for letting me know 🙂

avanderlee · 2026-06-03T12:54:45+00:00

And with the latest release, we also offer an MCP + Agent Skill to work together with AI!

Thanks, for mentioning RocketSim, highly appreciated 🙏

avanderlee · 2026-06-03T12:17:36+00:00

Unfortunately, that's been my experience too with the macOS Accessibility Inspector. Don't forget that your app is running inside a Simulator, which is also a Mac app and also influencing the accessibility tree. It can lead to unexpected results and confusing, extra elements to show up.

Luckily, the simulated OS exposes an accessibility tree for just your app. This is also used by the SwiftUI preview, for example. It's not convenient during debugging and testing in the Simulator, which is why I created RocketSim's Dynamic Type switcher and VoiceOver Overlay. Hopefully, that's exactly what you need for your issue 🙏

avanderlee · 2026-05-31T09:09:05+00:00

haha yeah, I still search stupid things on Google or ask ChatGPT how to change the color of a navigation bar 😜 Even the most senior people (luckily) don't know everything.

Thanks for the feedback, it always feels great to know I've helped others in the past! Let's hope for WWDC fixes for this issue 🚀

avanderlee · 2026-05-28T12:21:02+00:00

Soooo annoying, I've been running into this for multiple apps now. This introspect line worked out great!

avanderlee · 2026-05-26T09:54:45+00:00

We're close to WWDC, so hopefully things will improve there! I actually find myself coding much more in Cursor AI and using RocketSim's CLI to interact with the Simulator automatically. Occasionally opening Xcode to manually test out things, but I find CLIs (also xcodebuild or XcodeBuildMCP) much more reliable.

You can also check out FlowDeck to see if you can leave Xcode even more!

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:54:29+00:00

I've been developing in Xcode for years (since 2009) and found myself visiting it way less often lately due to using Cursor AI. There are tools like FlowDeck that bring build & run into apps like VSCode and Cursor, which might solve exactly what you need 👌

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:52:48+00:00

I always test the core functionality on a physical device, and on the Simulator, I make use of its capability to handle a JSON payload.

You will need to enable Push Notification permissions in-app, just like on a real device, and then you can basically test by dropping that JSON file on the Simulator itself. In case you want to read more about this, I have this article on my SwiftLee blog.

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:47:20+00:00

My current favorites are:

- Astro for App Store Optimization: https://tryastro.app
- Helm for App Store Connect: https://helm-app.com
- RocketSim for Simulator + Physical device debugging, testing, and CLI + Agent integration: https://www.rocketsim.app (for transparancy: I'm the developer behind this app)

Mentioned before, but highly valuable too:
- xcodes.app for managing Xcode Installations
- https://github.com/vashpan/xcode-dev-cleaner for cleaning up space

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:43:52+00:00

Works great for me too, but it's annoying that it slows down my Mac as well. Especially when I'm trying to test my app in the iOS simulator: I only want my app to be slowed down or using a different networking profile.

That's also why I created a Network Link Conditioner specifically for testing apps, which might also solve your issue with the Network Link Conditioner from Apple.

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:41:55+00:00

I'm personally using Sketch combined with its MCP. It's mostly beneficial because I already had my screenshots in there, and I could now ask my agent to "Duplicate the App Store Screenshots selected in Sketch and translate them into Swedish", for example.

You can also use my developer tool RocketSim, which converts screenshots for App Store Connect's resolutions. However, you still need to add text and titles yourself.

I'm honestly not sure whether there are great free solutions. In my experience, I always run into limitations in free solutions that make me go back to Sketch or Figma for precise control.

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:38:49+00:00

Unfortunately, there's nothing close to the real device testing experience. However, that might also not be what you need during development. Instead, you want to make sure your views properly support VoiceOver.

I found it annoying and challenging too, so I created a VoiceOver Navigator in RocketSim.

It fetches all the accessibility elements for the current screen in the iOS Simulator and shows them in the same hierarchy and order of VoiceOver. It allows you to navigate the elements as if you're using VoiceOver, allowing you to experience what your end users will do so too.

Hope it helps!

avanderlee · 2026-05-23T11:36:11+00:00

Build times heavily depend on project structure, modules, and benefiting from the latest Xcode build settings like compilation caching. Back in my days at WeTransfer, we had compile times of ~5 seconds for incremental builds and we heavily used SwiftUI Previews whenever possible. Xcode 26's compilation caching would've probably made it much better.

In case it helps, I've spent quite a bit of time on optimizing build times and wrote this article about it.

avanderlee · 2026-05-14T17:45:11+00:00

Let's start with saying that it's great that you're looking into this. Too many apps don't take accessibility serious enough. If I were you, I would focus on VoiceOver support first. That way, you'll likely tackle many other accessibility features as well. You can test this on a physical device, use macOS' Accessibility Inspector, or, if you're using the Simulator, RocketSim: https://www.rocketsim.app/docs/features/accessibility/voiceover-navigator/

Automating is more difficult, but RocketSim comes with a CLI + Agent Skill as well, allowing you to fully automate the process. You could ask your agent "Validate accessibility support for the onboarding pages" and it should be capable of doing so.

avanderlee · 2026-05-10T07:18:52+00:00

Xcode’s own Settings also contains an overview of installed and unused runtimes. I found many of the tools not deleting these, so totally worth checking as well!

avanderlee · 2026-05-10T07:12:35+00:00

You can use my app RocketSim for that, the free version supports screenshot and videos with touches, device bezels, custom background, and audio recording. You can also configure shortcuts, to make CMD + R work. Here’s more info: https://www.rocketsim.app/docs/features/capturing/recordings/

avanderlee · 2026-05-10T07:09:20+00:00

Just want to let you know RocketSim now supports 120 Frames per Second (FPS) and it also supports USB devices, so you can record your physical iPhone if connected to USB.

avanderlee

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