Dec 24, 2019 If you are seeking to run iOS apps on your laptop, here are the 20 best iOS emulators to run iOS apps on Mac and Windows. There are nine most popular mobile operating systems in the world, including Android, iOS, BlackBerry OS, Bada, MeekGo OS, Windows Mobile, and others. List of 10 Best iOS Emulator to Run iOS Apps On PC IOS doesn’t have any built-in feature to emulate apps on PC; still, you can use iOS emulators to emulate iOS apps on Windows or MAC computers. In this article, we will share some of the best iOS emulators that could help you run iOS apps on PC.
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 app, available within Xcode, presents the iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch user interface in a window on your Mac computer. You interact with Simulator by using the keyboard and the mouse to emulate taps, device rotation, and other user actions.
3.iPhone Emulator for Mac. Unlike Android, there are not many iOS emulators available in the market so there are a very few alternatives. So it becomes a bit tedious for checking iOS applications. Here are 3 best iOS emulators which can be used for checking and testing iOS applications. This one is the simplest way of testing your iOS. Apple products are incompatible with competing to Android apps and products, but Bluestacks App Player for iOS lets you run your favorite android apps from your stationary MAC. Unfortunately, you can’t download the iPad version and extend the capabilities of your new iPad 2 or iPhone, but you can install this powerful App Player on your MAC. Sep 24, 2021 Once you sync your iOS app with App.io you can use this cloud-based service on Windows, Mac, and Android devices. Features of App.io: Completely free service; Easy setup along with simplicity in use. Play games or test Apps. That’s pretty much it! So, there are Best iOS Emulators For PC (Windows And Mac) To Run iOS Apps and Games.
The chapter presents the basics of using Simulator. You can perform these steps using your own iOS app or, if you do not have an app to use, with the HelloWorld sample code. For more detailed information on interacting with Simulator and using it to test and debug your apps, refer to the later chapters in this guide.
Access Simulator from Xcode
There are two different ways to access Simulator through Xcode. The first way is to run your app in Simulator, and the second way is to launch Simulator without running an app.
Running Your iOS App
When testing an app in Simulator, it is easiest to launch and run your app in Simulator directly from your Xcode project. To run your app in Simulator, choose an iOS simulator—for example, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, or iPhone 6 + Apple Watch - 38mm—from the Xcode scheme pop-up menu, and click Run. Xcode builds your project and then launches the most recent version of your app running in Simulator on your Mac screen, as shown in Figure 1-1.
Note: If you are testing an app with a deployment target of iPad, you can test only on a simulated iPad. If you are testing an app with a deployment target of iPhone or universal, you can test on either a simulated iPhone or a simulated iPad.
Running Your watchOS App
To run your WatckKit app, choose a combination of an iOS device and watchOS device from the Xcode scheme pop-up menu. For example, to run the watch app in a 38mm watch paired with an iPhone 6, choose 'iPhone 6 + Apple Watch - 38mm' from the scheme pop-up menu.
Running the WatchKit target launches two simulators, one for the iOS device and one for the watchOS device. Figure 1-2 shows an iPhone 6 and a 42mm watch running in two different simulators.
Running Your tvOS App
To run your tvOS App, choose a tvOS device from the Xcode scheme pop-up menu. Running the tvOS target launches the most recent version of your app in a simulated new Apple TV device, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Launching Simulator Without Running an App
At times, you may want to launch Simulator without running an app. This approach is helpful if you want to test how your app launches from the Home screen of a device or if you want to test a web app in Safari on a simulated iOS device.
To launch a Simulator without running an app
Launch Xcode.
Do one of the following:
Choose Xcode > Open Developer Tool > Simulator.
Control-click the Xcode icon in the Dock, and from the shortcut menu, choose Open Developer Tool > Simulator.
To launch a watchOS Simulator without running an app
Launch Xcode.
Do one of the following:
Choose Xcode > Open Developer Tool > Simulator (watchOS).
Control-click the Xcode icon in the Dock, and from the shortcut menu, choose Open Developer Tool > Simulator (watchOS).
Simulator opens and displays the Home screen of whichever simulated device was last used.
View the Installed Apps
From the Home screen, you have access to all of the apps that are installed in the simulation environment. There are two ways to access the Home screen in Simulator from your app:
Press Command-Shift-H.
Choose Hardware > Home.
Use the installed apps to test your app’s interaction with them. For example, if you are testing a game, you can use Simulator to ensure that the game is using Game Center correctly.
iOS Device Home Screen
Much like the Home screen on an iOS device, the simulator’s iOS Home screen has multiple pages. After clicking the Home button (or accessing the Home screen through the Hardware menu), you arrive at the second page of the Home screen. To get to the first page, where all of the preinstalled apps are found, swipe to the first Home screen by dragging to the right on the simulator screen.
On the Home screen, you see that all of the apps that have been preloaded into Simulator. See iOS Device Home Screen.
The apps that you see on the Home screen are specific to the iOS device simulation environment. Because Passbook and the Health app are available only for the iPhone, these apps don’t appear if you are simulating a legacy device or an unsupported device type.
watchOS Device Home Screen
The Home screen for a simulated watchOS device behaves the same as it would on an actual device. You can click and drag to simulate the finger dragging around the screen and launch an app by clicking on it. Figure 1-4 shows the home screen of a 42mm watch with a developer app, the Lister sample code.
Use Safari to Test Web Apps
From the Home screen, you can access Safari within Simulator. Use Safari to test your iOS web apps directly on your Mac.
From the Home screen, click Safari.
In the address field in Safari, type the URL of your web app and press the Return key.
If your Mac is connected to the Internet, it displays the mobile version of the URL you specified. For example, type apple.com into the address field and press Return. Safari displays the Apple website. See Figure 1-6.
Use Maps to Simulate Location Awareness
Simulator provides tools to assist you in debugging your apps. One of the many features you can debug in Simulator is location awareness within your app. Set a location by choosing Debug > Location > location of choice. The menu has items to simulate a static location or following a route.
A simulated watchOS device with the location set to None checks the paired iPhone device for the location.
You can specify your own location, which can be seen in the Maps app.
From the Home screen, click Maps.
Choose Debug > Location > Custom Location.
In the window that appears, type the number
40.75in the latitude field and the number-73.75in the longitude field.Click OK.
Click the Current Location button in the bottom-left corner of the simulated device screen.
After completing this task, notice that the blue dot representing your location is in New York, NY, near the Long Island Expressway, as shown in Figure 1-7.
Change the Simulated Device and OS Version
Simulator provides the ability to simulate many different combinations of device type and OS version. A device type is a model of iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Some iPhone devices can also have a paired Apple Watch. Each device-OS combination has its own simulation environment with its own settings and apps. Simulator provides simulators for common device-iOS, device-watchOS-iOS device, and device-tvOS combinations. You can also add simulators for a specific combination you want to test. However, not all device type and OS version combinations are available.
Note: To test apps for the iPad mini, use a simulated iPad with the same pixel resolution as the iPad mini.
You can switch between different device-OS combinations. Switching closes the window for the existing device and then opens a new window with the selected device. The existing device goes through a normal OS shutdown sequence, though the timeout might be longer than the one on a real device. The new device goes through a normal OS startup sequence.
To change the simulated device
Choose a Hardware > Device > device of choice.
Simulator closes the active device window and opens a new window with the selected device.
If the device type and OS version combination you want to use is not in the Device submenu, create a simulator for it.
To add a simulator
Choose Hardware > Device > Manage Devices.
Xcode opens the Devices window.
At the bottom of the left column, click the Add button (+).
In the dialog that appears, enter a name in the Simulator Name text field and choose the device from the Device Type pop-up menu.
Choose the OS version from the iOS Version pop-up menu.
Alternatively, if the iOS version you want to use isn’t in the iOS Version pop-up menu, choose “Download more simulators” and follow the steps to download a simulator.
Click Create.
If the OS version you want to use is not installed, download it and follow the steps to add a simulator again.
To download a simulator
In Xcode, choose Xcode > Preferences.
In the Preferences window, click Downloads.
In Components, find the legacy simulator version you want to add, and click the Install button.
You can also delete and rename simulators in the Devices window.
To delete a simulator
In Simulator, choose Hardware > Device > Manage Devices, or in Xcode, choose Window > Devices.
Xcode opens the Devices window.
In the left column, select the simulator.
At the bottom of the left column, click the Action button (the gear next to the Add button).
Choose Delete from the Action menu.
In the dialog that appears, click Delete.
To rename a simulator, choose Rename from the Action menu and enter a new name.
For how to manage real devices that appear in the Devices window, read Devices Window Help.
Alter the Settings of the Simulated Device
You can alter the settings within Simulator to help test your app.
On a simulated device, use the Settings app. To open the Settings app, go to the Home screen and click or on tvOS, choose Settings. In Figure 1-8 you see the Settings app as it appears when launched in the iOS simulation environment.
The Simulator settings differ from the settings found on a hardware device. Simulator is designed for testing your apps, whereas a hardware device is designed for use. Because Simulator is designed for testing apps, its settings are naturally focused on testing, too. For example, in a simulated iOS device the Accessibility menu provides the ability to turn on the Accessibility Inspector, and the Accessibility menu on a device allows you to turn on and off different accessibility features.
Through the settings, you can test both accessibility and localization of your app. See Testing and Debugging in iOS Simulator for information on how to manipulate your settings for the various types of testing you are interested in.
Remember: Changes made in the Settings app of simulated device affect only the simulation environment that is currently running.
Rotate iOS Devices
You can use Simulator to manipulate the simulated device much as you do a physical device.
To rotate your simulated device, choose Hardware > Rotate Left. When you rotate your simulated device, Settings rotates (see Figure 1-9), just as it would on a hardware device.
Test in Simulator and on a Device
Simulator is designed to assist you in designing, rapidly prototyping, and testing your app, but it should never serve as your sole platform for testing. One reason is that not all apps are available in the simulator. For example, the Camera app is available only on hardware devices and cannot be replicated in the simulator.
In addition, not all bugs and performance problems can be caught through testing in Simulator alone. You’ll learn more about performance differences in Testing and Debugging in iOS Simulator. You can also find more information on testing your app on a device in Launching Your App on Devices in App Distribution Guide.
Quit Simulator
Emulate Ios App On Mac Os
Simulator continues running until you quit it. Quitting Xcode will not close Simulator because they are separate applications. Similarly quitting simulator will not close Xcode.
To quit Simulator, choose Simulator > Quit Simulator. The device is shut down, terminating any running apps.
App Store
Note: Both Simulator and watchOS Simulator can be open at the same time.
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iOS emulator is useful for running iOS or iPhone applications that are not compatible with the PC operating system. For example, you cannot run Android apps on windows or MAC because the operating systems differ. But we have emulators like BlueStacks which will create a virtual environment for running Android apps on windows. Similarly, there are iOS emulators available in the market, here is a list of 15 best iOS emulators for Windows Computer and MAC PC.
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Test Object
Test Object is an online iOS emulator for MAC computers. An emulator is nothing but a virtual device replicating the features as it is mostly used for developing purposes. Test Object has plenty of features like cloud test, GitHub integration, faster loading time and has many iOS devices in its list to select and run.
You can upload your project to Github and link the account to Test Object. It may take time initially but once loaded, the emulator works faster.
Xamarin
Mac Ios Simulator
This iOS emulator comes with Microsoft visual studio. This can be used to test your apps on iOS platform using emulator. Code once – publish on various platforms is the flexibility given by visual studio to developers. Usually, the code is written in c# and can be published to different platforms like iOS and Android with slight modifications.
This is beneficial as developers will not have to rewrite code for every single platform that wastes time. Emulator consists of many handy options such as home, lock, settings, screenshots and other options. This emulator in windows has touchscreen support too.
Adobe Air iPhone
Air iPhone is an emulator that can be used for testing purposes and normal usage of iOS apps. This software is totally free. You can download this software from the official website. After installation, open it up. Start downloading app, games and enjoy the iOS look and feel from the emulator. If you want to test your app, upload the file and Air iPhone will let you execute in the emulator.
Ripple
Ripple is an emulator but is different from others. It is a chrome extension. Ripple is a multi-platform emulator useful for testing apps on various devices without actually connecting them. There is no need to download any software as it is a chrome extension.
You can emulate any iOS device for testing your app. It offers many tools like Javascript debugging, automated testing, HTML DOM Inspection and much more.
Appetize.io
Appetize.io is an online emulator. In simple terms, it emulates iOS apps using cloud service online. You do not need to download any software for this. This is mainly useful for developers who want to test their apps.
The process is pretty simple. Make a zip of your project. Go to Appetize.io website. Click on upload button located in the top right position of the navigation bar. Upload the zip file and enter your email address. It takes some time and eventually you will get an email. Click on the link, and you can see that the app uploaded as zip will be streamed online.
Smart face
Smart Face is useful for developing applications on cross platforms. Generally, Apple is strict towards the usage of their operating system. You can develop Android apps using Andy Android Emulator on Windows platform, but you would need MAC to test and build iOS apps. This is the main reason for Android having so many useful apps when compared to iOS.
But with the help of a smart face, you can emulate iOS devices and test your apps. For all the iPhone, iPad models available, you can select one device and emulate. Debugging features like watches, breakpoints and real-time code are also available.
MobiOne Studios
MobiOne Studios iOS emulator is mainly useful for developers. With the help of MobiOne Studios, you can develop iOS apps with less coding. Drag and drop feature makes it easier to develop apps.
If you are not a developer and just want to try out iOS apps and games, this emulator can also be used for this purpose. You can download and use apps in the same way as if you had an iPhone. iPad UI templates are available for a quick start. Design the app using this software and testing process can also be performed with ease. This is a useful software for developers and is a too powerful emulator to load apps and games without lag.
IPadian
If you are searching for a software to just get an understanding of how iOS UI looks like or how it works then IPadian is for you. It is a simulator but not an emulator. You can only run apps designed especially for this software. You will not be able to access iTunes.
Apart from downside, significant advantage using this is that you will get the feeling of using a real iOS device after using IPadian. Majority of the apps you find in the store are working, but few apps connecting to servers will have connectivity issues.
Appy Pie
Appy Pie is an online iOS app creator which also provides iOS Simulator. You can create and test iOS apps by running in emulators. Another option is that you can upload your project to the website and can run Simulator.
Appy Pie works smoothly. It has enough features for quick testing your apps without any software installations on Mac.
iPhone Simulator
Download the iPhone Simulator and install in your Windows. This will have the same look and feel just like iOS devices. You can use it to know more about its options. Especially if you are an Android user, you will feel a little discomfort using iOS. This is the best emulator to get yourself used to the iOS operating system.
Download apps and games to try on this emulator. However, you will have access to a limited number of apps or games due to certain rules and restrictions.
Electric Mobile Studio
Electric Mobile Studio is one of the powerful emulators to run almost all apps of the app store. After writing code, you can deploy in the iOS emulator to debug the functionality and can also check in terms of design. This is really useful for developers.
This point is not considered as a downfall, but Electric Mobile Studio needs at least 6GB RAM to be able to run iOS apps smoothly. During or after development, you can use this software for testing various components in the app. Redesigning is also possible. This tool is a complete professional kit for developers. Prices are high, but it is worthy of its features.
App.io
App.io is an online emulator with robust features and flexible workflow. All you need to do is upload your project zip file in the website. Time taken to upload will be based on your internet connection. Once uploaded, you can now test using App.io as it loads the iOS app in the online emulator itself. No extra software or plugins are needed to make this emulator work.
Keep the browsers up to date. Compatible browsers for this online emulator to work are Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.
RunThatApp
This is a relatively new online emulator in the market. The working procedure is the same just like the others. You upload the zip file of your project, and this emulator will do the work for you and loads the application in whichever iOS device you choose.
As it is new or for some reasons, you have to pay to test your apps. This same feature is available in other emulators for free, but the apps run smoothly once loaded. The responsive touch, UI, features resemble an iOS device.
iMAME
IMame emulator is useful for running iOS games on windows. While most of the emulators are used for developing and trying existing apps, iMame emulator enables you to play games. That being said, it does not mean that it won’t run apps. This emulator runs both iOS apps and games with ease without lag.
This emulator supports only a limited number of apps and games. To be precise, this emulator cannot run apps below iOS 8.
Nintendo 3DS Emulator
As we all know, Nintendo 3ds is not an iOS emulator but it is a popular gaming console with exciting games. You can play all video console its games with the help of Nintendo 3DS Emulator. This creates a virtual environment and lets you play the console games. The options are configurable. Gameplay will be smooth without any lags. This emulator is available on all major platforms like Mac and Windows.
All above mentioned iOS emulators are not the only ones available online but these are the best iOS emulators reviewed and rated by users. The list includes both free and paid versions. Basically, you will get softwares for free, but contains ads. You have to pay a subscription to remove ads and can unlock more iOS features. If you have ever encountered bags, kindly send an email to developers explaining the issue. This is your contribution towards developing a bug-free emulator.