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Claude Code Can Now Build and Test iOS Apps in Apple's Simulator

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Anthropic today said Claude Code for desktop has been updated to work with the iOS Simulator, with the integration available in public beta.

claude code ios simulator
Claude Code can open in-progress apps in the iOS Simulator pane when it's instructed to build, run, or check an app. Claude can watch the iOS Simulator live as it runs, interact with it, and then iterate until a project is finished. Developers can continue to use the iOS Simulator as Claude works.

The pane in Claude Code drives the simulator directly, and it does not need computer use, which lets Claude control the screen the way a person would. With direct access, it works without the macOS Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions required for computer use.

Claude's screenshots of a device in iOS Simulator are sent to Anthropic and kept per standard conversation retention settings. Anthropic suggests users not sign in to real accounts on a device Claude uses.

iOS Simulator integration is available in Claude Code Desktop on macOS, and Xcode with the iOS platform installed is required. The simulator pane is available in local sessions only. Instructions on using the iOS Simulator with Claude Code can be found on Anthropic's website.

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Top Rated Comments

CalMin Avatar
CalMin
21 hours ago at 06:02 pm

Brace yourselves for an avalanche of vibe-coded slop.
Harsh, and possibly true, but then there's folks like me with good ideas but no computer science degree who have been empowered with AI. I learned some python from evening classes (my day job is in life sciences) and could only write simple data transformation scripts that would take me weeks to debug.

With AI - I'm writing creating genuinely useful programs I could never have dreamed of.

Let's not be totally down on AI!
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
Sp1281
22 hours ago at 04:50 pm
I guess Im a developer now.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Luftkopf Avatar
Luftkopf
21 hours ago at 05:46 pm
Brace yourselves for an avalanche of vibe-coded slop.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jfmartin67 Avatar
jfmartin67
21 hours ago at 06:16 pm

Harsh, and possibly true, but then there's folks like me with good ideas but no computer science degree who have been empowered with AI. I learned some python from evening classes (my day job is in life sciences) and could only write simple data transformation scripts that would take me weeks to debug.

With AI - I'm writing creating genuinely useful programs I could never have dreamed of.

Let's not be totally down on AI!
I fully agree with you.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
Bearxor
21 hours ago at 06:19 pm

I guess Im a developer now.
You laugh but I published an app to the app store last month and I’m definitely not a developer.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Luftkopf Avatar
Luftkopf
16 hours ago at 10:45 pm

Harsh, and possibly true, but then there's folks like me with good ideas but no computer science degree who have been empowered with AI. I learned some python from evening classes (my day job is in life sciences) and could only write simple data transformation scripts that would take me weeks to debug.

With AI - I'm writing creating genuinely useful programs I could never have dreamed of.

Let's not be totally down on AI!
I have an idea of an app I'd like to make, but when I have the time and headspace for it, I'm not going to vibe-code it. I want to understand the code I'm putting out. I've learned coding before, I can learn it again.

Like some have already commented, I have mixed feelings about this.

In one hand, discovering genuinely good apps will be harder, because you won’t be able to know whether an app is code-vibed, containing many bugs that the “code prompter” doesn’t know how to properly solve, or has been written by a coder even if it’s with the help of AI. No way to know unless you already know the dev.

But on the other hand… like user @CalMin said, this tools, that are getting better and better at coding, allow us, mere mortals that never were able to learn code, to easily make small programs or scripts.

Let me share an example. There’s been a software niche that wasn’t covered until a few months: an Obsidian-like knowledge management software, with local LLM integrated RAG system. Most of the local RAG systems I know are based on complex configuration that involve several software components.

So there’s a guy (or gal, idk) that six months ago started building this app for macOS, Canto ('https://lonelyduck.io/canto'), using AI to develop it much faster, quickly implementing new features in few days. I haven’t tried it yet, so I still don’t know how polished it is, but if it wasn’t for AI-assisted development, apps such as this one wouldn’t exist.
I accept that AI is a powerful tool, and in the right hands can be fantastic. Like you said though, how can we tell which apps are good or not? How can we see the difference between a vibe-coded slop-fest that is a pretty collection of vulnerabilities, an app that has been vibe-coded with some forethought that only has a few vulnerabilities, and will get hard to maintain over future versions, or a very thoughtfully made app that has had AI used in its creation, but is quality all the way through?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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