Device & Debug Workflows

Set Up a Simulator Fleet

Create a comprehensive test fleet for covering all screen sizes and OS versions.

1. Check available runtimes and device types:

   “List all available simulator runtimes and device types”

2. Create the fleet:

   “Create these simulators, all on iOS 18:

   • iPhone SE (3rd generation)
   • iPhone 16
   • iPhone 16 Pro Max
   • iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)”

3. Add backward compatibility devices:

   “Create an iPhone 15 simulator on iOS 17.5 for backward compatibility”

4. Boot them all for testing:

   “Boot all 5 simulators I just created”

Tip

After creating your fleet, clone your most-used simulator to quickly create clean copies for parallel test runs.

Full Debug Session

A complete debugging workflow for investigating a bug.

1. Start logging:

   “Stream logs from the iPhone 16 simulator for 15 seconds, filtering for com.example.weatherapp”

   Reproduce the bug while logs are streaming.

2. Capture the crash state:

   “Take a screenshot of the simulator”

3. Collect historical context:

   “Collect the last 5 minutes of error-level logs from the simulator”

4. Record video reproduction:

   “Record the simulator screen for 20 seconds — I’ll reproduce the bug”

5. Run accessibility audit:

   “Run an accessibility audit on the current screen”

6. Collect full diagnostics (if needed):

   “Collect simulator diagnostics to ~/Desktop/debug-report”

One-shot version:

“I need to debug a crash. Stream logs for 10 seconds, take a screenshot, collect the last 3 minutes of error logs, and record 15 seconds of video”

Location Testing Workflow

Test location-dependent features like maps, weather, or geo-fencing.

1. Set a location:

   “Set the simulator location to Apple Park (37.3349, -122.0090)”

2. Launch the app:

   “Launch com.example.weatherapp on the simulator”

3. Grant location permission:

   “Grant location permission to com.example.weatherapp”

4. Screenshot the result:

   “Take a screenshot”

5. Test another location:

   “Move the simulator location to Times Square NYC (40.7580, -73.9855)”

6. Screenshot again:

   “Take another screenshot”

7. Clean up:

   “Clear the simulated location”

Common Test Coordinates

Location	Coordinates	Use Case
Apple Park, Cupertino	37.3349, -122.0090	US West Coast
Times Square, NYC	40.7580, -73.9855	US East Coast
London Eye	51.5033, -0.1196	UK / Europe
Tokyo Tower	35.6586, 139.7454	Asia Pacific
Sydney Opera House	-33.8568, 151.2153	Southern hemisphere
North Pole	90.0000, 0.0000	Edge case testing
Null Island	0.0000, 0.0000	Zero coordinate edge case

Push Notification Testing

Basic Alert

“Send a push notification to com.example.weatherapp with title ‘New Feature’ and body ‘Check out the new radar map’”

{
  "deviceId": "F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789",
  "bundleId": "com.example.weatherapp",
  "payload": "{\"aps\":{\"alert\":{\"title\":\"New Feature\",\"body\":\"Check out the new radar map\"},\"sound\":\"default\"}}"
}

Badge Update

“Send a push notification that sets the badge to 5”

{
  "deviceId": "F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789",
  "bundleId": "com.example.weatherapp",
  "payload": "{\"aps\":{\"badge\":5}}"
}

Custom Data

“Send a push notification with custom weather alert data”

{
  "deviceId": "F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789",
  "bundleId": "com.example.weatherapp",
  "payload": "{\"aps\":{\"alert\":{\"title\":\"Severe Weather\",\"body\":\"Tornado warning in your area\"},\"sound\":\"alarm.caf\",\"category\":\"WEATHER_ALERT\"},\"weather\":{\"type\":\"tornado\",\"severity\":\"extreme\",\"expires\":\"2025-03-01T18:00:00Z\"}}"
}

Silent Push

“Send a silent push to trigger a background refresh”

{
  "deviceId": "F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789",
  "bundleId": "com.example.weatherapp",
  "payload": "{\"aps\":{\"content-available\":1},\"refresh\":\"weather-data\"}"
}

Multi-notification test:

“Send 3 different push notifications to my weather app — a simple alert, a badge update to 3, and a silent push — with 2 seconds between each”

Status Bar Setup for App Store Screenshots

1. Set the perfect status bar:

   “Override the status bar on my iPhone 16 Pro simulator: time 9:41, battery 100% charged, WiFi 3 bars, cellular 4 bars, 5G network, no carrier name”

   {
     "deviceId": "F3A1B2C3-D4E5-6789-ABCD-EF0123456789",
     "time": "9:41",
     "batteryLevel": 100,
     "batteryState": "charged",
     "wifiBars": 3,
     "cellularBars": 4,
     "dataNetwork": "5g",
     "operatorName": ""
   }

2. Navigate to the screen you want to capture

3. Take screenshots across all devices:

   “Take screenshots on iPhone SE, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro Max, and iPad Pro simulators and save them to ~/Desktop/screenshots/”

4. Clean up:

   “Clear the status bar overrides on all simulators”

Dark Mode Comparison Screenshots

1. Light mode screenshots:

   “Set all simulators to light mode”

   “Take screenshots on all booted simulators, saving to ~/Desktop/screenshots/light/”

2. Dark mode screenshots:

   “Switch all simulators to dark mode”

   “Take screenshots on all booted simulators, saving to ~/Desktop/screenshots/dark/”

One-shot version:

“Take screenshots of my app in both light mode and dark mode on the iPhone 16 simulator, saving them to ~/Desktop”

Physical Device Deployment

Deploy and test on a real device.

1. Check connected devices:

   “List all connected physical iOS devices”

   Connected Devices:
     iPhone 15 Pro (00001234-ABCDEF012345)
       Model: iPhone 15 Pro
       OS: iOS 18.0
       State: Connected

2. Build for device:

   “Build WeatherApp for physical iOS device in Release mode”

   {
     "scheme": "WeatherApp",
     "destination": "generic/platform=iOS",
     "configuration": "Release"
   }

3. Install on device:

   “Install WeatherApp on my connected iPhone”

   {
     "deviceId": "00001234-ABCDEF012345",
     "appPath": "/Users/dev/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/WeatherApp-abc/Build/Products/Release-iphoneos/WeatherApp.app"
   }

4. Launch the app:

   “Launch com.example.weatherapp on my physical device”

5. Stream device logs:

   “Stream console logs from my iPhone for 30 seconds”

Privacy Permission Testing

Test how your app handles different permission states.

1. Grant all needed permissions:

   “Grant camera, microphone, and photo library access to com.example.weatherapp on the simulator”

2. Test the happy path — app has all permissions

3. Revoke a permission:

   “Revoke camera access from com.example.weatherapp”

4. Test the degraded experience — app handles missing camera

5. Reset everything:

   “Reset all privacy permissions for com.example.weatherapp”

6. Test the first-launch experience — permission prompts appear

Available privacy services:

Service	Description
camera	Camera access
microphone	Microphone access
photos	Full photo library access
photos-add	Add-only photo access
location	When-in-use location
location-always	Always-on location
contacts	Full contacts access
contacts-limited	Limited contacts
calendar	Calendar events
reminders	Reminders
health	HealthKit data
homekit	HomeKit accessories
media-library	Apple Music library
motion	Motion & fitness
siri	SiriKit
speech-recognition	Speech recognition
faceid	Face ID
usertracking	App tracking transparency
all	All permissions at once

Tip

Always test the “denied” state for every permission your app requests. Users can deny permissions at any time, and your app should handle this gracefully.