Hi all,
We currently have Android automation set up to run with an emulator but we have to run iOS automation via a Mac Mini and a physical device. Is it at all possible to run iOS on a simulator on the same box we use to run Android? Thank you in advance.
Yes, that is possible and the setup for the simulator is the same as for the real device. However, you wonāt have Apple Store on simulator so you need to install the app using a ipa file.
One other thing to consider is that ipa for real device differs from the one for the simulator because of the processor architecture. The iOS dev team should know how to build for both
Oh wow that is great news. The ipa files we already place in a location for RIDE to pick up and install, so all good there. Currently Android is running on a windows box and has and emulator, but for iOS which simulator software should we use? As far as I know there are no iOS devices on the emulator we use for Android
You can create and start your iOS simulator on the mac-mini directly using xCode by going to Windows->Devices and Simulators.
You will find there a list of simulators with different ID and OS. Using the id, you can start the simulator using this command in the terminal: open /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Applications/Simulator.app --args -CurrentDeviceUDID <device-id>
Oh yes I started looking at that but then stopped because the I wasnāt sure how to make RIDE see the emulator instead of the actual device. But it sounds like I need to look a bit deeper at the configuration before it will work so Iāll give that a go again. Thank you so much for the answers, I wasnāt expecting it to be possible so happy now. Thanks
From a robot test point of view it is just a matter of telling it on which device id to launch the application so thatās how you get from real device to simulator. Thatās it.
I see and that would be somewhere under test settings or one of those after I launch RIDE.py? Please excuse my ignorance, Iām picking up where it was left and learning as I go.
If you use AppiumLibrary you probably use the Open Application keyword to run the app. That requires arguments like device id, application package and so on. I donāt know your infrastructure but there should be something like this. So, in order to start the app on the simulator instead of real device you just modifu the udid parameter in the Open Application command or in the start of the Appium Server itself. Ride is just an editor, you can use many more which are more friendly: Pycharm, VS Vistual Studio Code
Ok gotcha thank you. Iāll give it a bash, much appreciated! 
I disagree on the non friendiness of RIDE 
Iām getting an error stating that it canāt find the device, but I suspect I have some more config to do somewhere.
We use āInstall And Start Application | ${APP}ā and specify the install location somewhere for the .ipa file which works with a physical device. But Iām having another issue now, and our Dev says the automation builds does have the architecture to run on simulators but I still get this error:
WebDriverException: Message: An unknown server-side error occurred while processing the command. Original error: Simulator architecture is unsupported by the ā/var/folders/hp/_hj1t_d172xbdzt0012b9j2r0000gp/T/2021813-4971-ehadc5.lmct/TestAppName.appā application. Make sure the correct deployment target has been selected for its compilation in Xcode.
Iāll have to dig some more
Thanks for sharing, Very helpful for me, Really appreciate.
I think you are the only one 
Hi @Inky80 did you ever get a fix for this ?
or @zastress do you know of something ?
as im getting the same on our ipa build.
Im trying to install and run it on simulator but i realise that it has to do with the type of build im getting through the iOS devās pipelines.
Should they be signing it with a certain Cert to run on the Simulator in xcode ?
No not yet. Will need to get back to solving this soon again.