How to Run React Native Apps on a Specific Device in the iOS Simulator

Two devices running in the iOS Simulator: iPad & iPhone

It can be frustrating when the officially recommended method for doing a thing doesn’t work. Here are some steps and commands to help you get your React Native app running on your preferred device in the iOS Simulator:

The React Native Docs recommend using the --simulator flag with react-native run-ios:

react-native run-ios --simulator=”iPhone 11 Pro Max”

If you run into (like I did):

command not found: react-native

Try running the script for iOS in your app’s package.json (often it’s ios):

yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 11 Pro Max”

In theory npm should work also, but I didn’t have any luck. Your mileage may vary:

npm run ios --simulator=”iPhone 11 Pro Max”

List Available Devices

List available iOS devices:

xcrun simctl list devices

Available devices for iOS 13.3 on my machine:

iPhone 8 (2FE6CAE2–4908–4464–884A-5DED11505CE4) (Shutdown)
iPhone 8 Plus (F2A473F7–1F48–48DB-A6A6–584253814AA6) (Shutdown)
iPhone X (8FC4167D-AC9C-4F90–825C-9FB7004D03BA) (Booted)
iPhone 11 (E7885A5A-0306–4243-A852–8E71A7B0A5CB) (Shutdown)
iPhone 11 Pro (13B1AF48-BDD5–4AD7–8D7C-F31F3CF97FF5) (Shutdown)
iPhone 11 Pro Max (9C3B2313–258B-4E79–86A3–275D6BB3D078) (Shutdown)
iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (1A094DA7-A246–47B7–9716–5D8A9190C563) (Shutdown)
iPad (7th generation) (E0E0E252–5B96–4D2B-BD98–7D9ED79756AD) (Shutdown)
iPad Pro (11-inch) (143BB411-E726–4048–98E5-F87F04DEDCC2) (Shutdown)
iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (3rd generation) (14EFAE0F-C4D2–49E3-B501–633CB3E7DD00) (Shutdown)
iPad Air (3rd generation) (2797C8B5-E8FC-428A-AA4A-81F500153DDA) (Shutdown)

Add Devices

To add additional devices:

1. Launch Xcode

2. Open Devices and Simulators (⇧⌘2)

3. Press Simulators Tab

4. Press plus “+” button in the bottom left corner
5. Choose a Simulator Name, Device Type, and OS Version
6. Press blue button labeled “Create”

Commands for Your Convenience

Here are some commands with yarn that are ready-to-use for your convenience:

yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 8"
yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 8 Plus”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone X”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 11"
yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 11 Pro”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPhone 11 Pro Max”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPad Pro (9.7-inch)”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPad (7th generation)”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPad Pro (11-inch)”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPad Pro (12.9-inch)”
yarn ios --simulator=”iPad Air (3rd generation)”

Note

There is currently no way to set a default device for the Simulator.

Contributor’s Bio

Josh lives near Portland, Oregon with his wife and two daughters. He is a Software Engineer at Echobind and has been building software for the last 6 years.