Xcode

Founded by Chris Lattner in 2003

Build, test, and distribute applications across all Apple devices and operating systems

Pricing model

Free

Rating

★ People love it

Time to value

Moderate Setup (1-3 hours)

You can use Xcode to build, test, and package applications for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The environment integrates code editors with UI design canvases, letting you see live previews of SwiftUI and UIKit layouts as you write code. You can interact with integrated coding models from providers like OpenAI and Anthropic to assist your programming. Built-in debugging tools, device simulators, and performance instruments help you identify memory leaks, measure CPU usage, and prepare your app for App Store distribution.

What Xcode does

Compile and run Swift and Objective-C codeSimulate app behavior across various Apple hardware modelsInspect call stacks and pause code execution at breakpointsAnalyze graphics and CPU workload tracks using InstrumentsWrite and execute unit tests with the Swift Testing frameworkPackage and notarize desktop applications for macOS releaseManage project assets, icon sets, and localized string catalogsLive canvas previews for SwiftUI and UIKit user interfacesDevice Hub for testing on multiple connected physical devices and simulatorsSupport for external coding models and agents from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAIInstruments tool for monitoring CPU, memory, GPU, and disk performance metricsSwift Testing and XCTest frameworks for running automated unit and UI testsNative cloud-based continuous integration and automated builds via Xcode CloudIntegrated visual debugger with variable inspection and memory leak detectionXcode Organizer for inspecting production crash reports and user performance metrics