[react-native] React Native Change Default iOS Simulator Device

When I run this command:

react-native run-ios

My app runs by default in the iPhone6 simulator device:

Found Xcode project RN.xcodeproj
Launching iPhone 6 (9.2)...

How can I have the app run in a different simulator device (like iPhone5s) by default?

change line code of /node_modules/react-native/local-cli/runIOS/findMatchingSimulator.js

line 55

  if (
    simulator.availability !== '(available)' &&
    simulator.isAvailable !== true
  ) {
    continue;
  }

replace which:

   if (
                simulator.availability !== '(available)' &&
                simulator.isAvailable !== true
              ) {
                continue;
     }

There is a project setting if you hunt down:

{project}/node_modules/react-native/local-cli/runIOS/runIOS.js

Within there are some options under module.exports including:

options: [{ command: '--simulator [string]', description: 'Explicitly set simulator to use', default: 'iPhone 7', }

Mine was line 231, simply set that to a valid installed simulator and run react-native run-ios it will run to that simulator by default.

Here is new path for changing iOS simulator you just need to change

default: 'iPhone 6' or something else 

Path:

<project_root>/node_modules/@react-native-community/cli/build/commands/runIOS/runIOS.js

1) Rename your simulator, If simulator with same name but different iOS version

Xcode -> Window -> Devices and Simulators -> Simulators.

2) Open your react native project folder

3) Edit package.json

"scripts": {
    "start": "node node_modules/react-native/local-cli/cli.js start",
    "test": "jest",
    "flow": "node_modules/.bin/flow",
    "start-iphone6": "react-native run-ios --simulator \"iPhone 6 11.3\""
}

4) npm run start-iphone6

You can create an alias at your ~/.bash_profile file:

alias rn-ios="react-native run-ios --simulator \"iPhone 5s (10.0)\""

And then run react-native using the created alias:

$ rn-ios

Get device list with this command

xcrun simctl list devices

Console

== Devices ==
-- iOS 13.5 --
    iPhone 6s (9981E5A5-48A8-4B48-B203-1C6E73243E83) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 8 (FC540A6C-F374-4113-9E71-1291790C8C4C) (Shutting Down) 
    iPhone 8 Plus (CAC37462-D873-4EBB-9D71-7C6D0C915C12) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 (347EFE28-9B41-4C1A-A4C3-D99B49300D8B) (Shutting Down) 
    iPhone 11 Pro (5AE964DC-201C-48C9-BFB5-4506E3A0018F) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 Pro Max (48EE985A-39A6-426C-88A4-AA1E4AFA0133) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone SE (2nd generation) (48B78183-AFD7-4832-A80E-AF70844222BA) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (2DEF27C4-6A18-4477-AC7F-FB31CCCB3960) (Shutdown) 
    iPad (7th generation) (36A4AF6B-1232-4BCB-B74F-226E025225E4) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (11-inch) (2nd generation) (79391BD7-0E55-44C8-B1F9-AF92A1D57274) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation) (ED90A31F-6B20-4A6B-9EE9-CF22C01E8793) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air (3rd generation) (41AD1CF7-CB0D-4F18-AB1E-6F8B6261AD33) (Shutdown) 
-- tvOS 13.4 --
    Apple TV 4K (51925935-97F4-4242-902F-041F34A66B82) (Shutdown) 
-- watchOS 6.2 --
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 40mm (7C50F2E9-A52B-4E0D-8B81-A811FE995502) (Shutdown) 
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 44mm (F7D8C256-DC9F-4FDC-8E65-63275C222B87) (Shutdown) 

Select Simulator string without ID here is an example.

iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation)

Final command

iPhone

• iPhone 6s

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 6s"

• iPhone 8

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 8"

• iPhone 8 Plus

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 8 Plus"

• iPhone 11

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 11"

• iPhone 11 Pro

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone 11 Pro"

• iPhone 11 Pro Max

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

• iPhone SE (2nd generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone SE (2nd generation)"

iPad

• iPad Pro (9.7-inch)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Pro (9.7-inch)"

• iPad (7th generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad (7th generation)"

• iPad Pro (11-inch) (2nd generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Pro (11-inch) (2nd generation)"

• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) 4th generation

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation)"

• iPad Air (3rd generation)

react-native run-ios --simulator="iPad Air (3rd generation)"

There are multiple ways to achieve this:

1. By using --simulator flag
2. By using --udid flag

Firstly you need to list all the available devices. To list all the devices run

xcrun simctl list device

This will give output as follows:

These are the available devices for iOS 13.0 onwards:

== Devices ==
-- iOS 13.6 --
    iPhone 8 (5C7EF61D-6080-4065-9C6C-B213634408F2) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 8 Plus (5A694E28-EF4D-4CDD-85DD-640764CAA25B) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 (D6820D3A-875F-4CE0-B907-DAA060F60440) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 Pro (B452E7A1-F21C-430E-98F0-B02F0C1065E1) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 11 Pro Max (94973B5E-D986-44B1-8A80-116D1C54665B) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone SE (2nd generation) (90953319-BF9A-4C6E-8AB1-594394AD26CE) (Booted) 
    iPad Pro (9.7-inch) (9247BC07-00DB-4673-A353-46184F0B244E) (Shutdown) 
    iPad (7th generation) (3D5B855D-9093-453B-81EB-B45B7DBF0ADF) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (11-inch) (2nd generation) (B3AA4C36-BFB9-4ED8-BF5A-E37CA38394F8) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (4th generation) (DBC7B524-9C75-4C61-A568-B94DA0A9BCC4) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air (3rd generation) (03E3FE18-AB46-481E-80A0-D37383ADCC2C) (Shutdown) 
-- tvOS 13.4 --
    Apple TV (41579EEC-0E68-4D36-9F98-5822CD1A4104) (Shutdown) 
    Apple TV 4K (B168EF40-F2A4-4A91-B4B0-1F541201479B) (Shutdown) 
    Apple TV 4K (at 1080p) (D55F9086-A56E-4893-ACAD-579FB63C561E) (Shutdown) 
-- watchOS 6.2 --
    Apple Watch Series 4 - 40mm (D4BA8A57-F9C1-4F55-B3E0-6042BA7C4ED4) (Shutdown) 
    Apple Watch Series 4 - 44mm (65D5593D-29B9-42CD-9417-FFDBAE9AED87) (Shutdown) 
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 40mm (1B73F8CC-9ECB-4018-A212-EED508A68AE3) (Shutdown) 
    Apple Watch Series 5 - 44mm (5922489B-5CF9-42CD-ACB0-B11FAF88562F) (Shutdown) 

Then from the output you can select the name or the uuid then proceed as you wish.

1. To run using --simulator run:

npx react-native run-ios --simulator="iPhone SE"

2. To run using --udid flag run:

npx react-native run-ios --udid 90953319-BF9A-4C6E-8AB1-594394AD26CE

I hope this answer helped you.

If you want to change default device and only have to run react-native run-ios you can search in finder for keyword "runios" then open folder and fixed index.js file change 'iphone X' to your device in need.

[1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/BCtR1.png

As answered by Ian L, I also use NPM to manage my scripts.

Example:

{_x000D_
  "scripts": {_x000D_
    "ios": "react-native run-ios --simulator=\"iPad Air 2\"",_x000D_
    "devices": "xcrun simctl list devices"_x000D_
  }_x000D_
}

This way, I can quickly get what I need:

1. List all devices: npm run devices
2. Run the default simulator: npm run ios

I had an issue with XCode 10.2 specifying the correct iOS simulator version number, so used:

react-native run-ios --simulator='iPhone X (com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-12-1)'

I developed CLI tool for it.You can just type "rndcli".and select device

https://github.com/nazrdogan/rndcli

You can also use npm for this by adding an entry to the scripts element of your package.json file. E.g.

"launch-ios": "react-native run-ios --simulator \"iPad Air 2\""

Then to use this: npm run launch-ios