Clean

How to free up space from Xcode and iOS simulators

6 min readYou recover: 10–90 GBUpdated: 2026-09-29

Xcode is the biggest source of lost space on a developer Mac. Each simulator runtime takes 8 to 18 GB, and they stay even after you uninstall Xcode. A real case: ~23 GB of runtimes from an Xcode that wasn't installed anymore.

DerivedData: always safe

Safe

These are intermediate build files. Xcode recreates them on the next build.

rm -rf ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/*

Simulators that no longer work

Safe

This command deletes simulators for iOS versions you no longer have installed. The ones you use aren't touched:

xcrun simctl delete unavailable

Old iOS runtimes

Regenerates, with a cost

List your runtimes and delete the versions you no longer test on. Use Xcode's command: deleting them by hand doesn't work because they're mounted disk images protected by the system.

xcrun simctl runtime list
xcrun simctl runtime delete <ID>

Finder and du can report up to 4× the real size for these folders, because they count the contents of the mounted disk images.

iOS DeviceSupport

Safe

Every time you connect an iPhone running a new iOS version, Xcode stores 2–5 GB of symbols in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport. Delete old versions; Xcode downloads them again if you connect that device.

Archives: careful

Your files: review

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives stores your shipped builds with their symbols (dSYM). You need them to symbolicate crash reports for those versions. Only delete the ones for versions nobody uses anymore.

FAQ

If I use Expo or React Native, do I need the simulators?

Yes, you need at least one recent iOS runtime to test in the simulator. Delete only the ones you don't use and the "unavailable" ones.

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