How to Control the Status Bar in iOS Simulator

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Need to quickly change the iOS Simulator’s status bar for screenshots or testing? You can do it with the simctl command-line tool. Here’s a quick look.

The Basic Command

The core command to manipulate the status bar is:

xcrun simctl status_bar <device> override <options>

<device>: Use booted for the currently running simulator, or a specific simulator UDID (get a list with xcrun simctl list devices).
<options>: These are key-value pairs for what you want to change.

Common Status Bar Overrides

Here are some of the most common things you’ll want to do:

How to Record GIFs from iOS Simulator

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Creating GIFs from your iOS Simulator is a great way to showcase features, document animations, or report bugs. Let’s look at the easiest ways to do this.

Record a GIF from the iOS Simulator

The simplest way to record a video of your app running in the iOS Simulator is using its built-in screen recording feature.

Launch your app in the iOS Simulator.
With the Simulator window active,
1. go to File > Record Screen in the macOS menu bar, or
2. press the shortcut Cmd + R, or
3. hold Option and click on the record button in the Simulator’s title bar.
A recording indicator (a small circle) will appear in the Simulator’s title bar. Perform the actions you want to capture.
To stop, click the recording indicator again, or press Cmd + R.
A thumbnail of your recording will appear.
Right-click that recording then select Save as Animated Gif.

IOS Simulator on Mike Gopsill

How to Control the Status Bar in iOS Simulator

The Basic Command

Common Status Bar Overrides

How to Record GIFs from iOS Simulator

Record a GIF from the iOS Simulator