# Install ios-sim with Homebrew

Command-line application launcher for the iOS Simulator. Version 9.0.0 via Homebrew; verified from local package data.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:ios-sim
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install ios-sim
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:ios-sim
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 9.0.0
- **Source summary:** Command-line application launcher for the iOS Simulator
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/ios-control/ios-sim>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/ios-control/ios-sim>
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- ios-sim (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 9.0.0
## Project history and usage

ios-sim is a command-line launcher for the iOS Simulator. Its README and package metadata present it as a CLI for installing, launching, and querying simulator apps and device types from scripts.

### Project history

The repository dates to 2010, and package.json names Shazron Abdullah as author. Early ios-sim filled a practical gap before Apple's simulator tooling became friendlier to automation: launch a built app into the simulator without driving Xcode's GUI.

Later releases moved the user-facing command surface into an oclif-style Node CLI while still centering on simulator launch/install tasks. The README shows version 9.0.0 usage, commands such as install, launch, showdevicetypes, showsdks, and start, and npm installation as the first usage example.

### Adoption history

ios-sim was distributed through npm as well as Homebrew. npm registry metadata shows publication beginning in 2013 with dozens of versions, while the Homebrew formula packages the 9.0.0 tag as an all-platform bottle because the package itself is a JavaScript CLI wrapper around macOS simulator tooling.

### How it is used

The tool is used to start the simulator, install an app bundle, launch an app bundle with arguments or environment variables, list device types, and list SDKs. Those operations made it useful to Cordova-era and CI scripts that needed simulator control without a full Xcode UI session.

### Why package nerds care

ios-sim is a good package-catalog fossil: it captures the period when JavaScript mobile toolchains wrapped Apple developer tools to make iOS builds testable from npm scripts and CI jobs. Its value is less about a complex algorithm than about packaging a repeatable CLI facade over Apple's simulator.

### Timeline

- 2010: GitHub repository created and version 1.0 tag appears in the Git history.
- 2013: npm package publication began.
- 2020: Version 9.0.0 tag used by Homebrew as the stable source archive.
- 2022: npm registry metadata records later package modification after the 9.0.0 line.

### Related projects

- ios-sim sits beside ios-deploy in the ios-control organization: ios-sim targets the simulator, while ios-deploy targets physical devices. It also relates to Apple's Simulator.app and simctl tooling.

### Sources

- <https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/ios-sim>
- <https://github.com/ios-control/ios-sim>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ios-control/ios-sim/master/README.md>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ios-control/ios-sim/master/package.json>
- <https://registry.npmjs.org/ios-sim>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/ios-sim.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/ios-sim.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- cross-ecosystem install command graph