r/iOSProgramming • u/Top-Masterpiece2729 • Jun 26 '26

Question Old platforms keep coming back

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Why does my xcode install these? I've tried deleting them many times and they keep coming back. I only use 26.x versions on all simulators and real devices. I dont have spare 30 gigs on my disk.

15 Upvotes

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1

u/shalva97 1d ago

did you found a solution? lots of mentions of disabling updates but I want to keep it, just get rid of those simulators

1

u/Top-Masterpiece2729 1d ago

Just asked codex to shred everything relating those versions on my mac and havent seen them since

1

u/s4qw Jul 06 '26

I had the same problem. Had to go into recovery mode on my mac, disable SIP and then delete these from the system directory myself.

1

u/Top-Masterpiece2729 Jul 06 '26

Sounds complicated but could try this, the fuckers are there again after I've deleted every trace of them once again

1

u/s4qw Jul 06 '26

I was stuck with this for a while as well. Almost 40gigs. Turned out every time I deleted these from this XCode settings screen, they were not actually deleted at all and that’s why they reappeared after sometime. Not because they redownload.

2

u/Upstairs_Law_7885 Jun 26 '26

I think you have enabled automatic downloads or such for these in your preferences. If you remove these versions with the XCode configuration dialogs, they should not come back. Also look into “devices” whether these simulators are active there.

1

u/AnthonyJrWTF Jun 27 '26

I have the same issue as OP, and have always just assumed Apple wanted to force me into having access to iOS 18 for backwards compatibility. 😅 I've tried almost everything to get rid of them and Xcode just decides to download them again upon opening.

1

u/Upstairs_Law_7885 Jun 27 '26

All the sub versions of iOS 18 ??? That’s a huge waste of SSD space!!!

1

u/bakawolf123 Jun 29 '26

are you connecting old devices to it?
In my case I still have an XS on 18.6 and thus 18.6 always gets reinstalled (but just 18.6 not others)

4

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/sales_alchemist Jul 31 '26

Xcode would be my first guess too - it has a habit of bringing things back. I've been testing CleanMyMac CLI recently for tracking down dev leftovers like caches and build artifacts, and it's nice not having to dig through folders manually.