iOS 15.8 DeviceSupport for Xcode?

Vendrel wrote:

Oh, sorry, I should have been more specific. We must pair our devices first to use them as you described, but only once so it probably didn't click you in. I talked about this kind of pairing. This is failed. It mentions that a restart for both device may help but it didn't help.

OK. I get it now. I'm afraid you're stuck. You have to be very careful about any and all software updates as a developer.

Xcode 14.2 doesn't recognize that version of iOS. Even an older version of Xcode 15 might not recognize it.

You may be able to hack it though. Go into

/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport

and make a copy of the "15.7" folder named "15.8". That might work.

Also, see the last post here: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/740419

that might work too. 😄

Vendrel wrote:

Any idea then, though it's off-topic now?

Don't worry about that. Apple recently redesigned the gamification for this support site. Thread-jacking and off-topic discussions are now just as valid as any other.

To summarize the situation:

The Mac runs Monterey, latest. + Xcode, 14.2, latest compatible.

2. iOS Devices run 15.8.

3. Xcode 14.2 is compatible with iOS 11–16.2.

I still don't understand what you mean about "pairing". That means something specific with respect to Bluetooth devices.

I've got my app up in Xcode right now. My iOS target is selected. (Because Xcode doesn't support cross-platform app groups). Currently selected device is the iPhone 14 Pro simulator.

I plug in my old iPad. Xcode displays a little message saying "preparing iPad for development". Now I can change my selected device to the real iPad. I click the "run" button and off it goes.

Sometimes I have to enter a passcode on the device. Sometimes I have to tell the device to trust this computer. Sometimes, I get a message saying that it failed to prepare the iPad for development. If this happens, I just unplug and plug it back in.

Is this what you are doing? Are you saying pairing because you are trying to debug remotely? I don't even know how to do that. I see where it is now. I'm not clicking that button!

Here is an interesting thread with a long list of feedback issues associated: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/737875

It is referring to Xcode 15, but clearly this is an area of active Apple "interest", which is never a good thing. Apple has a habit of sneaking in lots of lower-level changes in the last minor update of version X.Y-1 and then announcing the change in X.Y.

So maybe try USB and see if that works.

iOS 15.5 is the nearest available with Xcode 14.3.1, and I don't have it installed on macOS 13.6:

% xcrun simctl list devices available
== Devices ==
-- iOS 16.4 --
    iPhone SE (3rd generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 14 ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 14 Plus ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 14 Pro ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 14 Pro Max ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air (5th generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPad (10th generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPad mini (6th generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (11-inch) (4th generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (6th generation) ([deletia]) (Shutdown) 
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-12-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-13-3 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-14-2 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-14-5 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-15-0 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-15-2 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-15-4 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-15-5 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-16-0 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-16-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-16-2 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.iOS-8-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-12-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-13-3 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-14-2 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-14-5 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-15-0 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-15-2 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.tvOS-15-4 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-5-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-6-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-7-1 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-7-4 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-8-0 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-8-3 --
-- Unavailable: com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimRuntime.watchOS-8-5 --

This is my problem, too. (Minor difference: my devices run 15.8 but, in the runtimes list, there's 15.5 only.)

No device of mine can be paired in Xcode because Apple forgot to make iOS runtimes for iOS 15 updated (though I expected that if the runtime is earlier than the iOS version the device actually has, then it should be compatible backwards, working with iOS 15.5 runtimes without a single hickup).

I literally can not run any app of mine (made throughout my learning curve) on my devices because they should be paired in order to do this.

In the past decade or so, Apple expects developers to be on the current macOS version, or for part of the year on the current or next most current version. We’re in the two-versions part of the year. Xcode on the previous macOS version will usually end around WWDC.

If you want to learn development for Apple platforms, develop apps for the Mac and macOS you have, or develop for an older simulator for older devices. This until you can acquire current hardware. Or develop on a current iPad for iPad and iPhone, using Playgrounds.

Or you can try cross-platform, but that adds its own pile of complexities, and its own support channels.

Microsoft keeps older versions around and running and supported for longer, and even they’re getting less extravagant, increasingly going to supporting the three most recent versions.

One of the major server vendors I’ve dealt with was on a three year cycle for their servers, though some installations stretched that to five years before replacing.

As an industry, IT is now an endless treadmill of updates and upgrades, and installs inevitably get dragged forward.

Vendrel wrote:

This is my problem, too. (Minor difference: my devices run 15.8 but, in the runtimes list, there's 15.5 only.)

No device of mine can be paired in Xcode because Apple forgot to make iOS runtimes for iOS 15 updated (though I expected that if the runtime is earlier than the iOS version the device actually has, then it should be compatible backwards, working with iOS 15.5 runtimes without a single hickup).

I literally can not run any app of mine (made throughout my learning curve) on my devices because they should be paired in order to do this.

This is a classic problem here in the forums. People often say something like "I can't do X". What does that mean? Are you getting some kind of error message? If so, what does it say? A screenshot might be helpful.

I regularly develop on Monterey and Ventura, with Xcode versions 14.2 and 15.2. My test devices are running 15.7.

What is it that you are trying to do that doesn't work? You mentioned "paired". What is that? Is that something different than just running apps on a device in the debugger?

I see, etresoft, that's promising! What you say means that this is a whole different issue then.

The actual error message was this:

This operation (the device pairing) can fail if the version of the OS on the device is incompatible with the installed version of Xcode. You may also need to restart your Mac and device in order to correctly detect compatibility.

Well, the double restart didn't help, plus the statement in this error message is literally untrue because the compatible iOS version range of Xcode 14.2 (14C18) (my machine can't run later versions, this version was recommended by App Store), is officially contains iOS 15.8, link.

This is why I suspected that it's because the difference between 15.5 runtime and 15.8 on-device OS but you made sure that it's wrong. (Excepting if you paired your devices with matching iOS versions, then later upgraded the on-device iOS. To exclude that the difference between version numbers causes the pairing problem, should be tested directly, to be precise.)

Any idea then, though it's off-topic now?

To summarize the situation:

1. The Mac runs Monterey, latest. + Xcode, 14.2, latest compatible.
2. iOS Devices run 15.8.
3. Xcode 14.2 is compatible with iOS 11–16.2.

Oh, sorry, I should have been more specific. We must pair our devices first to use them as you described, but only once so it probably didn't click you in. I talked about this kind of pairing. This is failed. It mentions that a restart for both device may help but it didn't help.

Haha, it's too funny, it worked! I had to do it with 15.5 but Xcode just stopped whining. Thank you so much!

That was my conclusion, too, that developers must have secondary devices for development purposes and once paired, automatic iOS updates must be disabled on them unless they see the proper runtime version for the update…

Vendrel wrote:

developers must have secondary devices for development purposes and once paired, automatic iOS updates must be disabled on them unless they see the proper runtime version for the update…

Absolutely. Ideally, get an old one on eBay or something so that it will not be able to upgrade at all. But even then, you've got to be careful. I had thought about upgrading my test devices to 15.8, but hadn't done it yet. Your experience tells me that I shouldn't ever do it.

Well, 15.8 is exactly the version I have and to which you've just helped me out with a working workaround. :)

But it's true; the avoid this minefield, we truly need to entirely avoid any kind of upgrading…

🙏 🙏 🙏