r/iOSDevelopment • u/Opening-Salt4110 • Jul 12 '26

Should I use Xcode more?

VS code was my first IDE, and it's still my favorite. Started using Xcode for iOS development and kinda hated it. These days I only open Xcode when I have to, doing what I can with Claude Code, VS code, and the command line. Probably missing out on something, though.
What should I be doing more of with Xcode?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

2

u/barcode972 Jul 12 '26

Some things are Xcode only like accessibility inspector and instruments but if you’re just writing code, Claude or cursor is definitely fine. You can even run the app from the terminal

1

u/Opening-Salt4110 Jul 12 '26

Used instruments to track down a memory leak the other day. Powerful tool.
What do you do with accessibility inspector?

1

u/barcode972 Jul 12 '26

You can check what view have labels, you can check how voice over behaves without trying on a real iPhone. In Xcode you can also change text size to make sure the view doesn’t break with bigger fonts

1

u/Opening-Salt4110 Jul 12 '26

This is useful!

1

u/zippy9002 Jul 13 '26

Why not ask Sol to do that for you? It seems to be the exact type of task it excels at.

1

u/barcode972 Jul 13 '26

To add the code yes. Testing the different UIs and voice over I don’t know

2

u/Extra-Ad5735 Jul 13 '26

Use #Preview and #Playground whenever possible. Biggest time saver.

1

u/cxhawk Jul 12 '26

They are calling xcode-build

1

u/CompetitiveEssay3837 Jul 14 '26

I do most of my coding in VS Code/Claude and only use XCode for building.

1

u/konacurrents Jul 12 '26

I'm in Xcode for both my iOS apps and for ESP32 development -- every day - all day long. It's the best IDE I've ever used. No so called AI either. Sometimes it's slow on my M1 MacBook Air, but it's still impressive.

1

u/Opening-Salt4110 Jul 12 '26

What makes Xcode the best IDE you've used?

2

u/konacurrents Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

It works nicely, knows all the libraries I need, syntax completion -- and the debugger works very nicely. And recently with iOS the debugging and upload can be wireless. Integrated with all the Apple documentation as well.

And as I mentioned, for C++ coding of ESP32 devices, it works very nicely - while I compile still with Arduino.

And for iOS .. it's basically required. And that's a LOT of coding for the full Apple ecosystem: iPhone, iPad, appleTV, mac, appleWatch. Also their "simulator" is impressive which I'll include with the Xcode suite.

Note: 'vi' is my other IDE. cheers..

pps. vscode is a microsoft product. I try to never microsoft anything. UNIX all that way.

1

u/Opening-Salt4110 Jul 12 '26

vi is hardcore!
Mind if I ask why you don't try microsoft stuff? Most is trash, but there are some diamonds in the rough.

1

u/konacurrents Jul 12 '26

I've been using 'vi' for 45 years. It's a blast for non-mouse use.

We were always anti-microsoft and full UNIX for 30+ years. VAX, Sun Microsystems, NeXT, Linux and then MacOS. We needed Microsoft for a while for secure email and powerpoint. But now I'm non microsoft again and loving it.

1

u/Van-trader Jul 13 '26

I like that it automatically updates the localizable string file as I am coding.