The way you are switching between the apps, virtual desktops or fullscreen apps affects your workflow, efficiency, and focus. I have a tip how to run Xcode 9 or 10 with Simulator in a divided fullscreen mode so you can focus on the development without distractions.

This article is also published on my blog.

☹️ The problem

I don’t know about you, but I actually like (a lot) working with Xcode, or with any other IDE (and different apps) in fullscreen. It gives me the full usage of the screen and I can become easily more productive in the app. Also switching between 2 or more apps is easier thanks to macOS gestures. But there is one thing that used to be an issue for me. It was debugging an application. You have 2 options:

Real device or Simulator

With the real device, you have to pick it up all the time, probably even unlock it for Xcode to be able to run the application. That’s annoying. I used this approach for years because I was thinking “there’s nothing like device”, later I’ve got a little smarter and started using Simulator for most of my testing and debugging. It went fine, but had some pain points:

every time I had to switch with a gesture to Simulator (and back)

when Xcode hit breakpoint or app crashed, macOS transitioned me back to Xcode

you could not look at the app and check console output at the same time

After a while a realized it bothers me, it is not productive and I lost focus many times.

✅ The Solution

An 💡 idea popped in my head, why don’t I put it next to Xcode in fullscreen? Unfortunately, Simulator does not support fullscreen mode by default. I did a little research and figured there’s a way, but that’s not all we need, if we had Simulator running in one fullscreen and Xcode in second, it wouldn’t almost any improvement. We need to merge them together to run in divided fullscreen mode. And luckily, that’s enabled for both once they support fullscreen.