iOS setup

iOS builds require macOS, full Xcode, and the Apple Silicon Simulator Rust target. An Apple Account, provisioning profile, connected iPhone, booted Simulator, and installed Simulator runtime are not required for build-only use.

Install Xcode, open it once so its components finish installing, then select it if necessary:

xcode-select -p
xcodebuild -version
xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-path
rustup target add aarch64-apple-ios-sim
cargo ferry doctor

cargo ferry doctor is read-only. It reports:

• selected DEVELOPER_DIR/Xcode;
• xcodebuild, xcrun, and plutil;
• iPhone Simulator SDK path and version;
• Cargo, rustup, and aarch64-apple-ios-sim;
• installed CoreSimulator runtimes as an optional run-time check.

A missing runtime is a warning, not a build failure. Install a runtime from Xcode Settings > Platforms only when install or run support needs one.

Xcode selection

Discovery honors an explicit DEVELOPER_DIR, then xcode-select -p. It rejects Command Line Tools-only developer directories because they do not contain iPhoneSimulator.platform.

The tool never invokes sudo, changes the selected Xcode, accepts licenses, installs SDKs, or downloads executables. Apply any system-level fix yourself, then rerun cargo ferry doctor.

Security boundary

All generated Apple files remain under the application’s target/ferry/ios/ directory. Generated writes reject absolute paths, parent traversal, and symlinked output components. External programs receive argument arrays; project/config values are not interpolated into a shell command.