I build software
Developing mobile sites with the iOS simulator

screenshot of the iPhone Simulator showing the current website

While developing this website, I noticed that the responsive design mode in Safari looked different than when actually looking at the site from my phone.

I know there's a way to load the iOS simulator with the Safari dev console but couldn't remember how. I managed to get it working somehow but some of the steps were non-obvious.

  1. Install Xcode
  2. Install the iOS simulators when prompted
  3. Run XCode
  4. From the menubar, Xcode > Open Developer Tool > Simulator
    • to change device, File > Open Simulator > pick your preferred device
  5. Start up (iOS)Safari inside the Simulator and open the target website
  6. In (macOS)Safari menubar, Develop > iPhone Simulator

I haven't figured out how to get Open page with Simulator to work.