Swift Byte #6: How to Detect if Application is Running On Simulator?

A quick guide on how to detect if the application is running on simulator or device

Recently, I learned a simpler way for detecting if the application is running on the simulator or not.

With Swift 4.1 and above, you can use target environment to check for it. For example:

   #if targetEnvironment(simulator)
       print("It's running on simulator")
   #else
       print("It's running on device")
   #endif

I seem to remember that the solution was much more complex than the above, where you have to check whether it’s x86_64 or i386 architecture. Stuff like that.

I can also wrap these preprocessor macros into a function so that the codebase is not littered with it. For example:

struct Environment {
    ...
    func isRunningOnSimulator() -> Bool {
        #if targetEnvironment(simulator)
           return true
        #else
           return false
        #endif
    }
}

Pretty neat right?

Anyway, thanks for still following this newsletter. I know I have been procrastinating. 😬