I am trying to upgrade my app to use Xcode 26 and I cannot get my tests to launch. I am trying to launch tests to the simulator, and I always get this error after 300 second timeout: "encountered an error (The test runner hung before establishing connection.)" There are no other errors getting logged. I can run to the same simulator just fine, and in Xcode 16 the tests launch with no issues. The tests also run fine on an actual iPhone. Thanks in advance.

I am seeing a regression with XCUIDevice.shared.appearance = .dark in UI tests that only affects xcodebuild, not Xcode’s UI test runner. Setup • UI tests written using XCTest • Dark mode forced in setUp() using: XCUIDevice.shared.appearance = .dark • Tests target an iOS simulator • Same test target, same scheme Expected behavior The app launches in Dark Mode for UI tests, as it did previously. Actual behavior • When running UI tests from Xcode (Product > Test), Dark Mode is applied correctly. • When running the same UI tests via xcodebuild test, Dark Mode is ignored and the app launches in Light Mode. • No test failures, no warnings, no logs indicating the appearance override was skipped. Regression details • This used to work on older iOS versions when running via xcodebuild. • The regression appears after updating iOS simulators (exact version boundary still unclear). • No relevant changes were made to the test code, scheme, or CI configuration. • xcodebuild otherwise launches and runs UI tests normally. Notes • The issue is specific to XCUIDevice.shared.appearance. • Other UI test functionality behaves as expected. • This makes CI results inconsistent with local Xcode runs and breaks visual assumptions in snapshot and layout-based tests. Question Is this a known regression or an intentional behavior change in recent iOS / Xcode versions? If intentional, what is the supported way to reliably force Dark Mode in UI tests when running via xcodebuild? This currently makes xcodebuild-based CI UI testing unreliable compared to Xcode’s test runner.

I have created a virtualised Mac machine where I am running the latest Xcode version 16.4 with macOS Sequoia as the base image. While running XCTest tests, I am observing a clear difference in behaviour between virtualised and non-virtualised setups. Below is the command I am using to run the tests: /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/xcodebuild -xctestrun /Users/ltuser/290103613/xcui.xctestrun -destination "platform=iOS Simulator,id=79A5F8CC-4A2E-4C91-895D-AE97E25CB824,arch=arm64,OS=18.0" test-without-building "-only-testing:ClassName/MethodName/testName" -derivedDataPath /Users/ltuser/290103613/Archive -verbose IDELogLevel=debug IDETestLogLevel=debug ONLY_ACTIVE_ARCH=YES Observed Issue On virtualised hosts: Every XCTest is executed twice This happens for both passed and failed tests The behaviour is consistent across all virtualised machines On non-virtualised (bare-metal) Macs: Tests execute only once, as expected Debugging Steps Taken Multiple destination suspicion Initially, I noticed the following warning: --- xcodebuild: WARNING: Using the first of multiple matching destinations: { platform:iOS Simulator, id:0FFB9082-94AB-4D0A-A731-CC4452BDD4E7, OS:17.0, name:iPhone 15 } { platform:iOS Simulator, id:0FFB9082-94AB-4D0A-A731-CC4452BDD4E7, OS:17.0, name:iPhone 15 } This raised suspicion that tests might be running twice due to multiple matching destinations. Destination narrowed down I then explicitly restricted the destination to a single simulator UDID, after which: The warning disappeared However, the issue still persists Tests continue to run twice on virtualised hosts Version Comparison Xcode 16.4 + macOS Sequoia (virtualised) → Tests run twice Xcode 15.x (same setup otherwise) → Tests run once Questions Has anyone else faced this issue with Xcode 16.x on virtualised macOS? Is this a known issue with Xcode 16 + Virtualisation? Is there any recommended workaround or configuration change to avoid duplicate test execution? I am currently blocked on this issue and would appreciate confirmation on whether this is an Xcode or virtualisation-related problem. Thank you.

Since I moved to Xcode 26.1 and Xcode 26.2 then, my UI tests all fail only for iOS 26+, for both simulator and real device. Everything worked perfectly with Xcode 26.0, and the code base of the application under test and the test cases are the same. With Xcode 26.0, the tests pass for iOS 26+ and iOS < 26, for both simulator and real device. In addition, even the Accessibility Inspector tool fails to display the view hierarchy for iOS 26+ with Xcode 26.2. With Xcode 26.0, whatever are the devices and the OS versions, the tool was able to display the view hierarchy. Otherwise the tool is empty even if the device and app are selected. This failing tests issue occurs both on my local environment and on GitHub Actions runners, excluding the hypothesis I have troubles with my own side. The error message for failing tests explains the element cannot be found anymore. Given for example the test case: @MainActor func testMakeScreenshotsForDocumentation_Button() { let app = launchApp() goToComponentsSheet(app) waitForButtonToAppear(withWording: "app_components_button_label", app) tapButton(withWording: "app_components_button_label", app) tapButton(withWording: "Strong", app) takeScreenshot(named: "component_button_", ACDC.buttonX, ACDC.buttonY, ACDC.buttonWidth, ACDC.buttonHeight, app) } the goToComponentSheet(app) line shows the error: ActionsDocumentationScreenshots.testMakeScreenshotsForDocumentation_Button() In details the function: /// Opens the page of the components, i.e. tap on the 2nd of the tab bar @MainActor func goToComponentsSheet(_ app: XCUIApplication) { app.tabBars.buttons.element(boundBy: 1).tap() } with the following error on the app.tabBars line: .../AppTestCase.swift:157 testMakeScreenshotsForDocumentation_Button(): Failed to tap Button (Element at index 1): No matches found for Descendants matching type TabBar from input {(Application, pid: 1883)} I have the feeling with Xcode 26.2 (and Xcode 26.1) the view hierarchy is not accessible anymore for both XCUITest framework and Accessibility Inspector tool. Note I have on my side macOS Tahoe 26.1 (25B78) and my GitHub Actions runner are on macOS 26.0.1 (25A362). When I used Xcode 26.0 I was on macOS Tahoe 26.1 (25B78) . Any ideas? 🙂

Hi there, ever since I updated to Xcode 26.1, I have been seeing Record UI Button that is showing up on the left hand side which I believe is a new feature. Is there a way to hide this button ? I am using Vim bind with relative line numbers, and now I can't see which line number I am in when writing test cases...

We have multiple Jenkins jobs running UI Tests on a Mac with a device attached. This works most of the time but sometimes the tests don't run and the xcreport generated has an error like: BCOVBRDCoverageUITests-Runner encountered an error in BCOVBRDCoverageUITests failed with: Failed to install or launch the test runner. (Underlying Error: Failed to create directory on device 'Brightcove's iPhone 14 Plus' (00008110-000C54912246401E) to hold runtime profiles for application with bundle ID 'com.brightcove.BCOVBRDCoverageUITests.xctrunner': (null). (Underlying Error: The system failed to get the path on the remote device for the provided domain. (Underlying Error: The connection was interrupted.))) Has anyone else run into this? Any ideas on how to get around it? Kicking off another job after seeing this behavior works fine. The failures seem to be random or we haven't noticed a pattern yet.

I've been working on UI Tests for a month or two and things have been great. But I believe there was a recent update to Xcode [running Version 26.2 (17C52)] and since then about 80% of the time when I try to view the test results so I can see the screenshots and video, Xcode crashes hard and I have to open it again. I've tried cleaning the Build folder and Derived Data and all sorts of stuff like that. Restarted Xcode, restarted my computer, etc. Any idea of how I can avoid these crashes?

Hi, I’m seeing an unexpected change in how XCTFail behaves in UI tests after updating Xcode. I use the following helper method: `func waitForExistance(file: StaticString, line: UInt) -> Self { if !(element.exists || element.waitForExistence(timeout: Configuration.current.predicateTimeout)) { XCTFail("couldn't find element: \(element) after \(Configuration.current.predicateTimeout) seconds", file: file, line: line) return self } else { return self } }` In Xcode 16.4, this worked as expected: – when an element wasn’t found, XCTFail was triggered, but the test continued running, allowing my retry logic to execute. After updating to Xcode 26.1 / 26.2 - the test now immediately aborts after XCTFail, without executing the next retry. The logs show: `t = 113.22s Tear Down t = 113.22s Terminate com.viessmann.care:81789 *** Assertion failure in -[UITests.Tests _caughtUnhandledDeveloperExceptionPermittingControlFlowInterruptions:caughtInterruptionException:whileExecutingBlock:], XCTestCase+IssueHandling.m:273 Test Case '-[UITests.Tests test_case]' failed (114.323 seconds). Flushing outgoing messages to the IDE with timeout 600.00s Received confirmation that IDE processed remaining outgoing messages` It looks like XCTFail in Xcode 26 is now treated as an unhandled developer exception, which stops the test execution immediately, even when it’s called inside a helper method. This was not the case in earlier versions. My questions: Is this a regression in XCTest? Or an intentional change in how XCTFail behaves in newer Xcode versions? Should failures now be reported differently (e.g., using record(.init(type: .assertionFailure, …))) if I want to continue the test instead of aborting it? I would like to restore the previous behavior where the failure is logged without terminating the entire test, so my retry mechanism can still run. Has anyone else run into this after upgrading? Thanks in advance! If you’d like, I can also add recommended workarounds that actually work with Xcode 16.4 (e.g., replacing XCTFail with a non-terminating issue record).

We’re facing an issue with Xcode 26.1 where code coverage is not being generated. All our test cases run and pass successfully, but the .xccovreport / .xccovarchive files are never produced. Code coverage is enabled in the scheme, and this setup used to work correctly in earlier Xcode versions. We are trying to determine whether this is a configuration issue on our end or a possible Xcode 26.1 bug. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem with code coverage in Xcode 26.1? Any insights or workarounds would be appreciated.

The buttons in the navigation bar are not available in the element tree after iOS 26 upgrade of the test phones. The same IPA version, the same XCode version, but different trees on different phones. There is no way to automate UI testing for these missing buttons. # ios 18 NavigationBar, 0x108e0c3c0, {{0.0, 47.0}, {390.0, 44.0}}, identifier: 'Profile' Button, 0x108e0c500, {{8.0, 47.0}, {43.0, 44.0}}, identifier: 'UserProfileSceneViewController_profile_back_button', label: 'chevronLeftIcon' StaticText, 0x108e0c640, {{169.3, 58.0}, {51.3, 22.0}}, label: 'Profile' Button, 0x108e0c780, {{339.0, 47.0}, {43.0, 44.0}}, identifier: 'UserProfileSceneViewController_settings_bar_button', label: 'Settings' # ios 26 NavigationBar, 0x13d63c8c0, {{0.0, 47.0}, {428.0, 54.0}}, identifier: 'Profile' StaticText, 0x13d63ca00, {{188.3, 58.0}, {51.3, 22.0}}, label: 'Profile'

"UITests recording reports 'The capability "Create Service Socket" is not supported by this device.' on M1 chip, but works normally on Intel chip."

Failed to generate code coverage report when doing Swift Testing on iPhone device, but it's ok in UI testing or running on "My Mac(Designed for iPad)". I have enable code coverage in test plan. My app can't run on simulator due to frameworks limitations. Platform: Mac mini M2 w/ macOS15.7, iPhoneXR 18.6.2 Xcode version: 26.1 & 16.0 error msg: Failed to download profiles from paths ["/private/var/mobile/Containers/Data/Application/76A1F9BC-98C8-4349-998B-0FC030DEE3EC/tmp/3A424286-872D-40AD-B4CA-65B232B57EB4"] on device 'iPhoneXR' for application with bundle ID 'xxx.xxxx.xxxx' to directory /Users//Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/-bosqsqmqiqwweldrfrtgsfpnhroht/Build/ProfileData/00008020-00042C2A3E38002E: Failed to retrieve the file node for tmp/3A424286-872D-40AD-B4CA-65B232B57EB4. (Underlying Error: Failed to retrieve the file node for tmp/3A424286-872D-40AD-B4CA-65B232B57EB4)

Description On iOS 26.1, a ToolbarItem placed in .keyboard is no longer exposed to the accessibility hierarchy. As a result: VoiceOver cannot focus or activate the toolbar button XCUITest cannot discover the element, making the UI impossible to test TextEditor() .toolbar { ToolbarItem(placement: .keyboard) { Button("Done") { /* action */ } } } This worked correctly on previous iOS versions. The button appears visually but is missing from both VoiceOver navigation and XCUI accessibility queries. Steps to Reproduce Create a new SwiftUI project. Use a simple text field with a keyboard toolbar button. Run on an iOS 26.1 device or simulator. Focus the text field to show the keyboard. Turn on VoiceOver and attempt to navigate to the toolbar button. Run an XCUITest attempting to locate the button

After upgrading to Xcode 16.4, the navigation arrow icon in the Report Navigator is no longer appearing for failed test cases within XCResult bundles. This icon, which allows developers to directly navigate to the specific line of code that caused a test failure, is now missing. This significantly hinders the debugging process for test automation engineers. Details: Xcode Version: 16.4 (issue started after upgrade) Test Framework: XCTest Test Environment: iOS simulators Execution Method: The tests are executed on a Jenkins CI/CD server XCResult Analysis: The generated .xcresult bundle is downloaded from the Jenkins server and opened locally on a Mac also running Xcode 16.4. Observed Behavior: The navigation arrow icon is missing, and there is no direct way to jump to the failure line from the report. This issue appears to be a regression introduced in Xcode 16.4, as the navigation arrow was consistently present in previous versions. Any insights or workarounds would be greatly appreciated.

I am developing an app that allows the user to ask it to process the clipboard contents and do something with it. In developing a XC UI Test, I find the app stops while it waits for the user to give permission. That breaks the automation. I tried: let springboard = XCUIApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.springboard") let allowButton = springboard.buttons["Allow Paste"] But that does not work. Is there a way to tell the framework to automatically give the test permission to access the Paste clipboard (or to allow me to write tests to grant this)?

Hello Apples, Noticed that after iOS 26.1 update the Xcode simulator seems to be prompting to login with Apple ID arbitrarily while working on some UI tests. This does not happen with previous iOS 26.0 or 26.0.1 but is now causing trouble when launching the app or uninstalling at teardown. The current other issue with the uninstallation being sticky and taking a long time (waiting for springboard to become idle) is not helping either. The dialog seems to appear a bit unreliably to be able to handle it correctly. Have tried both manual springboard dialog mapping and handling as well as an interruption monitor. The latter only seems to work for the first dialog which appears but then ceases to function so not much help… Anyone else seeing this and are there any knowledge or good workarounds? Or should we just roll back to testing with previous OS versions and cross fingers for iOS 26.2? Bottom line we cannot login with an Apple ID while running tests on a simulator… As bonus noticed the simulator background images are not working? Thanks! BR, ARu_ (Senior QE)

We are seeing repeated occurrences of the following log line in test runs triggered via .xctestrun files on iOS 26: IDERunDestination: Supported platforms for the buildables in the current scheme is empty. This line is printed n number of times after a test fails, significantly increasing test execution duration (2–3 minutes extra in some cases). The issue does not occur when tests are built and run together from Xcode directly — it’s specific to .xctestrun-based executions using xcodebuild test-without-building. Steps to Reproduce: Use Xcode 26 to build a sample XCTest target (we used a simple UI test project). Locate the generated .xctestrun file under DerivedData/.../Build/Products/.... Run tests using: xcodebuild -xctestrun /path/to/sample.xctestrun \ -destination "id=<device_id>" \ test-without-building Observe the logs during test failure. Observed Behavior: The log line IDERunDestination: Supported platforms for the buildables in the current scheme is empty appears multiple times. The test cleanup and teardown phase takes significantly longer (2–3 minutes). Expected Behavior: The log should appear once or not at all. Test cleanup time should remain consistent. Additional Information: Affects only iOS 26 devices and .xctestrun-based runs. Not reproducible on iOS < 26. Xcode 26 and 26.x beta versions tried. Reproducible both locally and on CI systems using real devices. Same .xctestrun file, when used on older OS versions, does not cause delay.

Since Xcode 26 our tests are crashing due to the Main Thread not being able to deallocate WKNavigationResponse. Following an example: import Foundation import WebKit final class WKNavigationResponeMock: WKNavigationResponse { private let urlResponse: URLResponse override var response: URLResponse { urlResponse } init(urlResponse: URLResponse) { self.urlResponse = urlResponse super.init() } convenience init(httpUrlResponse: HTTPURLResponse) { self.init(urlResponse: httpUrlResponse) } convenience init?(url: URL, statusCode: Int) { guard let httpURLResponse = HTTPURLResponse(url: url, statusCode: statusCode, httpVersion: nil, headerFields: nil) else { return nil } self.init(httpUrlResponse: httpURLResponse) } } import WebKit import XCTest final class ExampleTests: XCTestCase { @MainActor func testAllocAndDeallocWKNavigationResponse() { let expectedURL = URL(string: "https://galaxus.ch/")! let expectedStatusCode = 404 let instance = WKNavigationResponeMock() // here it should dealloc/deinit `instance` automatically } Here the call stack: Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread 0 CoreFoundation 0x101f3dd54 CFRetain.cold.1 + 16 1 CoreFoundation 0x101e14860 CFRetain + 104 2 WebKit 0x10864dd24 -[WKNavigationResponse dealloc] + 52

Fails to gather code coverage and throws this error Showing All Messages Failed to merge raw profiles in directory /Users//Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Receiver-ekqrbpsaciuxmlfslviajhoecyat/Build/ProfileData/0B0C6B69-FD46-4801-B106-56B7FCD44370 to destination /Users//Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Receiver-ekqrbpsaciuxmlfslviajhoecyat/Build/ProfileData/0B0C6B69-FD46-4801-B106-56B7FCD44370/Coverage.profdata: Aggregation tool '/Users/shwethamugeraya/Downloads/Xcode 2.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/llvm-profdata' failed with exit code 1: warning: /Users/shwethamugeraya/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Receiver-ekqrbpsaciuxmlfslviajhoecyat/Build/ProfileData/0B0C6B69-FD46-4801-B106-56B7FCD44370/2F4EFBF7-1CCF-4E9E-8FD6-482EEDB98B6C-34646.profraw: raw profile version mismatch: Profile uses raw profile format version = 4; expected version = 8 PLEASE update this tool to version in the raw profile, or regenerate raw profile with expected version. error: no profile can be merged

Looking for a way to overcome this issue when starting UI tests that used to be working: Source was stale 337 times within the last 500 ms (12 (latestGeneration) != 22 (lastKnownShmemState)): CFPrefsPlistSource<0x600003004c60> (Domain: com.apple.Accessibility, User: kCFPreferencesCurrentUser, ByHost: No, Container: ###/data, Contents Need Refresh: Yes) ... Failed to initialize for UI testing: Error Domain=XCTDaemonErrorDomain Code=18 "Timed out waiting for AX loaded notification" UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=Timed out waiting for AX loaded notification} Message from debugger: killed The environment is Xcode 16.3 with iOS Simulator 18.0. Not using the latest Simulator 18.4 because of another bug with network requests: https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/777999