iOS Simulator fails to boot (18.6 / 26.1 / 26.2) – launchd_sim could not bind to session

Hi all, we do have the same problem. Me and several other colleagues. We just found out the same that iOS Simulator version 18.2 is the latest working for us. We have also tried to clean everything and start the installation from scratch. It did not help.

I throw my stack trace here as well in the hope it might be seen and it might help some developer at Apple.

Unable to boot the Simulator.
Domain: NSPOSIXErrorDomain
Code: 4
Failure Reason: Interrupted system call
User Info: {
    DVTErrorCreationDateKey = "2026-01-14 08:42:36 +0000";
    IDERunOperationFailingWorker = "_IDEInstalliPhoneSimulatorWorker";
    Session = "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDevice.79733B3C-A5BA-41E8-A88A-6DA408E517D6";
}
--
Failed to start launchd_sim: could not bind to session, launchd_sim may have crashed or quit responding
Domain: com.apple.SimLaunchHostService.RequestError
Code: 4
--

Event Metadata: com.apple.dt.IDERunOperationWorkerFinished : {
    "device_identifier" = "XXX";
    "device_model" = "iPhone17,5";
    "device_osBuild" = "26.0 (23A339)";
    "device_osBuild_monotonic" = 2300033900;
    "device_os_variant" = 1;
    "device_platform" = "com.apple.platform.iphonesimulator";
    "device_platform_family" = 2;
    "device_reality" = 2;
    "device_thinningType" = "iPhone17,5";
    "device_transport" = 4;
    "launchSession_schemeCommand" = Run;
    "launchSession_schemeCommand_enum" = 1;
    "launchSession_targetArch" = arm64;
    "launchSession_targetArch_enum" = 6;
    "operation_duration_ms" = 975;
    "operation_errorCode" = 4;
    "operation_errorDomain" = NSPOSIXErrorDomain;
    "operation_errorWorker" = "_IDEInstalliPhoneSimulatorWorker";
    "operation_error_reportable" = 1;
    "operation_name" = IDERunOperationWorkerGroup;
    "param_consoleMode" = 1;
    "param_debugger_attachToExtensions" = 0;
    "param_debugger_attachToXPC" = 1;
    "param_debugger_type" = 3;
    "param_destination_isProxy" = 0;
    "param_destination_platform" = "com.apple.platform.iphonesimulator";
    "param_diag_MTE_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_MainThreadChecker_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_MallocStackLogging_enableDuringAttach" = 0;
    "param_diag_MallocStackLogging_enableForXPC" = 1;
    "param_diag_allowLocationSimulation" = 1;
    "param_diag_checker_mtc_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_checker_tpc_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_gpu_frameCapture_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_gpu_shaderValidation_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_gpu_validation_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_guardMalloc_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_memoryGraphOnResourceException" = 0;
    "param_diag_queueDebugging_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_runtimeProfile_generate" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_asan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_tsan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_tsan_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_ubsan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_ubsan_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_showNonLocalizedStrings" = 0;
    "param_diag_viewDebugging_enabled" = 1;
    "param_diag_viewDebugging_insertDylibOnLaunch" = 1;
    "param_install_style" = 2;
    "param_launcher_UID" = 2;
    "param_launcher_allowDeviceSensorReplayData" = 0;
    "param_launcher_kind" = 0;
    "param_launcher_style" = 0;
    "param_launcher_substyle" = 0;
    "param_lldbVersion_component_idx_1" = 0;
    "param_lldbVersion_monotonic" = 170302340003;
    "param_runnable_appExtensionHostRunMode" = 0;
    "param_runnable_productType" = "com.apple.product-type.application";
    "param_testing_launchedForTesting" = 0;
    "param_testing_suppressSimulatorApp" = 0;
    "param_testing_usingCLI" = 0;
    "sdk_canonicalName" = "iphonesimulator26.1";
    "sdk_osVersion" = "26.1";
    "sdk_platformID" = 7;
    "sdk_variant" = iphonesimulator;
    "sdk_version_monotonic" = 2301007700;
}
--

System Information

macOS Version 15.7.3 (Build 24G419)
Xcode 26.1.1 (24455) (Build 17B100)
Timestamp: 2026-01-14T09:42:36+01:00