Hi everyone,
I'm exploring an idea for building an internal iOS test infrastructure and would appreciate some guidance on whether this is supported by Apple and complies with the Apple Developer Program terms.
The idea is to have one or more Mac mini systems running Xcode and iOS Simulators on a private local network. Instead of engineers or CI systems interacting with the simulators directly on the Mac, they would connect to them remotely over the network to execute automated tests for an iOS application.
The Mac minis and simulators would:
- Remain on my own premises.
- Be accessible only within a private/internal network (not exposed to the public internet).
- Be used solely for developing and testing an iOS application.
My questions are:
- Is it supported to remotely access and control iOS Simulators over a private network for automated testing?
- Are there any licensing or Apple Developer Program restrictions that would prevent this type of setup?
- Are there any technical limitations or recommended best practices from Apple for building such an environment?
I'm not asking about remote desktop access to the Mac itself. Instead, I'm interested in whether it's acceptable to expose a service running on the Mac that can manage simulator lifecycle (create, boot, shutdown, erase, etc.) and execute automation on behalf of clients over the network.
If anyone from Apple or anyone who has built a similar setup can share guidance or point me to the relevant documentation, I'd really appreciate it.
Thank you!