Straight answer
Can you run the iOS Simulator on Windows?
No. The iOS Simulator ships inside Xcode, Xcode runs only on macOS, and Apple does not license it for other platforms. Here is what genuinely works instead.
What works
- A Mac (any Apple silicon or Intel Mac running macOS 14 or later) with Xcode installed
- A rented Mac in the cloud, then remote into it
- A CI service with macOS runners, for automated test runs
- Cross-platform frameworks with their own preview tooling, for layout work only
What does not
- Emulators claiming to run the real iOS Simulator on Windows
- Browser-based 'iPhone simulators', which only resize a web page
- Running Xcode in a virtual machine on non-Apple hardware, which breaks Apple's licence terms
- Android emulators, which run Android and cannot run an iOS build
If you do have a Mac, CosmoKit makes the Simulator much faster
Boot and control simulators without the terminal, capture screenshots and video, send test pushes, open deep links, simulate GPS and inspect network traffic. Free to start.
Requires macOS 14+, Xcode and the iOS Simulator.