Install Xcode For Mac Catalina

If you already have Xcode, make sure you have version 11.3 or newer. Generally, you want to use the newest version of Xcode. If you don’t have Xcode already, go get it from the App Store. When it’s done installing, open Xcode and you’ll get a message like this: Click install. Install Xcode’s Command Line Tools.

Xcode For Mac Mojave - skieybrew. This module is designed for a Mac running macOS High Sierra or Mojave. In this unit, you'll learn to create a basic iOS app and become familiar with the interface and capabilities of Xcode. Download it from the Mac App Store if you need it. To begin your exploration of the Xcode IDE, create a new project. Learn about the key features available in Xcode, the integrated development environment for building apps for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. There's been a lot of work at Apple in the last one year. Apple has again updated its product list. MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) was released on 7 October 2019. The newly released update, macOS Catalina, is available to users who are running OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later on their Mac. Download Xcode for macOS 11.0 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. ‎Xcode includes everything developers need to create great applications for Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Apple Watch. Xcode provides developers a unified workflow for user interface design, coding, testing, and debugging.

Developers need to install Xcode Command Line Tools before they can develop software on a Mac.

Apple provides a complete development environment for programmers named Xcode. If you are developing software for macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS, you must install the full Xcode application.

It's not pre-installed, but you can install it from the Apple developer website or the App Store on your Mac.

What are Xcode Command Line Tools?

If you're not developing software for an Apple device, you won't need the full Xcode application (it requires over 40GB of disk space!).

Instead, you'll install Xcode Command Line Tools. It's a smaller package for software developers with tools that run on the command line, that is, in the Terminal application.

Programmers have used these tools on Unix operating systems since computing's beginnings, and they serve as the foundation of almost all software development.

Luckily, the Xcode Command Line Tools package only requires 1.2GB of space on your disk.

You have three choices to install Xcode Command Line Tools on a Mac:

install the full Xcode package
install Xcode Command Line Tools when triggered by a command
install Xcode Command Line Tools as part of a Homebrew installation.

I don't recommend installing the full Xcode package unless you're developing software for an Apple device. The download will take too long and it will consume unnecessary disk space. Instead, try either of two faster methods.

How to Install Xcode Command Line Tools from a Command Prompt

Apple has made it easy to install Xcode Command Line Tools because certain commands will prompt you to begin installation.

Here are examples of commands that will trigger a prompt to install Xcode Command Line Tools:

clang – a compiler that turns source code into an executable program
gcc – the GNU compiler
git – the save-as-you-go version control system

Running any of these commands in the terminal will bring up a prompt to install Xcode Command Line Tools. I've written elsewhere about How to Open Terminal on MacOS – just click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar and type “terminal.”

You can also enter the command xcode-select --install in the terminal to begin the installation process. You'll see a panel that asks you to install Xcode Command Line Tools.

Click 'Install' to begin the download and installation process.

Installation takes 8 minutes on a 2021 Mac M1 Mini, with a 100Mbps Internet connection. It's significantly slower on Mac Intel over a slow Internet connection.

You'll see a confirmation message when installation is complete.

Verify that you've successfully installed Xcode Command Line Tools:

You should see the following:

How to Use Homebrew to Install Xcode Command Line Tools

As easy as it is to use the command prompt to install Xcode Command Line Tools, I recommend an even easier method: using Homebrew.

This option was only recently added to Homebrew, so many developers are not aware of it.

Homebrew is the popular Mac package manager. Most developers need programming languages and utilities that don't come installed on macOS and are not included in the Xcode Command Line Tools package. Homebrew can install almost any open-source tool for developers.

Since you'll probably need Homebrew, you might as well let Homebrew install Xcode Command Line Tools for you.

First, check if Homebrew is already installed.

If Homebrew is not installed, you will see:

Homebrew provides an installation script you can run with a single command (check that it hasn't changed at the Homebrew site).

The Homebrew installation script will ask you to enter your Mac user password. This is the password you use to sign in to your Mac.

You won't see the characters as you type. Press enter when you are done.

If you haven't already installed Xcode Command Line Tools, you'll see a message that 'The Xcode Command Line Tools will be installed.' Press return to continue when prompted by the Homebrew installation script.

You’ll see diagnostic and progress messages. Homebrew installation takes 2 to 15 minutes on a 2021 Mac M1 Mini, with a 100Mbps Internet connection. It's significantly slower on Mac Intel over a slow Internet connection.

On Mac Intel machines, that's all you need to do – Homebrew is ready to use. On Mac Intel, Homebrew installs itself into the /usr/local/bin directory, which is already configured for access by the shell with the macOS default $PATH.

On Apple Silicon machines, there's one more step. Homebrew files are installed into the /opt/homebrew folder. But the folder is not part of the default $PATH. Follow Homebrew's advice and create a ~/.zprofile file that contains a command which sets up Homebrew. Homebrew shows instructions at the end of the installation process:

After you've installed Homebrew, check that Homebrew is installed properly.

You should see this:

If Homebrew is successfully installed, there will be Homebrew files in /usr/local (for macOS Intel) or /opt/homebrew (for Apple Silicon).

Now you have both Xcode Command Line Tools and Homebrew installed. If you want to learn more about adding Homebrew packages to set up your development environment, see Install a Homebrew Package.

More information

I've written an in-depth guide to Install Xcode Command Line Tools that goes beyond these basics.

In the guide, I explain how to check if Xcode Command Line Tools Are Already Installed. I go into more detail about how to Install Xcode Command Line Tools with Homebrew. Finally, I explain how to Uninstall Xcode Command Line Tools, Reinstall Xcode Command Line Tools, and provide a List of Xcode Command Line Tools that you can use.

There's also a complete guide to Install Homebrew for Mac that explains how to Update Homebrew, Uninstall Homebrew, and keep up with other Housekeeping for Homebrew.

Your development environment

MacOS is the most popular platform for software development because the operating system is based on Unix, the longtime standard for software development.

With Xcode Command Line Tools installed, you'll have a solid foundation for adding almost any open source development tool.

Add Homebrew and you have a package manager that can install version managers, programming languages, and almost any other tool you may need.

Combined with a text editor and terminal application, you'll be prepared for any tutorial you'll find on freeCodeCamp.

Xcode is the Mac app that developers use to create apps for Apple’s platforms, like iOS. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how you can download and install Xcode on your Mac.

Here’s what we’ll get into:

3 approaches to download and install Xcode on your Mac
Tips and tricks to keep your Xcode up-to-date
How to install Xcode betas on your Mac

Ready? Let’s go.

Xcode can only be installed on a Mac. Want to build apps with a PC? Check out your alternatives here.

How To Download Xcode for macOS

How do you download Xcode for macOS? You’ve got a few options:

Get Xcode via the Mac App Store
Download Xcode via developer.apple.com/downloads
Install through Mac App Store CLI (see below)

Let’s walk through the approaches you can use to download and install Xcode on your Mac, and their advantages. We’ll start with the Mac App Store, because that’s the simplest option.

Here’s how you can download and install via the Mac App Store:

Make sure you’re logged into macOS with your Apple ID
Open the Mac App Store app
Search for “xcode” in the search field, at the top-left
Click on the Xcode app item that appears
Click on the Get or Install buttom at the top-right to download and install Xcode

There are a few things you should know, though. Xcode is a huge app, about 7 gigabyte (GB) in size. You’ll need about 15 GB of free space on your Mac to install Xcode this way.

Installing via the App Store is simple, easy and seamless. Unfortunately, issues with downloading, like a lost connection, etc., usually means you’ll have to reattempt the download.

Author’s Note: Installing Xcode via the App Store never maxes out my download speed — not even close. On a 500 Mbps fiber line, it regularly drops down to 200 KB/s.

Install Xcode For Mac Catalina Download

Installing Xcode on Mac

Installing Xcode via the Mac App Store is as simple as clicking Install. However, there’s an approach that gives you more control: developer.apple.com/download.

Here’s how that works:

Go to developer.apple.com/download and log in with your Apple ID
Click on More in the top-right of the page, next to Beta and Release
In the search field on the left, type “xcode” and press Enter
Locate and click the appropriate version of Xcode in the list
In the panel slides out, click the .xip filename, i.e. Xcode 12.xip and save/download that file onto your Mac

This will download a .xip file, which includes Xcode. The download size is currently about 7 gigabyte (GB). You’ll need at least twice that size of free storage on your Mac to install Xcode with this approach. Downloading Xcode this way is often faster than through the Mac App Store.

Once you’ve downloaded Xcode, open and unzip the .xip file. This may take a while. You can then drag-and-drop the Xcode.app file to your ~/Applications folder. Finally, start the Xcode app. You’ll be greeted with the following prompt:

Click Install in this prompt. Xcode will now attempt to install the Xcode Command Line Tools on your Mac. They are CLI tools used to compile apps with Xcode, among other things. You often need these tools to work with other programming languages on Mac, as well.

A disadvantage of manually installing Xcode through the Developer portal is that Xcode won’t automatically update. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, because you can use this approach to install multiple versions of Xcode side-by-side. This is helpful for debugging or trying out beta versions of Xcode (see below).

There’s another, more hidden benefit. Installing Xcode through the Mac App Store limits you to the most recent version of Xcode. If your version of macOS or Mac OS X doesn’t support the latest version of Xcode, you can usually install older versions via developer.apple.com!

You can pinpoint the latest version of Xcode that your Mac supports by cross-referencing a few tables on Wikipedia. First, figure out what macOS version you have. Then, go to the Xcode wiki, and find your version of macOS in the min macOS version to run column between Xcode 9.x and 12.x. The version of Xcode you can run is in the row above the one you found. For example, the latest version of Xcode you can run on macOS 10.13.6 (High Sierra) is Xcode 10.1. Keep in mind that running an older version of Xcode often limits for which iOS, Swift and SwiftUI versions you can build.

Updating Xcode to The Latest Version

How do you keep your Xcode up-to-date? Apple regularly releases new versions of Xcode. They typically include bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as new Xcode features, like the minimap.

More importantly, new Xcode versions include new versions of the iOS SDKs, Swift and SwiftUI. You can only use these new technologies with the latest versions of Xcode.

You can update your Xcode to the latest versions like this:

If you’ve installed Xcode via the App Store, updates happen automatically, or you can manually initiate an update in the Updates tab of the app
If you’ve manually installed Xcode via developer.apple.com, you’ll also need to manually install the newer version; updates aren’t automatic

How do you know if Xcode has a new version?

You get a notification on your Mac (if installed via App Store)
Keep an eye on developer.apple.com/news/releases (official)
Check out xcodereleases.com
Follow @XcodeReleases on Twitter

By the way, there’s a 3rd way to download and install Xcode on your Mac. It’s called mas-cli, and it’s essentially a Command Line Interface (CLI) wrapper for the Mac App Store. It uses the App Store – from the command line… Nice!

You can install mas-cli via Homebrew, a package manager for Mac. Installing mas-cli via Homebrew happens like this:

You can then list apps installed through the App Store on your Mac, with:

You can then search for Xcode like this:

Then, copy the numerical code you see on screen to install Xcode:

You can find outdated apps with mas outdated. You can then upgrade all outdated apps with mas upgrade, or selectively update Xcode by its identifier:

Awesome!

Author’s Note: As I understand it, you’ll need to have installed an app via the App Store before you can install it again with mas-cli.

Getting Xcode Beta Versions

Apple regularly releases beta versions of upcoming software, like iOS, macOS and Xcode. This enables developers to try out new features before they become available to the general public, and provide feedback and bug reports back to Apple.

How can you download and install Xcode’s beta versions? Here’s how:

Go to developer.apple.com/download and log in with your Apple ID
Choose one of the following:
- Click Beta in the top-right:
  1. Select Applications
  2. Locate the featured Xcode beta you need
  3. Click Download
- Click More in the top-right
  1. Use the search field to find “xcode”
  2. Locate the Xcode beta you need
  3. Expand the panel by clicking on it
  4. Click the .xip to download
Once you’ve got a .xip, unzip it, copy the .app to your ~/Applications folder, and start the Xcode app.

As we’ve discussed before, you can install multiple versions of Xcode side-by-side with this approach. You can, for example, have the regular Xcode installed via the App Store, and install a beta version of Xcode next to it.

Install Xcode For Mac Catalina Free

You don’t need to have a paid Developer Account to install betas of Xcode. Just use the free Apple Developer Account. It can occasionally happen that Apple restricts beta software to paid subscribers only, however.

If you’re installing multiple Xcodes, change their filenames to reflect their versions. That makes it easier to tell them apart! Just so you know: when you switch between installed Xcode versions, you usually get that “Install additional components” prompt again. There are ways around that, but it’s simplest to just let it install again whenever Xcode needs to.