Could not load nib in bundle on iPhone device

Question

I'm trying to test an app I'm developing on my iPhone. To do that I changed the target from Simulator to Device on Xcode. The application is correctly uploaded to the device and it works. The main view is shown but if I try to open a secondary view, the application crashes.

On the iPhone log (I installed the iPhone configuration utility to see the console [is the only way to see the log from iPhone?]) I can see this error:

Could not load NIB in bundle

But, on the simulator it works fine. What's wrong? Any ideas?

Answer 1

I had the same problem and fixed it like so:

1. Open XCode Target
2. Click the "Build phases" tab
3. Click the "Copy bundle resources" section
4. Click the +
5. Add the missing Nib file

Answer 2

I've found that sometimes the device is case sensitive and the simulator is not.

What's the filename of your xib?

---

or

Try uninstalling the app from the simulator and installing it again - the simulator might have an old file left over from a previous run of the app - have you renamed / moved the xib at all during development?

Answer 3

I had a similar problem and was getting the same error. Turns out I was using the full name of the xib file in the attributes panel under "NIB Name:"

Don't use "SomeViewController.xib", just use "SomeViewController" without the ".xib" extension.

Answer 4

I had the same problem when invoking initWithNibName:@"MyViewController"

Changing the invocation to initWithNibName:NSStringFromClass([MyViewController class]) worked well

Answer 5

You can try these things:

1. Make sure case is correct
2. Use xib filename without the ".xib" extension
3. Remove any -(dash) or other special chars, use _(underscore)
4. Remove the xib file from the project and add back to the Xcode project
5. Check the build settings and make sure deployment is changed to currect SDK

Answer 6

In my case, the xib simply wasn't being copied into the bundle. Once I added the xib into the "Copy Bundle Resources" step for the application target, everything went fine.

Answer 7

For me, the problem was exactly what FreeAsInBeer said: the nib somehow was missing from the bundle, whereas it had been there before and worked properly in previous versions of the app.

To fix the problem, I did the following:

1. Select the project in the Project Navigator.
2. In the project settings select Build Phases.
3. Expand Copy Bundle Resources.
4. Scroll down (if necessary) and click on the + button.
5. In the dialog that appears, click on the Add Other... button.
6. Browse for the missing .XIB file in the file system.
7. Build and Run... the missing nib should appear when you run it.

This is just what worked for me when I got that message. Your mileage may vary, since circumstances are not always the same for everyone, but I hope this helps someone who runs into this issue.

-Evan

Answer 8

I finally managed to solve that issue with these two steps:

1. In the view controller files inspector, remove any localization (just for testing)
2. Ensure that you have checked the correct target membership

I don't know why it works on the simulator :(

Answer 9

A simple mistake that might cause this error is trying to initWithNibName on an imported viewController when you are using a storyboard rather than individual Nib files. If this is the case then just init the controller instead of trying to init with a nib that doesn't exist, or init those fields with nil.

If Storyboard and no nib, change initWithNibName: bundle: to just be init OR initWithNibName:nil bundle:nil

Answer 10

I ran into the same problem. In my case the nib name was "MyViewController.xib" and I renamed it to "MyView.xib". This got rid of the error.

I was also moving a project from XCode 3 to 4.2. Changing the Path type did not matter.

Answer 11

I had the same error message. My problem, however was that my language settings on my phone were set on "English" and the Region on "United Kingdom". However, the file that could not be loaded was placed in the de.lproj directory. Moving the file into the root directory solved it.

Answer 12

I also had this problem when I loaded a child view controller from initWithCoder, which is a good place to initialise, but keep in mind you have to add it as an actual child AFTER the view has loaded.

So shift something like this:

[self addChildViewController: self.pageViewController];
[self.view addSubview: self.pageViewController.view];
[self.pageViewController didMoveToParentViewController:self];

...out of your init method and into viewDidLoad. Not saying this is your problem in particular but this may be helpful to others.

Answer 13

For what its worth, I received this error when one of my tab bar buttons had the wrong class assigned to it.

Answer 14

I've got it to run with delete all of the localization from the xib In the right window. Maybe the file is in the localization folder.

Answer 15

I've the same problem. And my solution is remove all Localizations for the view.

Answer 16

I had exactly the behavior you described: works on simulator but get the "Could not load NIB in bundle" when running on the device, and the app remain stuck on the launch image.

In my case the problem was about the MainWindow.xib file that Xcode automatically created with English localization. I am supporting English and Italian in my app and realized that I was missing the localized version of MainWindow.xib for the Italian language.

Because I had no need to localize this file (it's Xcode default to create it localized) I fixed the problem by simply removing the English localization, so the same file is used independently of the localization. Another way to fix the problem would be to add the missing localized version, if you need it.

The app was crashing on the device because my device is configured for Italian language. The simulator instead was set to English and this is why the app run correctly. Just to verify, I set the simulator to Italian language and the app crashed confirming the localization problem.