How do I access the host machine itself from the iPhone simulator

Question

I'm developing an app that connects to a web service for most of it's operations. As a shortcut, I'd like to run a copy of my development server on my machine. Question is:

How/can I access the host machine's network (http in this case) from the iPhone simulator?

I'm developing the web service alongside the app, so it would be helpful to have them both on the host machine, and then I can commit changes as needed.

Are you wondering what libraries to use in the iOS SDK? You should just be able to provide the URL string, i.e. "http://localhost:####/myURL". — Jacob M. Barnard, May 20 '11 at 22:51

score 166 · Answer 1 · answered May 20 '11 at 21:52

166

The iOS Simulator uses the host machine network so you should be able to just use localhost or your machines IP address, whichever IP your web service is listening on.

answered May 20 '11 at 21:52

jaminguy

25,840
2
23
21

Expanding on jaminguy's answer, MAC OSX also has a built in Apache server. Just do a quick google search..... – Sid May 20 '11 at 23:00
1

How can you find out what port is used? – Gerico Oct 29 '13 at 15:42
3

The port depends on your web server settings – zambono Feb 06 '14 at 13:35
1

Is it possible to do this from a device connected via USB? – Ian Warburton Oct 24 '16 at 23:53
Confirmed to work for iOS and Apple Watch GET/POST network requests such as those from URLSession. – joshuakcockrell Dec 24 '17 at 05:45
1

@IanWarburton no any seperate device will require your computers IPv4 address. (If both devices are not on the same network it's more complicated) – cameloper Apr 13 '18 at 10:43

unixeo · Answer 2 · 2022-07-26T16:47:23.670

20

Develop solution (Not suitable for production).

In swift 5 just call:

http://localhost:<port>/file_path

but you will need to add this part to the project Info.plist.

<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
    <key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
        <true/>
</dict>

Otherwise this error is going to happen.

Cannot start load of Task <xx-xx>.<x> since it does not conform to ATS policy.

edited Jul 26 '22 at 16:47

answered Sep 09 '19 at 02:10

unixeo

1,116
1
15
28

3

This answer will work, but it is not a good way of approaching this. Apple strongly discourages developers from arbitrarily loading urls and your app will NOT be accepted to the store if you use this approach. Please see this answer https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31254725/transport-security-has-blocked-a-cleartext-http to see how to correctly whitelist specific domains in your app – Olyve Oct 30 '19 at 18:43
3

Right, only use this approach on development. – unixeo Oct 30 '19 at 21:30

How do I access the host machine itself from the iPhone simulator

2 Answers2

Linked