How to open higher xcode version project(13+) into lower xcode version(12 or lower)?

Question

I recently updated my XCode to latest(period) 13.3 and working on a project on that, Now when i moved that project to other mac which has MacOS Catalina and has XCode version 12.3.

When i try to open the project it keeps showing me this dialogue

But i found a solution to make it work on lower version XCode which can be useful to other people too, So i am including answer too.

Hope It Helps :)

Answer 1

Just have to follow steps given below

1. Right Click On Your_Project_Name.xcodeproj and select Show Package Contents from the option menu. { Even if you have .xcworkspace, ignore it for now }

2. Open project.pbxproj from opened folder.

3. Change object version to 46 like given below

4. Hit Command(⌘) + S to save it and close the window.

5. If you have pods installed on that project then you have to reinstall them again { I guess you already know how to do that or follow setps given below }

   • Open Terminal
   • Run Command cd PATH_TO_YOUR_PROJECT_FOLDER, Hit Enter
   • Run pod install {No need to open podfile as we never made a change to it} and we're done

6. Go back to project folder and open Your_Project_Name.xcodeproj or Your_Project_Name.xcworkspace

NOTE: Since It is work around way, we can not run this on newer iOS version simulator on which we want to test code However, we can run the code on physical device which has newer iOS version { which is also tricky part! }

TO RUN THE CODE ON LATEST IOS PHYSICAL DEVICE, FOLLOW BELOW STEPS

1. Download zip of your desired iOS version to run from the link
2. Close the XCode App.
3. Right click on XCode App from Application and select Show Package Contents
4. Move the downloaded folder to Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/DeviceSupport.
5. Open the project and run it on physical device

If you get error of Unable to install the Application, click on Details and try to resolve it.

If your error says The code signature version is no longer supported then check out this answer, it solved the error.

Hope It Helps !!!