--- title: Xcode Reviews meta_title: 'Xcode Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 1038 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Xcode works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.2 review_count: 1038 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-29' parent_category: name: Integrated Development Environments (IDE) url: https://www.g2.com/categories/integrated-development-environments-ide --- # Xcode Reviews **Vendor:** Apple **Category:** [Java Integrated Development Environments (IDE)](https://www.g2.com/categories/java-integrated-development-environments-ide) **Average Rating:** 4.2/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 1,038 ## About Xcode Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) that provides a comprehensive suite of tools for developing, testing, and distributing applications across all Apple platforms, including iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Designed to streamline the app development process, Xcode offers features like predictive code completion, advanced debugging tools, and simulators for various Apple devices, enabling developers to create high-quality applications efficiently. Key Features and Functionality: - Coding Intelligence: Xcode leverages machine learning models to offer predictive code completion tailored to Swift and Apple SDKs, enhancing coding efficiency. - Previews: Developers can visualize and interact with their app's user interface in real-time using Xcode's preview feature, facilitating rapid iteration and design refinement. - Simulator: Xcode includes a simulator that allows testing of applications across different Apple devices and OS versions directly from a Mac, supporting scenarios like location changes and network conditions. - Debugging Tools: The IDE provides robust debugging capabilities, including breakpoints, memory usage inspection, and variable monitoring, aiding in the identification and resolution of issues. - Performance Analysis: With Instruments, developers can analyze app performance metrics such as CPU, memory, and GPU usage in real-time, helping to optimize app responsiveness and efficiency. - Testing Frameworks: Xcode supports unit and UI testing through frameworks like Swift Testing and XCTest, enabling comprehensive test coverage and quality assurance. - Xcode Cloud: Integrated continuous integration and delivery service that automates building, testing, and distributing apps, enhancing collaboration and development speed. Primary Value and User Solutions: Xcode serves as a unified platform that simplifies the app development lifecycle for Apple devices. By integrating coding, testing, debugging, and deployment tools within a single environment, it reduces development time and complexity. Features like real-time previews and simulators allow developers to iterate quickly and ensure their applications perform optimally across all Apple platforms. The inclusion of Xcode Cloud further streamlines workflows by automating routine tasks, enabling teams to focus on innovation and delivering high-quality apps to users efficiently. ## Xcode Pros & Cons **What users like:** - Users love the **ease of use** in Xcode, highlighting its seamless integration and user-friendly interface. (43 reviews) - Users appreciate the **seamless iOS app development** experience Xcode provides, especially with easy simulation and build setup. (32 reviews) - Users love the **user-friendly interface** of Xcode, which simplifies app development with seamless integration and ease of use. (24 reviews) - Users value the **efficient debugging tools** in Xcode, which significantly enhance their app development experience. (23 reviews) - Users appreciate the **versatile functionality** of Xcode, making it easy for daily iOS app development and debugging. (19 reviews) - Users benefit from **comprehensive testing simulators** in Xcode, enabling effortless app testing across all Apple devices. (19 reviews) - Users appreciate the **seamless integration with the Apple ecosystem** , making app development smooth and efficient. (18 reviews) - Users value the **integrated tools** in Xcode, making development workflows simpler and more efficient for iOS apps. (18 reviews) - Users praise the **seamless integration** of Xcode with Apple frameworks, enhancing game development efficiency and ease. (17 reviews) - Users appreciate the **seamless code editing experience** in Xcode, enhancing app development for iOS and macOS. (12 reviews) **What users dislike:** - Users experience **slow performance** during builds and indexing, significantly impacting productivity and overall usability of Xcode. (19 reviews) - Users experience **performance issues** with Xcode, including slow builds, crashes, and difficulties with the simulator. (16 reviews) - Users experience **update issues** with Xcode, including instability, slow new version support, and complex code signing management. (13 reviews) - Users find that Xcode's **high specifications** lead to slow performance and excessive disk space consumption on older Macs. (12 reviews) - Users report **high memory usage** with Xcode, leading to slow performance and difficulties on older machines. (11 reviews) - Users face frequent **software bugs** with Xcode, leading to instability and frustrating slowdowns in coding efficiency. (11 reviews) - Users find Xcode's **heavy size** problematic, consuming valuable disk space and affecting performance on lower-end systems. (10 reviews) - Large Size (9 reviews) - Users often face **system crashes** with Xcode, leading to frustrations and interruptions during development. (9 reviews) - Performance Lag (8 reviews) ## Xcode Reviews ### 1. Xcode developers tool **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The interface and completeness of the tool for iOS development. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** A bit bulky and at times the interface gets tricky to understand. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ease of development for iOS specially mobile apps , Simulator integration for easy development testing . ### 2. Best mobile application development tool ever **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aman S. | Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 11, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Its overall a very useful and helpful software but one thing I like the most about Xcode is it iOS simulator. No other software in industry comes close to Xcode when talking about its seamless device simulator. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The only thing I dislike is sometimes it takes too much time to load. I have a Macbook pro 2020 and its a good setup but still thw software sometimes lags. Though I wouldn't call it a dealbreaker as its advantages make up by far for any of its cons. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** If you are a mobile application developer, or if you know any, you would know that how useful and helpful it is to have a quick and responsive Device simulator on which you can test your application quickly. I am using XCode for the exact same purpose. And mind it when I tell you, its the best out there. ### 3. Xcode king of ios development **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 23, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Best thing about xcode is ui of xcode and color updates for strings conditions and logs are best at ui and xcode server is best for cloud build and compile of app **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It is slow and lags in a number of things, it get crashed a number of time, takes a lote of time and processing power during archive and sometimes shows errors even there are none. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** It is best to use and there is no other option *wink* to build ios apps so go for it, little buggy and crashes often but ui is decent **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is providing the way to get Ahead with development for ios devices, also created developer friendly environment Latest feature connect with internet is very helpful to test app on device on same network ### 4. Best tool for iOS, iPad & MacOS application development **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jai Prakash Y. | Sr. iOS Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 19, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I like very much in xcode it is storyboard in which we can create application excellent ui by the help of autolayout and swift language is great programing language it's very fast to execute **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It's memmory consumption is very high because of that several time xcode getting crashed apple can make it light weight so older mac can install and run properly **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can make realtime chat application, ecommerce application, argumented reality app and also can make app for Apple watch and apple desktop application as well. ### 5. Best Development IDE for iOS Development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mamta S. | Software Application Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 05, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It is the best and free IDE that comes with the mac system. You can code in different languages like C, C++, Objective-C Java, AppleScript, etc., to make an apple application. Xcode's Interface Builder makes it easy to design GUI without writing code. You can easily compare your code if there are multiple versions of code. Using the simulator, you can test your app for a target device. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** I think Plateform dependency is the main problem of Xcode, you have to depend on macOS, or you have to use virtualization. It needs a lot of storage space on the hard disk. The debugger is not user-friendly, and the building of apps takes more time. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** If you are an ios developer, it is the best free IDE available for development. Consider using it if you want to develop and publish your app to AppStore in a few clicks. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Starting from early 2012, I used Xcode for developing small games in Objective C. It is the best IDE for building apps for iTunes. I use it for small applications for clients and games development. ### 6. Xcode Review for iOS developer **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 23, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** This is a very powerful tool for creating iOS application using Swift language to develop and published iOS application on Apple app Store. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** A lot of updates coming very quickly due to frequent updates some time it's impact on development. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is best tool for creating iOS application and runtime development is very smooth. Also user can create certificate and also help in publishing the application in apple app Store. ### 7. IDE for iOS Devs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 17, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode has the most easy and Clean User interface amongs all IDEs and Easy to write and edit code. One can add required details Direct from runner to publish the iOS app. They give the update on time. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** To use the latest version of xcode, you have to update the macOS as well. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** To develop and published the iOS apps. ### 8. Default IDE to program for apple **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yukti A. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 18, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It has all the main libraries that you will need. It has all the integrations to begin programming for your native applications pretty easily. It has the standard IDE features that are often used. This would include things like auto complete, searching for library functions, and running and debugging your programs. Even if you don't use the IDE directly, if you program on a Mac book, you will probably have to accept xcode agreements to do everything that you need in terminal. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It's pretty clunky and takes a while to get ready the first few times you use it. It's a bit frustrating to use if you are used to a different IDE such as jetbrains or VS code. A number of the shortcuts are different so you have to retrain your muscle memory. It also has a lot of interactive pieces which require using the mouse rather than keystrokes, which gets a little annoying and feels a bit slower. This would probably be easier if there was a touch screen, however apple has refuse to make a MacBook with touch screen in order to get customers to buy an iPad as well. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is the IDE that came with the Apple laptop. It performs the function of an IDE. I can code for that and use it to build applications for Apple products such as iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Primarily it's been used for native programming to release apps on the apple store. ### 9. Great Tool for iOS, Mac, backend Application Development **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ashish A. | Principal Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 19, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** 1. Performance very good 2. Easy options for debugging 3. Simple Interface 4. Providing end-to-end development capability. 5. I would say best development IDE 6. I love it. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** 1. It's very heavy in size. 2. You can't run on a Windows system. 2. At least 8 GM RAM is required for use. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Developing iOS and Mac Apps. Unit and UI test cases. ### 10. I have 10 years experience with Xcode **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Abdallah N. | Mobile Team Lead - iOS at TOTERS Delivery, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The simplicity Easy to compare code versions Easy to check the author who wrote the code. Run the solution on real iPhone using WiFi connection no need for cable. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Apple don't provide us with lot of needed components like android we always have to implement our own complex components to implement the design for the client example there is no sticky header in Xcode table view **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Through my 10 yrs experience with Xcode I have implemented lot of solution from easy to hard. Also I implemented a game. I didn't realized a benefits we are forced to use Xcode to implement apps for iOS. ### 11. Best ID I have used till today **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 06, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Performance and debugging feature available in tool **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Quite heavy application, the system gets slow **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** It has everything you need to develop applications for iOS and Mac. ### 12. Review on Xcode **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Esha V. | Associate Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 24, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode is an IDE for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS,iPadOS, etc. The best thing about Xcode is that it supports source code for different programming languages such as C, C++, java, apple script, etc. Also, Xcode integrates using the GIT version control allowing users to create and clone the GIT repository. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** 1. Users can't use Xcode on other platforms except for the apple system, which is the most significant disadvantage of Xcode. 2. It's not suitable for distributed teams. 3. The user can't run a debugger directly on it. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** The design of the user interface creator is very user-friendly, which makes it relatively easy for the use. Also, it supports most programming languages such as c, c++, java, etc., so users don't have to rely on one language. If they are familiar with the other, they can easily use it. Xcode allows users smooth jump between parts of codes, testing of applications, and working scheme functionality. ### 13. Makes iOS development fast **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shashank J. | Software Development Engineer - 2, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 30, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The real time preview feature is very helpful. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It takes a lot of time to build the project in xcode and also consumes lot of disk space **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Makes iOS development using swiftUI very easy with developer friendly features like preview. ### 14. Xcode Working Review. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ayush K. | Senior Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** One of the best things is that this is an integrated tool for all things in a single place like building, testing and monitoring logs etc. Complete package to manage everything on the development front. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Xcode community should work on its UI and window positions. Also, it takes a lot of time in initialization which is frustrating sometimes. Initialization time should be reduced. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Building subsequent ios and android builds followed by testing and simulation on various mobile devices using simulator. Inspect bugs and errors using its debugger. ### 15. iOS Development Made Easy With Xcode **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ankit K. | Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It is the best platform to develop iOS applications and fits well the Apple ecosystem. It provides device simulators that are very useful and seamless. Comparing code versions is easy with Xcode. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It requires significant memory to run. One of the major disadvantages is that you can't use it outside of the Apple ecosystem. Sometimes simulator may take a lot of time to load. Overall, nothing much to dislike about it. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are using Xcode to develop and deploy native applications for iOS. It provides excellent support for Swift. It is a very robust software development platform. ### 16. A good IDE with many bugs **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aarish R. | iOS App Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 22, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode is very easy to use and any beginner can start and learn easily in few days. the ability to just connect the iPhone and test the app you build is amazing and the preview feature of SwiftUI is game changer for developers, you can see the changes while you code and test the app on the go without waiting.The swift package manager inbuilt in the xcode makes it very easy to install packages just by pasting the link no need of going through terminal although many packages are just on cocoapods. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Although xcode is good but it is quite buggy, many times autocompletion of code doesn't work and that is very annoying, the simulator takes too much time to load sometimes and in big projects it says attach to debugger.Sometimes app takes to long to build and I need to restart the project because it gets stuck. Xcode is also resource heavy like when I screen share with my team it lags a lot and I need to disconnect the screen sharing for it to build the project properly. That's all what I dislike about it **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is the only IDE to build native iOS apps, there is no alternative for it so there is no choice for us but to build on Xcode. It has actually introduced me to software development and I have made a career in it thanks to it ### 17. Great app but slightly confusing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Andrey D. | Automation Eng., Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 12, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The appearance of the app looks good and organized **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It is a bit confusing for beginners, especially if you come from other platforms such as Android studio **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can build iOS projects and debug our app, also I can use various emulators ### 18. Great Development IDE for iOS, Mac and Backend API Development **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tanuja A. | Senior Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 20, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** 1. I would say the best development IDE, I have ever used. 2. Clear and easy option for debugging and tracking the files. 3. It is very helpful for development and debugging 4. I am loving it **What do you dislike about Xcode?** 1. Its consume a lot of memory in MAC OS 2. It's not open source 3. You can run on windows 4. needed at least 8 GB RAM for testing. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** 1. Using for iOS, MAC App and Backend APIs development 2. I am loving it. ### 19. good ide for swift **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 31, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I like how you can see what you are doing right beside you as you code and connect both the iOS to the code. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** I wish some of the features were able to turn of such as the side bar panels. Doesn't give enough screen. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is allowing me to build and complete my apps for my job and it has benefited me by not being slow. ### 20. A very powerful code editor only for equally powerful computers **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yash K. | Co-Founder, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 04, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** A mighty code editor which is very good for debugging, troubleshooting, and code completion, especially if you are developing for the Apple ecosystem like Mac OS, iOS, and iPad OS applications. Except for C and C++, it provides impressive support for other languages. I use it for app development and game development, and it's a beast. The newer versions of XCode also feature the SwiftUI, which is very useful for creating the UI for iOS apps. Also, the simulators need special mention. They are awesome. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** XCode is not a beginner-friendly code editor. It has a lot to offer and can seem very intimidating for early programmers. Also, the sheer size of the application is enough to put off many people. It currently sits on about 12 Gigs on my Macbook. If updates are available, it takes forever to get updated. If multiple tabs are open, you might face lags, and your mac might even crash on you. The latest version will be difficult to run on Macbooks models older than 2017 just for the very reason that it uses so much resources. Plus, if you code in C or C++, you will be in for a shock as XCode provides dismal support for both languages. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** Go slow at first. It might seem intimidating at first, but after a few days or weeks of initial hiccups, you will have a truly incredible code editor, minus the strain it puts on the system, of course. But that will not be much of an issue if you are upgrading your hardware every few years. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** My go-to editor for developing apps for the Apple ecosystem because you cannot develop with anything else apart from XCode, but even if that were not the case, I would still be using it. It's fantastic for Swift, provides excellent support for the language as well as the emulators are superb. If you have a powerful Mac, you would never shift to anything else from XCode. It's just that good. ### 21. Must have for creating IOS apps! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Iryna K. | Senior Mobile / Web developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 08, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I like that in Xcode IOS emulators always work fast and it's easy to test mobile application there! **What do you dislike about Xcode?** If you don't update Xcode in time your code probably wouldn't run! **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** Always keep your Xcode up to date! **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating IOS application, it works fast and it's a must have during creating IOS apps. ### 22. Xcode is best interface for developing mobile apps. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Prabhjot S. | Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Fast debugging, and advanced simulators with real device features. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The crash details should be provided with more clarity. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using it for mobile apps development. ### 23. Xcode for real world troubleshooting **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Banking | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 06, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Live logging feature to capture IOS device logs for troubleshooting issues when enrolled with MDM solutions. Command line interface to prevent messing up with configurations **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Memory utilization and space take for installation is huge. Downside is that it only works on apple device, backward copmpatibility is not available in Windows yet **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Real-time troubleshooting of apple devices, validating provisioning profiles and wrapping inhouse developed IOS applications to apply Data Loss Prevention techniques ### 24. Very very powerful IDE for MAC. It is now evolved to handle nearly any kind of development. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Namandeep B. | Co Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 22, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Since it is only available on MAC hence operating system makes it even more powerful. I like the integrated Git. Xcode also offers a hardware simulator for all of its devices, which you can not find in any IDE for iOS. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Stimulation of the app is still a slow process (Although much better than previous versions). Understanding its debugger is also a little troublesome (Especially if you are from Android Studio). Certificates usage is always a complex part of iOS development. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using it for development and deployement of Pickright's iOS App. ### 25. Comparison between Xcode and Android Studio **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Umer F. | Senior Mobile Application Developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** What I like most is memory management. I am also a user of an android studio, but it sucks most of the time. I am working on the same app for both android and iOS platforms, but memory management is far better in XCode than android (in code loading, building, and multi-project handling). Grouping feature is also very helping in xcode. You cannot create groups for layouts files in android studio but in xcode you can create groups for storyboards, localization, resouces, swift files etc. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The most annoying/disliked feature is a debugger and logs. Logs for XCode are not as detailed and comprehensive if compare with android studio. We cannot easily distinguish line break compared to an android studio where logs appear in chronological order. Dubugging over WiFi is very slow as compared to android studio, in android studio you cannot distinguish the speed of compilation over USB or WiFi. But in XCode speed drastically changed when build over network. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** It would be best if you looked into human interface guidelines available by Apple before building apps using XCode because there are many features available in XCode you can learn from HCI guidelines. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Xcode, we can build apps for macOS, iOS, watchOS, padOS, and tvOS. You can also make/create apps for all Apple platforms with a single codebase. ### 26. Very Good IDE for MAC, Essential for iOS development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 03, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** This is considered the essential and default IDE for macOS and iOS development. It's directly integrated into macOS, so it does work as system software. The main feature I love is the Playground. It allows me to run the code without the need to recompile and run. So, it saves a lot of time. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The updates come in considerable sizes. Every time macOS updates, I might need to update the XCode and the update will be more than 7GB in most cases. And another thing I dislike about this, this takes so much CPU usage. So, dual tasking is difficult when XCode is running **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm using XCode for iOS development. It's a required tool for iOS development. So, I'd say I'm solving iOS development with this application. And this helps me test the ios application in different devices with the simulators ### 27. Almost only solution to deploy apps for iOS **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicolás G. | Programmer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 31, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** XCode is for iOS / macOS what Visual Studio / Android Studio is for other platforms. An integrated IDE-Simulator with many options and gadgets for developing for those platforms. Yes, it is highly visual, very WYSIWYG, nicely integrated with your system (which means that you have to own your very own Mac to use it) but sometimes limited as other Apple Solutions. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** As I said, it is the main "only" solution for developing for iOS so we are a bit restrained to their documentation plus their solutions. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** Have a try. It is not like Android Studio but a more complete IDE. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** If you want to develop for those platforms (and upload your apps to their App Store) you have to use XCode. On the pros side, it means XCode is a development tool very robust and is less likely to fail as it only has to target certain platforms/systems. ### 28. Could’ve been better **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The ability to pause my app midway to see the processes and data at that point of time. Helps a lot in debugging **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Random crashes, crash log never updating correctly. Cryptic errors **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating an app that will be run on any device in the apple ecosystem. There really is no other way ### 29. Review for Xcode **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Arpit S. | Devops Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 15, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It's an excellent source editor, compiler, and debugger combo. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** With slow internet, it takes too much time to download. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used it as an editor, debugger, and compiler. ### 30. The goto app for React Native app developers **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Real Estate | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 07, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I was new to the app development space and was given a challenge to ship a complex real estate app in React Native for Android and iOS devices. I didn't know anything about Xcode or other IDE, but yes i did know react native. So, i started developing my JS code and then used the native plugin to compile. Now, my task was to build the package using Xcode. I was using the interface for the first time but everything was so easy and simple to navigate that i started liking it already and within a day i did learn, on how to manage the app icon, how to securely sign it, how to manage dependencies, where to look for error for debug and understarnd the versions of iOS i would be able to support with this package. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** So, here is the thing. The xcode version which I was using used to cache data on certain ocassions and was picking up stale info. This kind of seemed to a blocker for a while, but thanks to the verbose logging system. The logs really helped me identify the issue with buikding binary and quick fix things. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** If you are someone like me who does not have enough knowledge around building apps but want to use something really quick and easy to help you reach mobile users . Then, React Native + Xcode + Eclipse IDE is the goto tool for you. Must try. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Building really complex real estate apps for multiple clients. Making features of CRM available on the app. Well, the biggest benefit i realized is that i did not.a thing about building iOS apps and within a span of month the awesome react native docs and Xcode powerful yet simple UI helped me build my first app successfully which is actually usable and is being consumed by some users to find properties in the nearby location ### 31. User friendly **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sagar S. | Sr iOS Developer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Easy to do programming with best quality of language syntax and managing arc for memory management. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Storyboard file is crashing. Sometimes xcode too crash. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Memory leakage problems solved using xcode instruments. Arc management for memory deallocation. ### 32. Very useful for App Developers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sushant S. | iOS Developer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Easy to use, using for iOS, iPadOS and MacOS Apps development **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It is not compatible for windows system. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Applications development ### 33. Xcode has come a long way. Great for building iOS apps **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 04, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode has come a long way. I really like how you can now connect to the Apple developer account directly from it. Previously this used to be a big issue as you had to do it separately. I am also in love with the Playground! So easy to quickly test some code without having to compile and run. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Every time Apple releases a new update, you have to download 12-13 GB worth of updates. It seems like the whole lot gets updated. It would be reak nice if we could download the new updates without having to download them all. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** We develop mobile and mac os apps for our clients. Our primary source of income is developing and maintaining mobile apps for our customers. With the help of Xcode and its new features, we can do this more efficiently. ### 34. Xcode- amazing tool for development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mohammed i. | Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 21, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The GUI, user interface and compatibility is the best things It works really good for ios **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Works mostly for mac and ios Difficult for other os. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** We are writing code for different apps using Xcode This serves the purpose to solve ### 35. All in one IDE for your development projects - Xcode! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 27, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** 1. GUI - is the selling point of this platform. In general, IDEs have tons and tons of things to offer and wrapping up all in such a manner that the user do not struggle to find the options + can find the right thing at right moment, Xcode makes all that very simple. 2. Native MACOS or iOS development is best suited with XCode. It comes with powerful emulators which help you code for any device in the industry right from the screen of your laptop. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** 1. This software is native to Apple devices only which is the biggest con. Almost any language can be leveraged with Xcode but it only works with Apple and no Windows user can install/ use this software on Windows/ Linux machines, which I think is not a great idea. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** We have been using XCode for our Mac specific development, for example, internal applications + Mac-specific applications for our teams. It is very stable application and has almost no problems except its non-cross platform design. ### 36. Xcode: A default IDE for macOS and iOS, but is less than stellar for everything else **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Stephen G. | Security Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 27, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode is the default and best macOS and iOS IDE. It is deeply integrated into the operating system, helps to automate tasks such as code signing (that are mandatory for the platform), and makes building/deploying macOS and iOS apps easier than using the extensive command line utilities with options. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Xcode is not a great IDE. Its autocomplete features are ok (but not exemplary), its project management features are confusing, it uses an excessive amount of disk space storing APIs, the updates are very slow. It is also a closed source product, meaning the writing deeply embedded plugins is impossible. Its development for C++, Java, and basically any language other than swift continues to get worse and worse. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** For anything other than macOS or iOS, look at other, more full-featured IDEs **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Xcode is the best IDE for macOS and iOS development. It leads to projects that can be easily worked on by multiple team members and rebuilt when needed. ### 37. Advance Development **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Naeem P. | Principal Software Engineer, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 30, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It is the best IDE to develop an apple application with multi-level support and documentation for developers to use it an advanced level to make excellent applications **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It takes soo much ram and CPU usage for heavy applications, and it's occupied some space for temp files also. . **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** yes its good IDE to make awesome apps **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's best to create an expert-level application, and it also supports creating an application for mac os. ### 38. best development tool for apple products. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Basudev K. | Associate Consultant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Its integrated app development feature and the best feature that I've seen is code reviewers comment directly on the code segment that I've never seen in any IDE as of now. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Same as normal IDE but little with tweaked features, we cant call it outstanding, as it's specifically focused on ios and mac development. the interface could have been made a little handier. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** developing applications focused on ios, mac and testing its special added features, how it is integrated with GIT and bitbucket. It had made things easier and felt same as other IDEs. ### 39. Official IDE for iOS and macOS development **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Financial Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 01, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode is the best IDE and tool for iOS and macOS development available for free for any Mac user. Even though it has a somewhat steep learning curve for beginners, Apple provides free educational content for learning iOS/macOS development in Xcode. Xcode includes many device simulators, making it very easy to test apps on different devices and operating systems. The included debugger is also helpful during the development phase. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** - Building can take a long time. - Takes a lot of space. - Only available for Mac. - It's hard to personalize like other popular IDEs today (for example, no custom keyboard shortcuts). **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using Xcode for iOS development. It allows me to test new features in different devices by using the simulators included. ### 40. Pro tool that every coder is in love with!! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Utkarsh S. | Salesforce Developer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 09, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** It is the most fantastic innovation which is made for the coders to build the code. I have been using Xcode to build ios and android apps, and Xcode makes it very simple for me to write, debug my code and get the deployment files like Apks and ios files. The best thing is that this is a complete package for development which is having a simulator. In the simulator, you can select all the mobile types and see how the view of your developed code will be. Most a fantastic experience till now, and it's perfection for mac users. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** I cannot think of any dislike which I feel for Xcode. It's a necessity for coders, and every coder loves this tool. They can improve on the speed of building the code and opening the simulator **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** I will recommend for at least android and ios app developers to use this and change your experience and way of coding and debugging. Getting apps and ios patches are very easy and quick to get code build. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** It makes my coding experience change. Now I can write build code get the final deployment file used to send it to the client. It made things straightforward for me to log in to multiple orgs deploy to repositories like Github, SVN, etc., which is quick. ### 41. XCode needs to make it easier for Hybrid Development to done **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 21, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I like the easier integration with the iOS Simulators, though it does work with all hardware architecture types (sometimes with arm64) **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Deployment Steps to the APP Store for non -Swift code like Ionic, Flutter is not very clear and can be a rather strenuous step for new users **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** It is a bit less resource-intensive compared to other versions ### 42. One of the best IDEs **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 04, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I have used various IDEs over my 6+ years in IT industry as a developer. When it comes to iOS, Xcode is the best IDE. Although, almost every IDE can work on iOS but XCode is the best amongst them. It is very simple to use and user friendly. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** I did not find anything that I can say I dislike in XCode when using it with iOS, but when using XCode in windows, I didn't find it that smooth. It crashes sometimes. Otherwise it is very much user friendly and easy to use. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** If you are trying any IDE for iOS, then I would definitely recommend it. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am using this for various software development projects. Majorly, I use XCode on iOS. I have realized that XCode is very much simpler and easy to use and user friendly. It has very simple menu options and user options. ### 43. Great code editor for ios developers. You can do all ios related things in the single app and build **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Computer Software | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Everything related to the ios development can be done from the same app. Starting from writing code to building, archiving, running app on the simulator and even deploying app in the app store. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Feels a bit bulky and takes some time to load on my imac. Using multiple simulators such as for iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini is very difficult. There is a learning curve for using it. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am building ios apps with react native very easily. I can archive and even make releases on the app store. Before releasing I can put the app for test flight where we can test it before release ### 44. Xcode is the official integrated development environment for developers of macOS, iOS apps **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode IDE is a free platform for all MAC users. So developers can use it for creating applications for Apple devices. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The size of Xcode IDE is insanely large. It's almost 7 GB. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** If you are an app developer, then you have to use Xcode. For simple text edit purposes, please use some lightweight software. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm an app developer, so I used Xcode to develop iOS apps. I also used Xcode as a text editor. Benefits- 1. XCode interface is very helpful and user friendly 2. Developers can test the app in different targeted device. 3. XCode is free to use 4. Schemes feature - You can set different scheme for different type of environments. 5. For the app developer storyboard functionality is great, developer can clearly see the app flow. ### 45. Xcode is a tool that enabled the way to develop the Mac OS application and it's more user friendly. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bhavik D. | Project Manager, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 25, 2022 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Easy to use and all things are together. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** New version update will have sometimes create issues like it's being hanged and storyboard are not showing. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using xcode i have build many applications and that putting me my more effort into that. ### 46. xcode review **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Michael B. | CEO, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Xcode helps me to develop mobile apps with a dedicated IDE and simulator function. It was especially helpful in setting of the code for making mobile apps with React Native or Expo and to test the look and functionality of the apps on multiple phones. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Xcode can be a memory hog. From the installation to the usage you have to be focused on using Xcode and not many other programs can run at the same time. Also the interface can be confusing with a lot of small fonts in the menu options. Learning where certain features are can take more time than writing the code itself **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have spent most of my time in Xcode building apps in React Native and using the simulator to test them. I will be writing with Swift in the near future so I plan to use Xcode to create and test those apps as well. ### 47. Best IDE for Software Development **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nirmal R. | Android Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 29, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** I like the Search feature where I can search in Full App. I also like that It builds Very fast and refreshes the build to Emulator. Debugging with Xcode is very easy and user-friendly. Image Asset management for different resolutions is very lovely. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** Adhoc and other certificate setup is not user friendly. Can't open multiple file tabes. The size of Xcode is huge, around 10 GB. If anyone has less Memory, then that might be a problem. **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** yes, Xcode IDE is very nice and easy to use. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** We develop iOS applications using Xcode, which can run on iPhones and iPads. Daily using Xcode to develop different types of apps using ios SDK, which we called native app development. ### 48. Little iffy but a decent IDE **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Deepank k. | Senior Data Engineer, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 17, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Its a default ide so its easy to use, helps in automating tasks, easy to deploy ios and apk files. Its default ide for mac which is great and you can see how the code you are deploying will look like using simulator for specific mobile types. Debugging code is super simple with xcode which is the bestest feature **What do you dislike about Xcode?** It has some bugs here and there. Doesnt let me open multiple file tabs which is annoying. major pitfall is that it only works on mac. I love mac but sometime i uses windows too and vsc score over xcode in that sense **Recommendations to others considering Xcode:** Yes absolutely go for it **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have built apps using xcode. I have done some simple projects for fun. I am currently developing a Java app for my start up idea and debugging is super easy which is most cherished benefit of this IDE ### 49. Changes the game for everyone. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Program Development | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 06, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** Very easy to use. Basic knoledge of code. Apple offers a program called Swift playgrounds so its also easy to learn how to code if you dont already yet. **What do you dislike about Xcode?** The one real issue I have is it lacks the support of developing for android, and windows which is understandable since its a apple product, but would be nice to have and make it easier for us. **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating the apps we were never able to create before and be able to build for clients. ### 50. Excellent application for coding **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Omar David C. | Desarrollador de software, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 25, 2021 **What do you like best about Xcode?** The completeness of the application and all the tools it has **What do you dislike about Xcode?** At first it is a bit complicated to handle and know all that it can offer **What problems is Xcode solving and how is that benefiting you?** The development of applications at the request of the client ## Xcode Discussions - [xcode the best aplication](https://www.g2.com/discussions/44803-xcode-the-best-aplication) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Will in future storyboard will be there?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/32657-will-in-future-storyboard-will-be-there) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Can we use Xcode for the hybrid apps in future?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/can-we-use-xcode-for-the-hybrid-apps-in-future) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [What is the best way to merge storyboards with other users? Do you just build dynamic layouts?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-way-to-merge-storyboards-with-other-users-do-you-just-build-dynamic-layouts) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [What are your pros and cons about Xcode which lids you to make you a good iOS developer?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/14589-what-are-your-pros-and-cons-about-xcode-which-lids-you-to-make-you-a-good-ios-developer) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [View Xcode pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/xcode/reviews?page=4&qs=pros-and-cons§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-30+11%3A00%3A57+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=6abac857-81fe-4593-9778-899bc033151d&secure%5Btoken%5D=c25342bdfddea0933e3f5a23ad85443c797f7157c2beab8a00574adf718340b6&format=llm_user) ## Xcode Integrations - [ChatGPT](https://www.g2.com/products/chatgpt/reviews) - [CoPilot AI](https://www.g2.com/products/copilot-ai/reviews) - [Firebase](https://www.g2.com/products/firebase/reviews) - [GitHub](https://www.g2.com/products/github/reviews) - [GitHub Copilot](https://www.g2.com/products/github-copilot/reviews) - [MobileWorker](https://www.g2.com/products/mobileworker/reviews) - [Rider](https://www.g2.com/products/rider/reviews) - [Storyboard to SwiftUI Converter](https://www.g2.com/products/storyboard-to-swiftui-converter/reviews) - [Visual Studio Code](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio-code/reviews) ## Xcode Features **Functionality** - Ease of Use - File Management - Multi-Language Support - Customization - Straight-Out-the-Box Functionality - Help Guides - Patching & Updates **Functionality** - Test Feedback - Test Variety - Emulation **Functionality** - Ease of Use - File Management - Multi-Language Support - Customization - Straight-Out-the-Box Functionality - Help Guides - Patching & Updates **Agentic AI - Mobile Development Platforms** - Adaptive Learning - Natural Language Interaction - Proactive Assistance **Management** - Test History - Automation - Organization ## Top Xcode Alternatives - [Visual Studio](https://www.g2.com/products/visual-studio/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (3,829 reviews) - [Eclipse](https://www.g2.com/products/eclipse/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (3,095 reviews) - [NetBeans](https://www.g2.com/products/netbeans/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (656 reviews)