Member Avatar for Rushabh Verma

I have an issue when building for iOS in Xamarin Studio:

I open Xamarin Studio and create a Single Project View App for IOS, I then run the project, but the project does not load onto the simulator all I get is the message

"Waiting for the debugger to connect to the iOS Simulator".

I have xcode installed on the machine.

Does anyone know how to solve this issue?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by rproffitt

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Short, practical checklist for (and others seeing "Waiting for the debugger to connect to the iOS Simulator"): that message usually means the IDE installed the app but the debugger could not attach. First, confirm the project is built in the Debug configuration for an iPhoneSimulator target, then open the IDE’s Build / Application Output — that output commonly shows the real error (missing assemblies, signing issues, or a crash) which prevents the debugger from attaching. ’s pointer to Xamarin resources is useful, but the steps below target the most frequent causes. (stackoverflow.com)

Triage steps that often fix the problem: fully clean the build (remove bin/obj), uninstall the app from the simulator (or use Simulator → Device → Erase All Content and Settings), then rebuild and run. From a terminal the simulator can be reset with xcrun simctl erase all. If breakpoints are not hit, cleaning the solution and resetting the simulator has resolved many similar cases. Try “Start Without Debugging” to confirm the app itself runs before worrying about debugger attachment. (stackoverflow.com)

If this started after an Xcode update, version mismatch is a common root cause: Xamarin.iOS / the IDE must support the installed Xcode. Either update Xamarin/Visual Studio to a release that supports the Xcode version, or install a compatible Xcode and point the system at it using sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer (and run the first-launch setup if prompted). Also confirm Xcode’s Command Line Tools are selected and the license was accepted — missing CLI setup can block simulator/debug steps. (dotnet.microsoft.com)

If those steps don’t help: check Console.app and device logs for crashes, verify no firewall/antivirus is blocking debugger ports (remote builds use port 10000), and consider upgrading from old Xamarin Studio (it was superseded by Visual Studio for Mac) or moving toward supported tooling — Xamarin support ended in 2024 and long-term projects should plan migration. These points explain why keeping Xcode, Xamarin.iOS and the IDE in compatible versions matters. (stackoverflow.com)

Member Avatar for rproffitt

and other discussions tell us a lot.

This sounds like just the question for the Xamarin Forums.

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