What a simulator is
A simulator (Apple's word) or emulator (Android's word) is a real phone's software running in a window on your computer. Your app behaves exactly as it would on that phone, so you can try it on many phones without owning them.
Get them ready
You don't have to set anything up yourself. The first time you choose Real simulator in the Preview, Piye gets the phones ready: it downloads Android's phone software and makes the phones. You can read Google's licence for it in Settings before it downloads.
The one thing you install yourself is Xcode, Apple's free app for iPhone simulators, from the Mac App Store. iPhone simulators run on a Mac only; on Linux, you can run Android phones.
Settings, iPhone and Android shows where each phone stands on this computer, in plain words, and what's left to download.
Note
Simulators take disk space: Xcode's iPhone software and Android's phone images are several gigabytes each. Piye says how much before it downloads. Settings, Free up space removes what you no longer need.
Run your app on a phone
- Open the Preview and choose Real simulator.
- Pick a phone: iPhone, iPad or Android, and which model and system version.
- Press Run my app here.
The phone starts in Piye's window, with your app on it. You can turn on several phones and run your app on each.
Make a phone
Under All phones, find a phone by name, or make a new one: choose the kind (everyday phone screens, wide screens and side rails, or foldables that open wide, fold and stand on a table), the model and the system version, and name it if you like.
Try real situations
- Rotate the phone.
- Switch it to light or dark.
- Set its location, for example London, New York, Lisbon or Tokyo, to try maps and anything near the user.
Your own phones
Phones you've paired or plugged in also show here, under Your phones. See Try it on your phone.