I would like to find an easier way to call deep links in the iOS simulator.

On Android you can use ADB to pipe links into the simulator by using the console.

Is there a similar way or a workaround to open deep links with the latest iOS Simulator?


You can type this into your Terminal :

xcrun simctl openurl booted <INSERT_URL_HERE>

You can even share documents using the builtin Share Extension from the Finder to the iOS Simulator.


Here's another approach:

In the Simulator

  1. Open the Contacts app
  2. Go to one of the pre-defined contacts, like "John Appleseed"
  3. Tap Edit
  4. Tap add url (at the bottom) - and set your link as a "homepage" URL for this contact
  5. Tap Done to save the contact
  6. Tap on the link you just added

Pro tip: You can add custom labels to the URL entries, for example if you want to test different URLs and be able to identify them quickly.

Note: If you reset the Simulator, the Contacts app will be reset to default and lose the URL.


As an alternative, you can use ControlRoom open-source tool. Basically it's a wrapper above simulator cli.

ControlRoom Open URL