Why is the latest Xcode so bloated? At every release it’s getting bigger and bigger.

Question

Created Jun ’20

Replies 4

Boosts 0

Views 1.3k

Participants 4

I just downloaded Xcode 11.5 and it’s 8.1 GB for download and then expands even more after downloading utilities and simulators etc. On the other hand Android Studio, VS Code etc and evening IntelliJ are not even half the size yet so powerful.

Why there is so much bloat, sounds like software debt that Apple needs to get rid off.

Boost

Answer 1

suyashjoshi OP

Jun ’20

I think it could be because it's coming bundled with lot of additional tools such as Reality Composer , Create ML etc so looks like it's only going to increase in size.

0

Answer 2

Zazoh OP

Sep ’20

You are not going to like Xcode 12, which is nearly a 12 GB download. I don’t know what has become of the component incremental upgrades.

last time I cleared Xcode for fresh install on on a test machine it freed up nearly 58 gigs of disk space.

0

Answer 3

robycigar OP

Jul ’23

its 22 gb now in 2023 🥲 even my macbook m1 cant keep up with it

0

Answer 4

eqHaisenko OP

Jul ’23

Neither VS Code nor IntelliJ come with full SDKs for macOS and iOS (and in the case of Xcode 11.5, also tvOS and watchOS), nor do they come with simulators, or even basic (let alone full) development toolchains at all. You have to install those separately with VS Code and IntelliJ. You "only" get an IDE.

When looking at Xcode 13.4, for example, with a tool like DaisyDisk, you see the bulk is the iOS simulator: it alone weighs in at over 8GB and the bulk of that is the iOS runtime (the "operating system", if you will). Of the remaining about 5GB of Xcode, a lot of that are the toolchains (compilers, linkers, various other tools) that you would not count with VS Code or IntelliJ as you have to install them separately.

Xcode is not just an IDE. It's a whole bundle of tools and resources you might need to develop for all of Apple's ecosystems. It has the upside of having a lot of tools and functionality you might not even have heard of yet out of the box, and they're tuned to work together. The downside is the size requirement.

0