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How to use iOS simulator in full-screen

Published:

2 min read

When working on React Native or Expo applications, it is important to create focus to get in a flow. Sometimes, there are a lot of tasks to cover and very little time. To help focus on the task ahead, one way to speed up development is to use full-screen mode for iOS simulators. For example, a focused environment on my laptop screen includes zero visibility for the Dock and the menu bar.

Before Xcode version 12, the full-screen support was hidden behind a user flag. The below command can be run to solve the issue for older Xcode versions.

defaults write com.apple.iphonesimulator AllowFullscreenMode -bool YES

With the latest version of Xcode and each new macOS version trying to outperform its previous one, it has never been easy to enable full-screen mode for an iOS simulator.

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In the above image, observe that VS Code editor is on the left and the iOS simulator is on the right.

To enter the full-screen mode, click on the resize window icon (green icon) on the application (iOS simulator and the editor/IDE of your choice).

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Then, you can position one application on the left and another on the right.

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It’s already challenging to keep distractions at bay. But, sometimes, a little bit of focus can go a long way.

I'm a software developer and a technical writer. On this blog, I write about my learnings in software development and technical writing.

Currently, working as a documentation lead at Expo.