Where are iOS simulator screenshots stored?

Question

I have saved some screenshots in the iPhone Simulator running iOS 5, but I can't find them.

I had this problem before, and it took me frickin' ages to find them in the file system. Is this so simple that I am just a dullard, or does no-one use this feature or what?

I know I can get the screenshots off my real phone, but I don't want retina screenshots - I want normal screenshots.

Sardis

They're saved on the desktop for me? – Motivation

Not telling you (or even letting you choose) where the screenshots are stored is a pretty bad design flaw... maybe they decided real Mac users only have one window open and never maximize it. Weird. – Cortneycorty

Answer 1

1. If you create screenshots from within the simulator using File -> Save Screen Shot (Command-S), those files end up on the Desktop as something like: iOS Simulator Screen shot Apr 22, 2012.png.

2. Under Xcode 6 & newer, device screenshots taken with the "Take Screenshot" button in the Xcode "Devices" menu will end up on the desktop. Look for a file named "Screen Shot 2014-MM-DD at HH.MM.SS.png"

3. For Xcode 5 & older, if you create screenshots from within Xcode (Organizer), you'll find these in ~/Library/Application Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Screenshots. To take screenshots from the Xcode (Organizer) you need to have hardware device attached. The organizer does not appear to take screenshots from the simulator.

And outside of Xcode:

1. If you create screenshots using the Finder (command-shift-3 or command-shift-4), these also end up on the Desktop as something like: "Screen Shot 2012-04-22 at _ AM.png"

2. If you use the Grab application (found in /Application/Utilities), you can save those files anywhere you decide. :-)

3. If you have saved a screenshot to the Photos library from within your app, for example with UIGetScreenImage and UIImageWriteToSavedPhotosAlbum, they end up at ~/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/***version***/Media/DCIM/100APPLE

Giarla

and mere seconds before Claus typed in his answer first, that's the technique I used. So +1 to him. :-) :-) – Giarla

As this is the accepted answer I think it would be appropriate to edit it to also include Udo's "the Desktop" answer. This was the correct location for me (iOS 5 Simulator) – Handed

For me, there's nothing in that folder. It's all on the Desktop. Not sure why? :/ – Barn

For me, that folder doesn't exist. It's all on the desktop. – Deputize

Desktop for me too - iOS 5 again – Septa

Wow, yeah. Let's just make up a filename and location and put it there without telling you or letting you configure it. And thanks for saving me some time. – Chil

The Simulator ignores the terminal command that indicates where to save your screenshots when using Command Shift 3 or 4 and puts them on the desktop instead. There isn't a GUI exposed preference in the Simulator to change this as far as I know. – Biblioclast

Shift+Cmd+C copies a screenshot to the Clipboard. (On my Mac, for whatever reason, it is Ctrl+Cmd+C though) – Jimmie

Answer 2

They get saved to the Desktop, look for a PNG file with the naming convention "iOS Simulator Screen shot [DATE].png"

Batch

I'm afraid this is not the case for me. – Sardis

Sorry to hear that. Embarrassingly, I had the same problem as you and it took me a while to find it in this really obvious place... It's strange that XCode apparently uses wildly varying locations for these files. – Batch

This seems to be the behavior as of the latest version of Xcode 4.3.1. – Corenecoreopsis

Answer 3

With Xcode 9+, Simulator saves screen shot file on (logged-in user's) Desktop and its default path.

To change default path (with Xcode 9+), press and hold ⌥ Option (alt) button from keyboard, while you take a screen shot. It will show to a dialog with file storage options and also allows to set/change default path.

Ramification

Answer 4

In the Organizer view just right-click a screenshot and select "Show in Finder...".

This will open the screenshots folder in the Finder for you.

Woe

Yes, this is the first thing I tried. I don't see the simulator as a device in my Organizer in XCode, which is strange. I only see all the hardware devices I have connected in the past. – Sardis

Answer 5

It looks like the most recent Xcode (I'm using v4.2.1) does have a bug saving screen shots from the iOS simulator. Even after press File > Save Screen Shot, I can't find any image files on the Desktop. Recently, I noticed this awesome software iOS-Simulator Cropper. It allows you to capture images from the simulator with different settings.

Allwein

I had this problem too. Using cmd-shift-C and then cmd-N in Preview does however work. – Heterogeneous

Answer 6

Alternatively if you are experiencing the bug you can use Edit->Copy Screen to copy to the clipboard.

Jarid

Answer 7

They are stored in:

~/Library/Application\ Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Screenshots

I like putting them in my Dropbox to have them on my other devices too.

cd ~/Library/Application\ Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/
mkdir ~/Dropbox/Pictures/xcode/
mv Screenshots/* ~/Dropbox/Pictures/xcode/
rm -rf Screenshots
ln -sf ~/Dropbox/Pictures/xcode/ Screenshots

This will create a symbolic link to your Dropbox in Pictures/xcode

Lactam

Answer 8

Press command + S. take sreen shot and it will store in Desktop See Example

Adenine

Please don't post duplicate answers. – Unscreened

Answer 9

I found it here

Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/(UDID)/data/Media/DCIM

Ocieock

Answer 10

I had exactly the same problem but I found that although (Command+s) didn't save the image to the desktop (Command+Ctrl+C) did copy the screenshot to the clipboard. You can then open and save the screenshot using Preview.

Cerracchio

Answer 11

I find a very useful way to find them is to use the spotlight search shortcut CMD+Space then enter the text "screen shot" or "ios simulator screen shot"

If it's not in the initial search screen, you can always use the Show All In Finder option that's first in the list

Not only does this work first time, every time, but it also reminds me when I've forgotten where I've moved previous screen shots to :)

Homovec

Answer 12

Change the device: Hardware>Device>iPhone(Retina 4-inch)

Press Command + S

Screenshot will automatically come on your desktop

Lactescent

Answer 13

For those who don't have them saved to Desktop and are stumped, try this location:

~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/

Will have a list of random hashes, each one is a Simulator I think. Sort by Date Modified and enter the most recent folder and then go to:

data/Media/DCIM/100APPLE

Your photos & screenshots should be there :)

My example:

Wolves

Answer 14

It's worth noting that, in the version of Simulator I'm using at least (12.5), there is a different between the "Screenshot" and "Save Screen" options - Screenshots save to the device (found in the Photos app), whereas clicking the "Save Screen" button generates an image on your Mac.

Codie

Answer 15

If you want to change the location in which screenshots from the simulator are stored, you can use the following command.

defaults write com.apple.iphonesimulator "ScreenShotSaveLocation" -string "~/Pictures/Screenshots" 

Other related commands can be found here.

Hawkie

Answer 16

I went through all the posts for which I could not find where the screenshots are saved... So, I just used command+shift+4, after releasing the keys you will see a bull eye in your mouse pointer. Click and drag the section of the screen you want to copy. Once releasing your mouse click the image will be stored in your desktop. Better than figuring out where Simulator stores screenshots.

Baram