Why Is Xcode So Big and How to Reduce Its Size (2023)
Summary: In this guide, we will walk you through why Xcode is so big and how to make it use less disk space.
"Why does Xcode take up 10 GB of space and how can I reduce it?"
- A Question from Quora.
If you‘re having the same problem and want to know what to do, you've come to the right place. Here in this article, you will get to know why Xcode is so huge and how to reduce the amount of space it uses.
Let's get started.
What Is Xcode?
Developed by Apple Inc, Xcode is a free Integrated Development Environment (IDE) tool that runs on macOS X. Developers can use it to build apps for Apple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. It supports almost all popular languages like Swift, C, C++, Java, AppleScript, Python, Ruby, etc.
How Much Space Does Xcode Need?
You can easily download Xcode from the App Store. But it's hard to tell how much disk space it needs. Its size varies by version.
As listed, the latest 14.1 version is about 7.7GB. But that doesn't mean you only need 7.7GB of free space. As a general rule of thumb, to successfully install Xcode, you should keep at least 40GB of free space. If you're one of the developers who need to run 2 or more Xcode on your Mac, the disk space requirements are much larger.
Why Is Xcode So Big?
If you use Xcode a lot, you might notice it getting bigger and bigger. That's because Xcode supports 4 different operating systems, each of which supports multiple versions. Whether you're creating a project, running a simulator, connecting an iOS device, or packaging an application, cache files are created on your disk. Over time, these files can pile up, leaving you out of space.
How to Make Xcode Use Less Disk Space
Xcode uses a lot of disk space and is a headache for developers. That's why it has a low review score on the App Store. So the question is: how can we make Xcode take up less disk space?
Fortunately, there are some easy ways to do that. Read on for detailed steps.
Method 1: Quicky Free up Xcode Space Using BuhoCleaner
The quickest and easiest way to reduce the amount of Xcode used is to use BuhoCleaner, a handy cleaner for Mac. It helps you remove unwanted Xcode cache and old iOS support files with one click. Don't worry. These files are safe to clear and some of them can be recreated.
Here're the steps:
- Download, install and launch BuhoCleaner.
- Click the Scan button and it will automatically detect junk files on your Mac.
- After the scan process is complete, you can see how much space you can free up by deleting Xcode-related files.
- Click the View More button, check the box next to Xcode cache, and click the Remove button.
Method 2: Manually Reduce Xcode Size Using Finder
If you don't want to install a cleaner on your Mac, you can manually clean up your Xcode files to free up space. All you need is Finder.
Here's what you need to do:
- Open the Finder.
- Click the Go menu and select Go to Folder.
- Paste the following paths into the search box, one at a time, and press Return.
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DocumentationCache~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS Device Logs~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Snapshots~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode
- Drag the unwanted files to the Trash.
Conclusion
Now that you know why Xcode is large and how to make it take up less disk space, go ahead and choose a way you like to reduce the size of Xcode.
It’s worth noting that BuhoCleaner can do more than just remove Xcode files, it can also uninstall apps, clear caches, delete duplicate files, analyze disk space, and more. If you haven't tried it, it's time.
