 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2012) |
| Apple Developer Tools | |
|---|---|
| Developer | Apple Inc. |
| Stable release | 16.2 (16C5032a) / December 2024 |
| Written in | C++,C,Objective-C,Swift,AppleScript,HTML,CSS,JavaScript,Python,Ruby |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Available in | English |
| Type | IDE |
| Website | Apple xcode |
| As of | November 2025 |
TheApple Developer Tools are a suite of software tools fromApple to aid in making software dynamic titles for themacOS andiOS platforms. The developer tools were formerly included on macOS install media, but are now exclusively distributed over theInternet.Xcode is available as a free download from theMac App Store.
A graphical interface for JavaScript's Plug-in, which aids developers by demonstrating how Java applets perform on macOS. Provides tools to adjust the performance, behavior and user experience in applets in development.
A graphic presentation of audio units helping software developers to examine their results in decibels. AU Lab can be used to test audio units, conduct live mixing, and playback of audio content. Audio units are controlled visually with the audio unit's graphic interface and touch screen.[citation needed]
A set of software tools, collectively Computer Hardware Understanding Development Tools (CHUD Tools) measure software performance on macOS, to aid in optimizing. Also provides hardware system benchmarks.
Used in testingCore Image units, which function similar toAdobe Photoshop filters. Each has a specific action, with parameters customize the action. Showcases Core Image, a technology introduced inMac OS X 10.4, supported by newer graphic hardware.
A developer utility for setting report parameters for Apple'sCrash Reporter application.
A staple of macOS's developer tools since the days ofNeXTSTEP, FileMerge graphically compares two or more versions of a file. True to its name, FileMerge allows the user to easily merge the two or more versions into one file. The utility is often used to track changes to source code.
macOS'sopendiff command provides the ability to launch FileMerge from the command line. The-ancestor parameter can be used forthree-way merging.
Creates anindex file for the macOS built-inHelp Viewer.
Views the resources for an.icns file, displaying the Mini, Small, Large, Huge, Thumbnail & Tile sizes in allcolor depths andmasks.
Icon Composer was anicon editor that does not have any editing features other than composingApple Icon Image files andWindows ICO files. External editors must do all the image manipulation, then the results may be imported into the converter to create the finished icon. As of Xcode 8.2, Icon Composer is no longer available in Additional Tools, as it cannot create high resolution icons. Apple recommends using the command-line utility iconutil, which ships with macOS.[1]
A new version of Icon Composer was reintroduced with WWDC 2025 for creating Liquid Glass icons.[2]
Instruments is a GUI for tracing frameworkDTrace from Sun'sOpenSolaris. It is used to profile time usage, memory allocations, system activity, call trace analysis, GPU performance analysis, energy logging (on iOS devices) etc.[3]
Java tool that aids in packaging an application's component files into a singledouble-clickable application. Properties can be modified to optimize the code.
Assistance for assessing memory usage and detectingmemory leaks in programs.
Assesses an application's memory usage by monitoring a user as they interact with an application, which allows MallocDebug to build a memory profile that unfortunately is limited in size.
Real time access to the inner workings of the graphics processing unit. Runs locally or over a network usingBonjour which is less likely to interfere with the statistics it is gathering with the exception of some disk fragmentation devices.
This tool assists developers in debugging and optimizingOpenGL usage under macOS.
Supported features:
An integrated environment to develop and debugOpenGL GPU programs (Shaders) under macOS.
Features supported by OpenGL Shader Builder:
One notable feature is 'Export to Xcode'. A sample Xcode project is created withC source code to initializeOpenGL (using theGLUT library) and run the shader program.
Note that this program is no longer recommended for editing GLSL shaders as "GLSLEditorSample," available as an example program, is generally regarded as superior.
Creates application.pkg installerbundles for installing applications using theInstaller application.
Amagnifying glass application for magnifying small sections of the computer's screen, centered around the mousecursor, giving the user a detailed view of the screen, as well as thepixel coordinates of the mouse. Provides several levels of zoom, "locking" the image under the mouse for closer examination, and saves the magnified image one of several formats. Helps ensure visual elements are aligned precisely.
Edits application preferenceplist files. As of Xcode 4, Property List Editor is no longer included as a separate application and all editing of plist files is done within Xcode. The last stand-alone version was version 5.3 in Xcode 3.2.6.
Avisual programming language for processing andrendering data. UsingOpenGL,Core Image,Core Video, and other technologies to build anAPI and serves as a simple visual programming paradigm. Quartz Composer is a core technology of the macOS. Quartz Composer creations work in anyQuickTime-aware application (beginning with Mac OS X 10.4), from the Quartz Composer application, or embedded intoCocoa orCarbon applications.
Quartz Composer has many similarities toMax/MSP although its primary usage is for graphical rather thanaudio processing. Offers the ability to construct interactive video compositions that react to audio orMIDI signals and can be played from anyQuickTime aware application.
Pierre-Olivier Latour originally developed the predecessor to Quartz Composer under the name PixelShox Studio.[4]
A resurgence in interest in Quartz Composer has come about, as theFacebook design team has been showcasing their utilization of the program to prototype interactions that they couldn't have otherwise depicted with flat mockups inPhotoshop.[5]
Optimizes the performance of the built-intext-to-speech software for macOS. Tests the operating system'sphonemic translation engine, creates graphs of the generated tone, to visually adjust the intonation, and records samples for reference.
Shark is aprofiler, used bysoftware developers to optimize software programs on macOS. It samples software at set time intervals (or driven by hardware performance monitors events) taking snapshots of the stack, showing the functions which require more of the application's resources. Includes tools to analyze the data produced by a sampling run. SinceMac OS X 10.7, it is not on the Apple site any more and was replaced byInstruments.
Spin Control is a performance tool used for monitoring hang activity in software programs. The program gets its name from thespinning pinwheel on macOS.[6]
Discontinued as of Xcode 4.2.
Thread Viewer is a performancetool which graphically displays activity across a range ofthreads. It provides color-coded time-line views of thread activity and can display backtraces of activity at specific points in time. It was merged inInstruments app, and can be accessed via "System Trace" instrument.
Xcode is anintegrated development environment (IDE) formacOS containing a suite ofsoftware development tools developed byApple for developing software for macOS,iOS,iPadOS,watchOS,tvOS, andvisionOS. Xcode supports developingsource code for theprogramming languagesC,C++,Objective-C,Objective-C++,Java,AppleScript,Python,Ruby,ResEdit (Rez), andSwift, with a variety of programming models, including but not limited toCocoa,Carbon, and Java.