iOS Simulator fails to boot (18.6 / 26.1 / 26.2) – launchd_sim could not bind to session

Hi all, we do have the same problem. Me and several other colleagues. We just found out the same that iOS Simulator version 18.2 is the latest working for us. We have also tried to clean everything and start the installation from scratch. It did not help.

I throw my stack trace here as well in the hope it might be seen and it might help some developer at Apple.

Unable to boot the Simulator.
Domain: NSPOSIXErrorDomain
Code: 4
Failure Reason: Interrupted system call
User Info: {
    DVTErrorCreationDateKey = "2026-01-14 08:42:36 +0000";
    IDERunOperationFailingWorker = "_IDEInstalliPhoneSimulatorWorker";
    Session = "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDevice.79733B3C-A5BA-41E8-A88A-6DA408E517D6";
}
--
Failed to start launchd_sim: could not bind to session, launchd_sim may have crashed or quit responding
Domain: com.apple.SimLaunchHostService.RequestError
Code: 4
--

Event Metadata: com.apple.dt.IDERunOperationWorkerFinished : {
    "device_identifier" = "XXX";
    "device_model" = "iPhone17,5";
    "device_osBuild" = "26.0 (23A339)";
    "device_osBuild_monotonic" = 2300033900;
    "device_os_variant" = 1;
    "device_platform" = "com.apple.platform.iphonesimulator";
    "device_platform_family" = 2;
    "device_reality" = 2;
    "device_thinningType" = "iPhone17,5";
    "device_transport" = 4;
    "launchSession_schemeCommand" = Run;
    "launchSession_schemeCommand_enum" = 1;
    "launchSession_targetArch" = arm64;
    "launchSession_targetArch_enum" = 6;
    "operation_duration_ms" = 975;
    "operation_errorCode" = 4;
    "operation_errorDomain" = NSPOSIXErrorDomain;
    "operation_errorWorker" = "_IDEInstalliPhoneSimulatorWorker";
    "operation_error_reportable" = 1;
    "operation_name" = IDERunOperationWorkerGroup;
    "param_consoleMode" = 1;
    "param_debugger_attachToExtensions" = 0;
    "param_debugger_attachToXPC" = 1;
    "param_debugger_type" = 3;
    "param_destination_isProxy" = 0;
    "param_destination_platform" = "com.apple.platform.iphonesimulator";
    "param_diag_MTE_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_MainThreadChecker_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_MallocStackLogging_enableDuringAttach" = 0;
    "param_diag_MallocStackLogging_enableForXPC" = 1;
    "param_diag_allowLocationSimulation" = 1;
    "param_diag_checker_mtc_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_checker_tpc_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_gpu_frameCapture_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_gpu_shaderValidation_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_gpu_validation_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_guardMalloc_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_memoryGraphOnResourceException" = 0;
    "param_diag_queueDebugging_enable" = 1;
    "param_diag_runtimeProfile_generate" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_asan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_tsan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_tsan_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_ubsan_enable" = 0;
    "param_diag_sanitizer_ubsan_stopOnIssue" = 0;
    "param_diag_showNonLocalizedStrings" = 0;
    "param_diag_viewDebugging_enabled" = 1;
    "param_diag_viewDebugging_insertDylibOnLaunch" = 1;
    "param_install_style" = 2;
    "param_launcher_UID" = 2;
    "param_launcher_allowDeviceSensorReplayData" = 0;
    "param_launcher_kind" = 0;
    "param_launcher_style" = 0;
    "param_launcher_substyle" = 0;
    "param_lldbVersion_component_idx_1" = 0;
    "param_lldbVersion_monotonic" = 170302340003;
    "param_runnable_appExtensionHostRunMode" = 0;
    "param_runnable_productType" = "com.apple.product-type.application";
    "param_testing_launchedForTesting" = 0;
    "param_testing_suppressSimulatorApp" = 0;
    "param_testing_usingCLI" = 0;
    "sdk_canonicalName" = "iphonesimulator26.1";
    "sdk_osVersion" = "26.1";
    "sdk_platformID" = 7;
    "sdk_variant" = iphonesimulator;
    "sdk_version_monotonic" = 2301007700;
}
--

System Information

macOS Version 15.7.3 (Build 24G419)
Xcode 26.1.1 (24455) (Build 17B100)
Timestamp: 2026-01-14T09:42:36+01:00

I have the same issue. launchd_sim could not bind to session on iOS 18.6 / 26.1 / 26.2 but when I downloaded 18.2 it worked fine.

I tried clearing ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData and /Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode but no success.

I tried removing project build caches from System Settings -> Storage -> Storage Settings -> Developer, but no success.

I deleted iOS Simulator 26.1 platform from Xcode > Settings > Components and then re-adding it but still no success.

Having the same issue, Macos Tahoe 26.2, i tried everything i found on net: deleting caches, all xcode files, reinstalling it, rebooting my computer, deleting all simalator devices, deleting IOS from Xcode => setting components, downloading it again. I tried installing older IOS, no help, when starting emulator i have this error: "Unable to boot the Simulator"

And this error, when i'm trying to do this from terminal

== Devices ==
-- iOS 26.2 --
    iPhone 17 Pro (1FC8FFC9-A04D-434B-85F0-F5AE2DB4CDAC) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 17 Pro Max (71761C54-D406-496E-A552-CD72FACD10DA) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone Air (64607ACA-F580-4A6A-A816-1AD1E8BEBC32) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 17 (7ECEC4C0-0DC9-4B5A-A9A0-05E4B1038C68) (Shutdown) 
    iPhone 16e (A175B467-438D-41A7-B537-D7E23B4FFF21) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) (FA74F9C7-93C9-40D6-86F5-74E46FCCF7EC) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Pro 11-inch (M5) (73A17C77-DBFA-4748-880D-15FBBE43E57E) (Shutdown) 
    iPad mini (A17 Pro) (09BF89D2-640C-4083-937A-4859633BB69E) (Shutdown) 
    iPad (A16) (5FF5869B-042F-4886-A5E3-AD333550F9EB) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air 13-inch (M3) (3474F7D9-68B1-46AE-94F1-91DF48E38464) (Shutdown) 
    iPad Air 11-inch (M3) (8EDB1407-74CB-4420-86A2-C0AD084D8A73) (Shutdown) 
[~] xcrun simctl boot 1FC8FFC9-A04D-434B-85F0-F5AE2DB4CDAC                     
An error was encountered processing the command (domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain, code=4):
Unable to boot the Simulator.
Interrupted system call
Underlying error (domain=com.apple.SimLaunchHostService.RequestError, code=4):
	Failed to start launchd_sim: could not bind to session, launchd_sim may have crashed or quit responding

Please, help