Where apps hide your files

Xcode's generated folders, explained

Updated 2026-10-28 · 7 min read

DerivedData, Archives, device support and simulators all live under ~/Library/Developer, and they differ sharply in how safe they are to delete. Here is each path and its risk.

The locations

Everything Xcode generates for you sits under your home Library:

~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives/
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport/
~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices/
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.dt.Xcode/

Not every Mac has all five. Archives appears the first time you choose Product > Archive, and iOS DeviceSupport only once Xcode has prepared a physical device for debugging, so a Mac used only with simulators may have neither. A missing folder is not a fault. Apple does not publish these paths in a single reference; the Archives and iOS DeviceSupport names come from long-standing developer guides as well as Xcode's own behaviour.

Open them

In Finder press ⇧⌘G and paste a path, or in Terminal:

open ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
open ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives

To see how large each one is:

du -sh ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/* ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/* 2>/dev/null

On a Mac that mostly runs simulators, expect CoreSimulator to dwarf the Xcode folder.

What each folder is for, and whether you can delete it

Folder	What it holds	Safe to clear?
DerivedData	Build products, indexes, logs; one folder per project, named after it plus a hash	Yes. Xcode rebuilds it. The next build is slower
Archives	Every Product > Archive build, in dated folders	Not casually: needed to symbolicate crashes and re-export
iOS DeviceSupport	Debug symbols copied from devices, one folder per OS build	Old versions yes; Xcode copies them again when needed
CoreSimulator/Devices	Simulator devices and their installed apps and data	Only through Xcode or simctl, not by hand
UserData	Key bindings, themes, provisioning profiles, snippets	No. This is your configuration
Products	One folder per app bundle ID, with version folders, used by the Organizer for apps you distribute	Downloaded data, not your source; usually small

Inside DerivedData, a project's folder looks like MyApp- followed by a long run of letters, and files opened without a project appear as Unsaved_Xcode_Document. Inside each, Build holds products and Logs holds build and test logs. UserData also contains Previews, where SwiftUI previews keep their own simulator devices.

Clearing DerivedData

This is the standard fix for odd build errors and a full disk. Quit Xcode, open the folder in Finder, and move the contents to the Trash. To find the folder from inside Xcode, open Xcode > Settings > Locations, where the Derived Data path is shown with a small arrow that opens it in Finder. Xcode regenerates everything, and the first build takes longer. Do not trash the parent Xcode folder, because UserData and Archives sit next to DerivedData.

Archives: keep these

An archive may be the only place your build's dSYM symbols live, and crash reports from shipped builds are hard to read without them. Delete an archive only once the build has shipped and its symbols are safely uploaded or stored elsewhere. In Xcode, Window > Organizer lists archives and lets you delete them, which is safer than Finder because Xcode keeps its own list. On disk, archives sit in date folders named like 2026-10-28, each containing .xcarchive bundles.

Device support and simulators

iOS DeviceSupport has a folder per device OS build, and on Macs that have debugged many devices over the years it can reach several gigabytes. Removing old ones is safe: Xcode copies the symbols again the next time you attach a device on that version, which takes a few minutes. Recent Xcode versions also keep ~/Library/Developer/DeveloperDiskImages, which is small.

Simulators are usually the big one. Device data lives in ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator, while the simulator runtimes are disk images managed by the system under /Library/Developer/CoreSimulator. Measure the runtimes with simctl rather than du, which also counts the mounted images:

xcrun simctl runtime list
xcrun simctl list devices
xcrun simctl delete unavailable

The first prints each runtime and the total size of the disk images. Remove runtimes you no longer test on in Xcode > Settings > Components (called Platforms in some earlier versions). The last command deletes simulator devices that the installed Xcode no longer supports, along with their data, so run it only when you mean to. Do not drag folders out of Devices by hand, because the simulator service keeps an index of them.

Moving the location

DerivedData can be redirected in Xcode > Settings > Locations, where Derived Data can be set to Default, Relative to the workspace, or a Custom path. If you move it to an external drive, builds fail whenever the drive is unplugged.

Backup and new Macs

Back up Archives and UserData. Skip DerivedData, caches and device support, since all are rebuilt. Developers report that Xcode 16 and later keep provisioning profiles in UserData/Provisioning Profiles (earlier versions used ~/Library/MobileDevice/Provisioning Profiles), and Xcode can download them again from your developer account in any case.

Why Spotlight hides all of it

These folders sit inside ~/Library, which Spotlight leaves out of its results.

Finding a build or archive by name

Everywhere searches file names inside ~/Library/Developer, so typing .xcarchive lists your archives, and typing a project name finds its DerivedData folder, both ready to reveal with ⌘↵. It cannot report how big they are or read inside them, so use du -sh for the numbers.

Common questions

Where is Xcode's DerivedData folder on a Mac?

At ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData by default. Xcode > Settings > Locations shows the path and lets you change it.

Is it safe to delete DerivedData?

Yes, with Xcode quit. Xcode rebuilds it from your source, so the cost is a slower next build.

Where does Xcode keep archives?

In ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives, in dated folders. Keep them until the build has shipped and its symbols are stored safely, and delete them from Xcode's Organizer rather than Finder.

Why is there no iOS DeviceSupport folder on my Mac?

Xcode creates it only after it has prepared a physical device for debugging. If you have only used simulators, or have not archived anything, those folders simply do not exist yet.