Build and deploy iOS apps on Omarchy Linux (Apple Silicon)

SwiftUI apps built on an M1 Mac running Omarchy Linux, installed on a physical iPhone over USB, with no Xcode and no macOS in the loop.

Based on a first successful run on 2026-09-09 with:

Tool	Version	Source
Swift	6.3.3 (aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu)	AUR swift-bin
xtool	1.19.0	xtool-org/xtool AppImage
pymobiledevice3	latest from PyPI at install time	venv
LLDB	21.0.0 (Swift toolchain)	bundled with swift-bin
iOS SDK	iPhoneOS 26.5	Xcode 26.6 on a Mac, streamed as a directory

Works with a free Apple ID. Paid membership not required for device installs.

What you need

• An Apple Silicon Mac or Linux box running Omarchy (Arch-based), aarch64.
• An iOS device and a USB cable.
• One of:
  • A Mac with Xcode installed (any host on your network that you can SSH into), or
  • Xcode.xip downloaded from developer.apple.com (requires an Apple ID).

xtool sdk install accepts a path to an Xcode.xip or an extracted Xcode.app directory. The directory route avoids the multi-GB download.

Install

Run install-toolchain.sh, then get an SDK onto the machine:

• Directory route: stream only the pieces xtool needs from a Mac with Xcode (see install-toolchain.sh, section 5) into ~/xcode-apple-sdk-src/Xcode.app, then xtool sdk install ~/xcode-apple-sdk-src/Xcode.app.
• XIP route: download Xcode.xip from https://developer.apple.com/download/all/?q=Xcode and run xtool sdk install /path/to/Xcode.xip.

Verify with swift sdk list (should print darwin).

First app

xtool new HelloOmarchy
cd HelloOmarchy
xtool dev run

xtool dev build alone produces xtool/HelloOmarchy.app (arm64 Mach-O).

Device

Plug the iPhone in, tap Trust when prompted, then:

./device-run.sh

First run needs xtool auth (interactive, your Apple ID; password mode works with free accounts). Pairing happens through usbmuxd on first connect.

Scripts

• install-toolchain.sh: everything up to and including the SDK install.
• device-run.sh: pair, install, launch, LLDB attach, with the phone connected.

Findings

FINDINGS.md records the fourteen things that broke on the way to the first working run, with error text, root cause, and fix for each: SDK install failures, a clang version mismatch that breaks SwiftUI, and the four unstated prerequisites for debugging on iOS 17 and later.

Notes

• clang on PATH must be the Swift toolchain's own clang, not the system clang. The SDK install copies the host clang headers into the bundle; a version mismatch between host clang and the Swift compiler produces __builtin_bit_cast size errors when compiling SwiftUI. Use PATH=/usr/lib/swift/bin:$PATH on Arch-based installs.
• Building SwiftUI pulls in simd/arm_neon headers; first build takes about a minute on an M1.

License

MIT