What's New in Xcode 16 [Video]

Apple has released Xcode 16 beta to developers with enhancements to code completion, diagnostics, Xcode Previews, and more.

Here's a look at what's new in Xcode 16...

Xcode 16 includes SDKs for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15, tvOS 18, and watchOS 11, and the following new features.


Source Editor
● Leverage the new predictive code completion engine, which predicts the code you need. Powered by a unique model specifically trained for Swift and Apple SDKs, code completion now takes context such as function names and comments into account to provide more thorough code suggestions.
● Match user input to the best action more accurately with Improved Quick Actions.
● Leverage the repeat command with Vim key bindings.

Swift
● Enable strict concurrency in Swift 6 to check for the risk of data races at compile time.

Testing
● Write your unit tests using Swift Testing and get richer output and more actionable test results. Take advantage of its new features, such as parameterized testing, to create more tests cases with less code, annotate tests, and modify runtime behaviors.
● Generate test plans in the Test Plan Editor based on the tags you define and attach to the test you write using Swift Testing.
● Gain insights into device and tag specific failure patterns in the tests results when testing across multiple configurations and run destinations. Xcode displays these insights in the Report navigator in Xcode under the Insights section of a Test Report.
● Export video, still frames, or screenshots from the details of a Test Report under the Reports navigator in Xcode.

Previews
● Iterate designs quickly with the improved SwiftUI preview. Leverage new preview APIs for declaring state and reusing data across previews.


Asset management
Add new Dark and Tinted app icons for iOS.

Devices and simulator
● Test FaceTime and SharePlay experiences for visionOS using the upgraded Xcode simulator.
● Get started with your projects more quickly with a smaller, more efficient Xcode. Simulator updates resume even after your download gets interrupted, and the new Settings -> Components panel helps you manage your downloadable components.

Performance and metrics
● Identify areas of launch time improvement. Discover where your iOS app spends its time at launch with the launch diagnostics that come with Xcode Organizer.
● Use signature trend insights to understand how the impact of disk usage issues changes over time for your iOS app.
● Surface runtime issues for launch time, hang rate, and disk usage with the Thread performance checker.
● Leverage the Flame Graph feature in Instruments to better visualize performance hotspots in your app.

Debugging
● Reduce the size of your .dSYM bundles and allow for faster lookups by adapting the DWARF5 default symbol debugging format.
● Visualize a threads backtrace interactively in the source editor using the new Unified Backtrace view in Xcode Debugger. You can view the source code corresponding to each frame from the backtrace in a single editor tab, along with program counter annotations and data tips for local variables that have values available in each frame.
● Interactively debug crash logs in LLDB with or without the existence of a local copy of the corresponding Xcode project file and source code. You can supply Xcode with matching symbol-rich executables or dSYM files to create a readable version of the contents of the crash log. These files can then load into a crash debugging session using the "Load Symbols" contextual menu item in the debug navigator.
Inspect properties and get a snapshot of your running app's entity hierarchy with RealityKit debugger.
● Leverage the @DebugDescription macro to convert compatible Swift debugDescription properties into LLDB type summaries.
● Debug devices remotely from the command line in LLDB with the device command.

Projects and workspaces
● Leverage the New Empty File feature from the Project Navigator's context menu to quickly create a new Swift file without any confirmation dialogs.
● Leverage the Copy, Paste, and Duplicate feature from the Edit menu to create a new file from an existing file.
● Cut text from the Source Editor, and then use the New File from Clipboard command while holding the option key in the Project Navigator's context menu to quickly extract part of a source file into a new file.
● Minimize project file changes and avoid conflicts with buildable folder references. Convert an existing group to a buildable folder with the Convert to Folder context menu item in the Project Navigator. Buildable folders only record the folder path into the project file without enumerating the contained files, minimizing diffs to the project when your team adds or removes files, and avoiding source control conflicts. To use a folder as an opaque copiable resource, the default behavior before Xcode 16, uncheck the Build Folder Contents option in the File Inspector.
● Create groups with associated folders by default when using the New Group and New Group from Selection commands in the Project Navigator. To create a group without a folder, hold the Option key in the context menu to reveal the New Group without Folder variant of the command.

Xcode Cloud
● Define custom aliases to set up and manage centralized Xcode and macOS configurations, and apply them across multiple workflows.
● View coverage data from test runs in Xcode Cloud by opening the build report under the Reports navigator in Xcode and navigating to Coverage.
● Configure webhooks that connect Xcode Cloud to other services and tools.

StoreKit testing in Xcode
● Configure app policies, such as user license agreements and localized privacy policies, to display in StoreKit views using the StoreKit.configuration file.
● Configure win-back offers in the StoreKit.configuration file to test win-back offers for autorenewable subscriptions.

Localization
● Use new features in the string catalog, such as inline diagnostics and the ability to mark strings as not to be translated, and jump between source code and translations for improved localization workflows.

Build system
● Discover improved parallelism, more detailed compile time error messages, and improved debugger performance with explicit modules.
● Enable low-overhead security-critical checks at runtime with the hardened C++ standard library.

Documentation
● Create documentation links to on-page headings and topic sections.
● Combine overloaded methods by adding --enable-experimental-overloaded-symbol-presentation to "Other DocC Flags" (OTHER_DOCC_FLAGS).
● Build documentation for C++ projects using Product > Build Documentation.
● Separate content using a horizontal rule by adding --- or *** in a line.

Check out the video below for an overview of these new features!