The destination depends on how you captured the image. The Simulator menu’s File > Save Screen Shot writes to the Mac desktop according to Apple’s archived Simulator guide. The command xcrun simctl io booted screenshot writes to the shell’s current working directory unless you provide a filename or path. Apple’s current Device Hub documentation says its Screenshot button saves to the Desktop folder. Localization UI-test screenshots follow a separate export workflow.
Because the menu and command-line location statements come from a retired guide (deprecated for Xcode 9 and later), treat them as documented behavior for that workflow, not a guarantee for every modern Xcode release. Check the installed Simulator UI and run xcrun simctl io help when behavior differs.
Quick reference: the four save locations
| Capture method | Where to look | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Simulator menu: File > Save Screen Shot | Mac desktop | Location is stated in Apple’s archived Simulator guide, which is marked retired and deprecated for Xcode 9 and later. |
xcrun simctl io booted screenshot |
Current working directory by default | Supply a destination filename or path for a predictable location; verify syntax with the installed tool’s help. |
| Device Hub Screenshot button | Desktop folder | This is the destination documented for the current Device Hub capture interface. The image is taken at full device resolution, regardless of the Mac display resolution. |
| Xcode localization UI-test screenshots | Saved to disk for inclusion in exported localization material | This is a test/localization output workflow, not the normal folder for a manually captured Simulator image. |
Find a screenshot captured from the Simulator menu
With a running Simulator device in front, choose File > Save Screen Shot. For the workflow described in Apple’s archived guide, the resulting file appears on the Mac desktop. Look there first, and sort by the newest item if several Simulator devices have been used.
If nothing appears on the desktop, do not assume the image was lost. The archived guide is retired, and newer Simulator builds can change interface details. Confirm that the save command completed, check the Desktop folder in Finder (rather than a different Desktop shown by a synchronized service), and try the command-line method below with an explicit path.
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Use simctl when you need a known path
simctl is Apple’s command-line interface for Simulator devices. Without a destination argument, the documented default for a screenshot is the terminal’s current working directory. That means the file may be in the folder from which you launched the command, not necessarily on the Desktop.
Save the booted device to the Desktop
xcrun simctl io booted screenshot ~/Desktop/simulator.pngThis command asks the booted Simulator for a PNG and supplies a Desktop path. The shell normally expands ~ to your home directory. If your invocation does not expand it as expected, replace it with an absolute path such as /Users/your-name/Desktop/simulator.png.
Save in the current folder
cd ~/Desktop/screenshots
xcrun simctl io booted screenshot simulator.pngThe first line changes the working directory; the second uses a relative filename. Create the directory first if it does not exist, then verify the file with Finder or your shell. A relative path is useful in scripts because the output location is controlled by the script’s working directory.
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Use a project-specific or shared directory
xcrun simctl io booted screenshot /Users/your-name/Projects/app/artifacts/ios-sim.pngAn explicit absolute path avoids ambiguity when a build server, IDE task, or automation job starts in an unexpected directory. Choose a filename extension that matches the format accepted by the installed command and confirm the available options with:
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xcrun simctl io helpWhy the command can fail or capture the wrong device
No device is booted
The booted selector requires an active Simulator device. Start the intended device in Simulator, wait until its home screen or app is fully rendered, and run the command again. If multiple devices are open and you need a particular one, inspect the device controls in your installed Xcode/Simulator version and use the device-specific syntax shown by xcrun simctl io help.
xcrun or simctl is unavailable
Apple requires Xcode to be installed and selected as the active developer directory for its command-line tools. Check that Xcode is installed, launch it once if it has not completed setup, and verify the active selection in your developer-tool configuration. Then rerun xcrun simctl io help. If the command still cannot be found, the active directory may point to a standalone command-line-tools installation rather than the Xcode installation that contains Simulator tooling.
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The file is not where you expected
Print or inspect the terminal’s current directory before using a relative filename. In a shell, pwd shows that directory. A command launched from an IDE, a CI runner, or a script can have a different working directory from the one shown in your interactive Terminal window. The safest fix is to pass an absolute destination path.
The output is overwritten
Reusing simulator.png replaces the prior file when the command succeeds. Give each capture a unique name, for example simulator-login-01.png, or place captures in a timestamped directory created by your automation. This is a file-naming issue, not a different Simulator save location.
Device Hub captures
Apple’s current Device Hub instructions place screenshots taken with its Screenshot button in the Desktop folder. Device Hub captures the device at full resolution even when the Mac’s display is scaled. That makes this path useful when you need the device’s native pixel dimensions rather than an image sized to the Simulator window.
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Device Hub is a different interface from the Simulator menu and from simctl. If you switch interfaces, check the destination rule for that interface instead of assuming all screenshots share one folder.
Localization UI-test screenshots are a separate output
Xcode can gather screenshots during UI tests for localization work. Those images are saved to disk so they can be included in exported localization material. They should be searched for in the test or localization export output, not treated as though they were an ordinary manual Simulator screenshot on the Desktop.
If your goal is a localized-app handoff, preserve the export structure generated by Xcode. Moving individual images out of that structure can make it harder to associate a screenshot with its locale or test output.
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Make the destination predictable in a team workflow
- Choose one capture interface. Use the Simulator menu for occasional manual work,
simctlfor scripts, Device Hub for its full-resolution workflow, or the localization UI-test export for localization assets. - Set an explicit path for automation. Prefer an absolute artifact directory in scripts and CI jobs; do not rely on whichever directory happens to be current.
- Use unique names. Include the screen, device, locale, or build identifier in each filename so later captures do not overwrite earlier ones.
- Check the installed help. Run
xcrun simctl io helpafter an Xcode upgrade. The archived menu and default-directory statements are not unconditional guarantees for every modern release. - Verify the result immediately. Confirm that the file exists, has a non-zero size, and opens as an image before cleaning temporary Simulator data or ending a CI job.
Or skip the browser setup
If what you actually need is a screenshot of a web page rather than an iOS Simulator screen, ScreenshotNeo provides a one-request website screenshot API. It does not replace simctl for native-app captures, but it removes the browser automation setup for web captures.
cURL
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpPython
import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot", params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"}, timeout=90)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)Node.js
const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);See the ScreenshotNeo documentation for request options and response details. Before capture, it accepts cookie or consent banners like a visitor and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be disabled. Bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and the response identifies the result with X-Page-Verdict and X-Billed headers. An MCP server exposes take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf to Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients.
Every plan includes the features. The Free plan provides 1,000 shots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots. Other listed plans are Growth ($15 for 15,000), Pro ($39 for 60,000), Scale ($99 for 250,000), and Business ($249 for 1,000,000). Yearly billing gives two months free. For web captures, you can also choose full-page or element screenshots, device and viewport settings, retina scale, PDF output, custom CSS or JavaScript, waits, request blocking, headers, cookies, user-agent, timezone, geolocation, transparent backgrounds, resizing, caching, signed links, asynchronous jobs, bulk capture of up to 100 URLs per call, usage reporting, and an OpenAPI specification. Parameter names used by other screenshot APIs also work, which can simplify a migration.
Create a free ScreenshotNeo account to get 1,000 screenshots a month with no card.
Bottom line for “Where did my Simulator screenshot go?”
Check the destination associated with the capture method: Desktop for the documented Simulator menu workflow, the current working directory for an unspecified simctl output, Desktop for the current Device Hub Screenshot button, and the exported localization folders for UI-test localization images. For repeatable results, pass an explicit path to xcrun simctl io booted screenshot and verify the installed command’s help after Xcode changes.
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