Twenty to sixty gigabytes on a working Mac, spread across six folders, none of which Xcode ever cleans up on its own. Here is each one, what it is for, and whether you can delete it.
Free to download and scan. Cleaning needs a licence: one payment per computer.
One command tells you how the total splits across Xcode's folders, so you know which one to go after:
Bytesweep du -sh ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/* ~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator 2>/dev/null | sort -hBuild intermediates, indexes and module caches, one folder per project, kept forever including for projects you deleted long ago.
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedDataDeleting it costs one slow rebuild and nothing else. It is also the standard fix for Xcode behaving strangely, which is why every iOS developer knows the path by heart.
Symbol caches copied from every physical device you have ever connected, one folder per iOS build. Several gigabytes each, and they accumulate for phones you no longer own.
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupportXcode re-copies these the next time you plug in a device running that iOS version — a slow first connection, no other cost.
Each simulated device has its own filesystem, and they are never reclaimed. Use Xcode's own command rather than deleting folders, so its database stays consistent:
xcrun simctl delete unavailableTo go further, xcrun simctl delete all removes every simulator device. Simulator runtimes themselves are managed in Xcode → Settings → Components.
Every build you have ever shipped, with its dSYM debug symbols.
~/Library/Developer/Xcode/ArchivesThis is the one to leave alone. Without the dSYM for a released build you cannot symbolicate crash reports from users running it — the stack traces stay as hex addresses forever. If you must reclaim here, keep the archives for every version still in the wild.
Cloned dependency repositories, re-fetched on demand.
~/Library/Caches/org.swift.swiftpmA previous Xcode.app is 15 GB on its own, and its runtimes another few. Keep the version you still need for an older project; delete the rest through the Finder, then remove its associated runtimes in Settings → Components.
Each subfolder is named after a project. Clearing the whole folder forces a rebuild of everything you are currently working on; clearing the ones belonging to projects you finished last year costs nothing at all.
It grows by one folder per iOS build across every device you connect, so it climbs quietly all year. Two minutes each September keeps it from becoming 30 GB.
Yes. It is entirely derived from your source, which is what the name means. The only cost is that the next build of each affected project is a full one.
No. The symbols are fetched from the device again when you next plug in one on that iOS version. The first connection afterwards takes a few minutes longer.
You can, but think first. Archives hold the dSYM files for builds you shipped, and without them crash reports from those versions cannot be symbolicated. Keep anything still in users' hands; delete old betas freely.
Around 15 GB, because it ships the toolchains, SDKs and simulator runtimes for every platform Apple supports. You can remove unused simulator runtimes in Xcode → Settings → Components, but the app bundle itself is what it is.
No. None of these folders has a size limit or an expiry. That is the whole reason this page exists.
Shorter pieces that go deeper on one part of this guide.