CoreDataBrowser

March 11, 2026 · View on GitHub

✨ Overview

CoreDataBrowser is a lightweight macOS utility designed to help iOS developers inspect the local data used by apps running in the iOS Simulator.

During development it is often useful to quickly check what your app has stored locally. Instead of manually navigating through simulator directories, CoreDataBrowser provides a simple UI to explore that data.

With CoreDataBrowser you can inspect:

  • Core Data SQLite databases
  • SwiftData storage
  • UserDefaults values

for any installed iOS Simulator device.

🚀 Features

  • Browse booted iOS Simulators
  • Inspect Core Data databases
  • View SwiftData storage
  • Read UserDefaults values
  • Manually select custom paths for databases or storage locations
  • Built-in search functionality across displayed data
  • Matching results are highlighted with a yellow background for easier visibility
  • Native macOS UI
  • Simple and lightweight

📦 Installation

CoreDataBrowser can be installed using Homebrew, the popular package manager for macOS.

Open your terminal, and paste it:

brew tap kyletaylor94/apps && brew install --cask coredatabrowser

OR

brew tap kyletaylor94/apps && brew install coredatabrowser

⚠️ First Launch (Security Notice)

Since the app is not notarized by Apple, macOS may block it on the first launch. To allow the app to run:

  • Open System Settings
  • navigate to Privacy & Security
  • scroll down to the Security section
  • you will see a message saying the app was blocked
  • click Open Anyway
  • after confirming this once, the app will launch normally.

🧑‍💻 Requirements

  • macOS
  • Xcode (required for iOS Simulators)

💡 Why this project?

While developing iOS applications it is often difficult to quickly inspect the local data used by the simulator.

CoreDataBrowser was created to provide a simple and convenient way to explore:

  • Core Data databases
  • SwiftData storage
  • UserDefaults values

without needing to manually locate simulator folders or write custom debugging scripts.

🎥 Video

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9035a5b8-e731-47a5-8ade-716bcfb21975

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