How to set up Xcode

Getting Xcode set up on your computer can be a pain with its large file size, confusing errors, and specific procedures. In this tutorial, I will guide you along the easiest and fastest way to download/install Xcode and provide workarounds on some errors that you might potentially get.

1️⃣ Download the version that you want from Apple’s website

💡 Make sure you download with Safari and not Chrome

2️⃣ Move sure to cd first into the directory where the file is located, i.e. Documents or Applications. Then, use this command in your terminal to expand the file.

xip -x Xcode_13.xip

3️⃣ Next, you might get this message that looks like an error but it’s actually not. It’s actually just working on expanding and you want to give it 20-30 min.

xip: signing certificate was "Software Update" (validation not attempted)

4️⃣ Finally, after the item has been expanded, you’ll get a message like this.

xip: expanded items from "/Users/ivychen/Documents/Xcode_13.xip"

Simply move it to your Applications folder, then it should be good to go!

Alternative Workarounds

If the method above doesn’t work (probably because you don’t have at least 30-40 GB on your computer), then you can try it with an external hard drive. Download the file with Safari on to your computer, copy it to your hard drive + expand it there. Then, move the expanded item back to your Applications folder and it should work!

Also, if you don't want to use the terminal, then you can just double-click to expand but it will take much longer.