Cordova: start specific iOS emulator image

I'm developing a cross-platform mobile app using Cordova, focussing mainly on iOS in the development stage.

For my development process it would be ideal if I could start my Cordova app directly from the command line and have it load into a specified emulator. I can do this by running the following from the project root directory:

$cordova run --debug --emulator iOS

This works fine, and results in an iOS-simulator running my app in a simulated iPhone 4 Retina with iOS 7.0.3

Besides this simulated device, I would also like to test on (for instance) an iPad. I have these emulation images installed, and I can start my app in them manually in Xcode. Also, the command list-emulator-images (located in project_dir/platforms/ios/cordova/lib) gives the following output:

"iPhone Retina (3.5-inch)"
"iPhone Retina (4-inch)"
"iPhone Retina (4-inch 64-bit)"
"iPhone"
"iPad"
"iPad Retina"

However, the thing is: I can't seem to figure out how to start the emulator in anything other than the default (which appears to be the iPhone Retina (4-inch) emulation image). The relevant output of cordova help gives the following information:

run [--debug|--release]
    [--device|--emulator|--target=FOO]
    [PLATFORM] ............................ deploys app on specified platform devices / emulators

I've tried things like the following:

cordova run --debug --emulator=iPad iOS

And many variations thereof, but no luck. Every time it starts in the same emulator.

The documentation for the command-line tool doesn't offer any information in this regard, and an extensive Google-search also failed to turn up anything. Am I missing something trivial? Or am I trying to do something weird? I really hope someone here has experience with this, and can provide some answers.

Thanks very much in advance!

edit: forgot to mention explicitly; I'm doing all this on a Mac. As mentioned earlier, running the app in different emulators/simulators in Xcode works fine.

To find out what are the simulator images available you can use to list them

$ cordova emulate ios --list
Available iOS Virtual Devices:
	iPhone-4s, 9.3
	iPhone-5, 9.3
	iPhone-5s, 9.3
	iPhone-6, 9.3
	iPhone-6-Plus, 9.3
	iPhone-6s, 9.3
	iPhone-6s-Plus, 9.3
	iPad-2, 9.3
	iPad-Retina, 9.3
	iPad-Air, 9.3
	iPad-Air-2, 9.3
	iPad-Pro, 9.3

Then use one of the simulator names in the --target parameter:

cordova emulate ios --target="iPhone-4s, 9.3"
cordova emulate ios --target="iPad-Air-2, 9.3"
cordova emulate ios --target="iPhone-6s, 9.3"
cordova emulate ios --target="iPhone-6-Plus, 9.3"

Important Quit the simulator before launching a different target simulator (On Menu bar select Simulator->Quit)

Take into account that you may need to quit the iOS simulator via menu to switch from 3.5 to 4 inch iPhone.

dynamic list is available in platforms/ios/cordova/lib/list-emulator-images

As say csantanapr you can use:

cordova emulate ios --target="iPhone-4s"

but, in this case cordova (or PhoneGap or other) project will be launched on iPhone 4s simulator with iOS version 7.0.3.

If you want launch project on same simulator, but with other version iOS (7.1 or 8.0, if it versions exist in your system)?

Of corse, you can do like say cobberboy: >start a specific emulator and choose your ios version by directly using ios-sim.

But you can improve --target option of cordova run command.

At first you must ensure what target iOS version available on your system.

For it use answer of cobberboy:

$ ios-sim showdevicetypes

Then you need to open the file your_project_dir/platforms/ios/cordova/lib/run.js and find lines of code like below:

// validate target device for ios-sim
// Valid values for "--target" (case sensitive):
var validTargets = ['iPhone-4s', 'iPhone-5', 'iPhone-5s', 'iPhone-6-Plus', 'iPhone-6',    'iPad-2', 'iPad-Retina', 'iPad-Air', 'Resizable-iPhone', 'Resizable-iPad'];

For use iPhone-4s, 7.1 (or some other) simple add it to array validTargets.

var validTargets = ['iPhone-4s', 'iPhone-4s, 7.1', 'iPhone-5', 'iPhone-5s', 'iPhone-6-Plus', 'iPhone-6',
    'iPad-2', 'iPad-Retina', 'iPad-Air', 'Resizable-iPhone', 'Resizable-iPad'];

And in

cordova emulate ios --target="iPhone-4s, 7.1"

your --target="iPhone-4s, 7.1" will be valid.

And function deployToSim of run.js:

function deployToSim(appPath, target) {
// Select target device for emulator. Default is 'iPhone-6'
if (!target) {
    target = 'iPhone-6';
    console.log('No target specified for emulator. Deploying to ' + target + ' simulator');
}
var logPath = path.join(cordovaPath, 'console.log');
var simArgs = ['launch', appPath,
    '--devicetypeid', 'com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.' + target,
    // We need to redirect simulator output here to use cordova/log command
    // TODO: Is there any other way to get emulator's output to use in log command?
    '--stderr', logPath, '--stdout', logPath,
    '--exit'];
return spawn('ios-sim', simArgs);
}

convert iPhone-4s, 7.1 to valid argument com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-4s, 7.1 for ios-sim.

###TL;DR You can start a specific emulator and choose your ios version by directly using ios-sim.

export appname="./platforms/ios/build/emulator/Hello World.app"
ios-sim launch "$appname" --devicetypeid "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-2, 8.0" --stderr ./platforms/ios/cordova/console.log --stdout ./platforms/ios/cordova/console.log

###Details

When I ran this:

cordova emulate ios --target="iPad"

and looked at the processes running, I saw this (on a single line):

ios-sim launch ./platforms/ios/build/emulator/HelloWorld.app 
        --stderr ./platforms/ios/cordova/console.log 
        --stdout ./platforms/ios/cordova/console.log 
        --family ipad 
        --exit

Investigating further into ios-sim, it looks like there are some more specific options, particularly:

--devicetypeid <device type>    The id of the device type that should be simulated (Xcode6+). Use 'showdevicetypes' to list devices.
  e.g "com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.Resizable-iPhone6, 8.0"

So I did as it suggested and ran ios-sim with a "showdevicetypes" argument and got this:

$ ios-sim showdevicetypes
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-4s, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-5, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-5s, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-2, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-Retina, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-Air, 7.1
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-4s, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-5, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-5s, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-6-Plus, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPhone-6, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-2, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-Retina, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.iPad-Air, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.Resizable-iPhone, 8.0
com.apple.CoreSimulator.SimDeviceType.Resizable-iPad, 8.0

Don't include version number

cordova run ios --target="iPhone-6s"

As of Xcode 8.3.2...

Old thread, I know, but it seems, perhaps, that the answer has changed slightly. The hints from earlier posts in this thread helped, but so did reading the documentation included in the code, <cordova-project>/platforms/ios/cordova/lib/run.js

Execute ./platforms/ios/cordova/lib/list-emulator-images to list the available emulator images. Do not include the version number on the end when making the cordova call to run in the desired emulator.

cordova run ios --emulator --target="iPad-Air"

See more

I can't comment on the answer above due to my low reputation, but the list of targets is available from:

start-emulator 

under

your platform/ios/cordova/lib/

Having said that, I cannot make the ipad retina emulator work...

fastest output of devices list: $ instruments -s devices

Just use the device name without the version.

Now is:

cordova run ios --list
Available ios devices:
Available ios virtual devices:
Apple-TV-1080p, tvOS 14.3
Apple-TV-4K-4K, tvOS 14.3
Apple-TV-4K-1080p, tvOS 14.3
Apple-Watch-Series-5-40mm, watchOS 7.2
Apple-Watch-Series-5-44mm, watchOS 7.2
Apple-Watch-Series-6-40mm, watchOS 7.2
Apple-Watch-Series-6-44mm, watchOS 7.2
iPhone-8, 14.3
iPhone-8-Plus, 14.3
iPhone-11, 14.3
iPhone-11-Pro, 14.3
iPhone-11-Pro-Max, 14.3
iPhone-SE--2nd-generation-, 14.3
iPhone-12-mini, 14.3
iPhone-12, 14.3
iPhone-12-Pro, 14.3
iPhone-12-Pro-Max, 14.3
iPod-touch--7th-generation-, 14.3
iPad-Pro--9-7-inch-, 14.3
iPad-Pro--11-inch---2nd-generation-, 14.3
iPad-Pro--12-9-inch---4th-generation-, 14.3
iPad--8th-generation-, 14.3
iPad-Air--4th-generation-, 14.3

And:

cordova run ios --target="iPad-Pro--12-9-inch---4th-generation-, 14.3"

In Cordova 10.0.0

Different iphone and ipad simulator

1. cordova run ios --list

2. cordova emulate ios --target "iPhone-7"

Runs iOS simulator with web request based on already generated build for cordova application. Execute this request from browser opens simulator on mac with iPhone 8Plus version: http://hostname:3000/cordova/build/[xxxx-buildnumber]/emulate?target=iPhone-8-Plus

@Birja's answer is working right now but the run command he used finally is still wrong so here the right answer:

To list all the devices available in simulator cordova run ios --list

It will result in something like this:

Available ios devices:
Available ios virtual devices:
Apple-TV-1080p, tvOS 12.2
Apple-Watch-Series-2-38mm, watchOS 5.2
iPhone-5s, 12.2
iPhone-6, 12.2
iPad-Air-2, 12.2
iPad--5th-generation-, 12.2
iPad-Pro--9-7-inch-, 12.2
iPad-Pro, 12.2
iPad-Pro--12-9-inch---2nd-generation-, 12.2
iPad-Pro--10-5-inch-, 12.2
iPad--6th-generation-, 12.2
iPad-Pro--11-inch-, 12.2
iPad-Pro--12-9-inch---3rd-generation-, 12.2

cordova run ios --target "iPad-Pro, 12.2" Use any target from the above. To run in simulator.