# Using Python on iOS — Testing a Python package

> The CPython source tree contains a testbed project that is used to run the CPython test suite on the iOS simulator.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-python-95de3899e5326a5e7110>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
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- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:31:58.660519+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `python`, `using`, `ios`, `testing`, `package`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/f10166035d602da5052e8a48f9d5c216c57b401d/Doc/using/ios.rst>
- Source name: Python Documentation
- Source revision: `f10166035d602da5052e8a48f9d5c216c57b401d`
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## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

The CPython source tree contains a testbed project that is used to run the CPython test suite on the iOS simulator. This testbed can also be used as a testbed project for running your Python library's test suite on iOS.

After building or obtaining an iOS XCFramework (see Platforms/Apple/iOS/README.md for details), create a clone of the Python iOS testbed project. If you used the Platforms/Apple build script to build the XCframework, you can run

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```bash
$ python cross-build/iOS/testbed clone --app &lt;path/to/module1&gt; --app &lt;path/to/module2&gt; app-testbed
```

Or, if you've sourced your own XCframework, by running

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```bash
$ python Platforms/Apple/testbed clone --platform iOS --framework &lt;path/to/Python.xcframework&gt; --app &lt;path/to/module1&gt; --app &lt;path/to/module2&gt; app-testbed
```

Any folders specified with the --app flag will be copied into the cloned testbed project. The resulting testbed will be created in the app-testbed folder. In this example, the module1 and module2 would be importable modules at runtime. If your project has additional dependencies, they can be installed into the app-testbed/Testbed/app_packages folder (using pip install --target app-testbed/Testbed/app_packages or similar).

You can then use the app-testbed folder to run the test suite for your app, For example, if module1.tests was the entry point to your test suite, you could run

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```bash
$ python app-testbed run -- module1.tests
```

This is the equivalent of running python -m module1.tests on a desktop Python build. Any arguments after the -- will be passed to the testbed as if they were arguments to python -m on a desktop machine.

You can also open the testbed project in Xcode by running

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```bash
$ open app-testbed/iOSTestbed.xcodeproj
```

This will allow you to use the full Xcode suite of tools for debugging. …

Attribution: Adapted from Python Documentation under PSF-2.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.