project focustimer

Step 6: Your Phone

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Full Lesson Reference

Run it on your real device.

Where We Are

The app works in the simulator. Let's put it on your actual iPhone.

Connect Your iPhone

  1. Plug your iPhone into your Mac with a cable
  2. Unlock your iPhone and tap "Trust This Computer" if prompted
  3. In Xcode, click the device selector at the top (where it says "iPhone 15" or similar)
  4. Select your iPhone from the list

Sign the App

Xcode needs to know who you are:

  1. Go to Xcode → Settings → Accounts
  2. Add your Apple ID if it's not there
  3. In your project settings, under "Signing & Capabilities", select your Apple ID as the Team
  4. Xcode will handle the rest

Run It

Press Cmd + R or click Play.

The first time, your iPhone might say "Untrusted Developer". Fix it:

  1. On your iPhone, go to Settings → General → VPN & Device Management
  2. Find your developer profile
  3. Tap "Trust"

Try again. Your app should launch on your phone.

Test Notifications on Device

Notifications behave differently on a real device than in the simulator. Test the full flow:

  1. Start a 1-minute focus session
  2. Lock your phone
  3. Wait for the notification to appear on your lock screen
  4. Tap it to return to the app

This is the real experience. Simulator can't fully replicate it.

Use It for Real

Unplug the cable. The app stays on your phone.

Try a real Pomodoro session. Set 25 minutes, focus on something, and wait for the notification. See how it feels. Notice what you'd change.

Checkpoint

By now you should have:

  • App running on your real iPhone
  • Developer profile trusted
  • Notifications working on device
  • Using it untethered

What You Learned

  • Running apps on real hardware
  • Code signing basics
  • The difference between simulator and real device
  • Notifications require real device testing

Exercises

  1. Connect your iPhone, sign the app with your Apple ID, and get it running on the device — trusting the developer profile if prompted.
  2. Run the on-device notification test: a 1-minute focus session with your phone locked, and confirm the lock-screen notification appears and opens the app when tapped.
  3. Unplug the cable and run one real 25-minute Pomodoro session. Write down two things you'd change about the experience now that you've used it for real.