irshadpc / touch-bar-simulator

Launch the macOS Touch Bar simulator from anywhere without needing to have Xcode installed

Touch Bar Simulator

Launch the Touch Bar simulator from anywhere without needing to have Xcode installed

Whereas Apple requires you to launch it from inside Xcode. This app also comes with a handy screenshot button.

Discuss it on Product Hunt

Check out my other macOS app → Battery Indicator

Download

Download the latest release, unzip it, and move it to /Applications.

Requires macOS 10.12.2 or later.

Screenshot

You can capture a screenshot of the Touch Bar by either:

1. Clicking the screenshot button in the Touch Bar window which saves it to ~/Desktop.
2. Pressing Command Shift 6 which saves it to ~/Desktop.
3. Pressing Command Control Shift 6 which saves it to the clipboard.

FAQ

How is this better than TouchBarLauncher?

• Doesn't require Xcode
• Signed binary
• Screenshot button
• Doesn't steal focus when launched
• Doesn't take up space in the Dock or app switcher

Why is this not on the App Store?

Apple would never allow it as it uses private APIs.

How does this work?

In short, it exposes the Touch Bar simulator from inside Xcode as a standalone app with added features. I class-dumped a private Xcode framework and used that to expose a private class to get a reference to the Touch Bar window controller. I then launch that window and add a screenshot button to it. I've bundled the required private frameworks to make it work without Xcode. That's why the binary is so big.

License

MIT © Sindre Sorhus