What are Xcode Archives on Mac? Is it safe to delete them?

Where it is

What it is

Each time you choose Product > Archive, Xcode saves an .xcarchive bundle here, sorted into folders by date. It contains the built app and the dSYM files that turn raw crash addresses back into function names and line numbers.

Archives are what you upload to App Store Connect or export for distribution, and you see them in Xcode's Organizer window. The folder grows because Xcode keeps every archive you have ever made until you delete it.

The value of an old archive is mostly its dSYMs. Without the matching symbols, crash reports from that specific build are hard to read.

How big it gets

Each archive ranges from tens of MB to several GB depending on the app, and years of releases add up.

How to clear it by hand

1. In Xcode, choose Window > Organizer and select Archives.
2. Pick an app, then look through its archives by version and date.
3. Keep the archives for versions that are live or that you may need to resubmit or debug. Right-click the ones you do not need and choose Delete Archive.
4. To look at the files directly, run the command below. It only opens the folder in Finder.

open ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/Archives

What happens afterwards

A deleted archive is gone unless you have a backup. You can still build the same source again, but the result is a new build, and crash logs from the old one may not symbolicate without its original dSYMs.

How Diskzy handles it

Diskzy lists Xcode Archives in the Clean up tab but leaves them unticked, with the reason to keep any you may need to resubmit.

Related guides

• DerivedData~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData
• iOS DeviceSupport~/Library/Developer/Xcode/iOS DeviceSupport
• CoreSimulator Devices~/Library/Developer/CoreSimulator/Devices