EAS Workflows: iOS Simulators taking forever to startup on XCode 26 images #3356
Description
Build/Submit details page URL
Summary
When updating my Maestro EAS Workflows to use Xcode 26, I noticed longer than expected (and financially inviable) startup times for iOS Simulators.
This affects images:
sdk-54- Any
macos-sequoia-*images with Xcode 26
As a comparison, here's a 'normal' build with XCode 16.2 taking only 2 minutes: https://expo.dev/accounts/amber-pli/projects/amber-electric-next/workflows/019c022f-3d2b-7ee6-9590-84e85a6a1623.
I've retried jobs multiple times, to no success (and a refund / credit would be more than welcome given we're paying for these builds 👍🏼 )
Managed or bare?
Managed
Environment
expo-env-info 2.0.8 environment info:
System:
OS: macOS 26.2
Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
Binaries:
Node: 20.19.6 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.6/bin/node
Yarn: 1.22.22 - ~/Documents/amber/amber-mobile/node_modules/.bin/yarn
npm: 10.8.2 - ~/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.6/bin/npm
Watchman: 2025.03.03.00 - /opt/homebrew/bin/watchman
Managers:
CocoaPods: 1.16.2 - /Users/rudy/.rbenv/shims/pod
SDKs:
iOS SDK:
Platforms: DriverKit 25.2, iOS 26.2, macOS 26.2, tvOS 26.2, visionOS 26.2, watchOS 26.2
IDEs:
Android Studio: 2025.2 AI-252.25557.131.2521.14432022
Xcode: 26.2/17C52 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
npmPackages:
expo: 54.0.13 => 54.0.13
expo-updates: ~29.0.12 => 29.0.12
react: 19.1.0 => 19.1.0
react-dom: 19.1.0 => 19.1.0
react-native: 0.81.4 => 0.81.4
npmGlobalPackages:
eas-cli: 16.28.0
Error output
Not applicable.
Reproducible demo or steps to reproduce from a blank project
Not applicable.