Download Xcode without Apple Dev Account in 2025
Hey everyone! Happy New Year! 🎉 I was recently revisiting my Mac mini after a long time and noticed Xcode wasn't installed. However, I didn’t want to go through the hassle of logging in with my Apple ID, so I decided to figure out a way around it. After some research, I got it working by understanding cookies and internal mechanisms — but don’t worry, I won’t bore you with all the technical details.
Here’s a simple solution to download Xcode 16 without needing to log into your Apple account.
The Steps
To download Xcode 16, we need to fetch an authentication cookie and use it to download the Xcode package directly from Apple’s developer site.
- Fetch the Authentication Cookie:First, we’ll fetch the required authentication cookie. This ensures that we have the proper session cookie to authenticate the download request.
- Download Xcode Using the Cookie: Now, we can use the cookie we saved to download Xcode 16 directly.
curl --cookie-jar cookie_file 'https://developerservices2.apple.com/services/download?path=%2FDeveloper_Tools%2FXcode_16%2FXcode_16.xip'
# Download Xcode using fetched ADCDownloadAuth cookie
curl --cookie cookie_file --remote-name 'https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_16/Xcode_16.xip'
Important Notes
- This method works specifically for downloading Xcode 16. If you need a different version, you’ll need to adjust the URL accordingly.
- Make sure you have the necessary permissions and access to the developer tools on Apple’s website.
Conclusion
By using the method above, you can download Xcode without the need for an Apple ID login — saving time and giving you more control over the process. This technique leverages cookies to authenticate the request, which is a neat trick for bypassing the login page without using your Apple credentials.
Hope this helps, and happy coding in 2025! 🚀