Questions, answered.
The practical details on building, testing, and shipping iOS and macOS apps on Cobalt.
Getting started
Cobalt gives you a dedicated Apple Mac mini M4 — 10-core CPU, 16 GB of memory, 256 GB SSD — that you work on from your own computer over AnyDesk, with Xcode installed. You pick a Daily, Weekly or Monthly session, launch it, and build, test and ship iOS and macOS apps without owning or maintaining a Mac.
Xcode is installed, with the Simulator, Instruments and the Swift toolchain that come with it. You have full administrator rights, so you can add Homebrew, Fastlane, CocoaPods or anything else your project uses.
No. You connect to your Cobalt Mac with AnyDesk, which runs on Windows, Linux, macOS, iPad and Android, so you can build from almost any computer. The Mac lives in the cloud.
Building & testing
Xcode 26 with the Swift 6 toolchain, on macOS Tahoe, including the Simulator, Instruments and SwiftUI Previews. You can install a different Xcode version yourself if a project needs one.
Yes. Swift Package Manager is part of Xcode, and you can install CocoaPods with the admin rights you have on the Mac.
Not yet. Testing on real iPhones and iPads is part of the Device Farm, which opens at launch; nothing can be booked or charged until then. Today you test in the iOS Simulator, which runs in Xcode on your Cobalt Mac.
Yes. Instruments comes with Xcode and runs natively on the M4, so Time Profiler, Allocations and Leaks all work as they do on a Mac on your desk.
Shipping & distribution
Yes. Archive in Xcode and upload to App Store Connect with your own Apple Developer account, or install Fastlane and run your own lane. Your testers get the build once App Store Connect has processed it.
You sign in to Xcode with your own Apple ID, and Xcode manages your certificates and profiles as it would on any Mac. If you use Fastlane match, install Fastlane and point it at your own certificates repository. Your Apple Developer account stays yours; Cobalt provides the machine.
Everything stays on the Mac for the whole session. When the session ends the Mac is handed back and wiped, so push your work to Git before then. A new session starts on a freshly prepared Mac.
Credits & billing
Credits are spent on fixed-length Mac sessions — Daily (25 credits), Weekly (75 credits) or Monthly (150 credits) — picked when you launch a workstation. One credit is one euro; if you pay in US dollars, a credit costs one euro's worth of dollars at that day's exchange rate. Credits never expire, and there is no recurring subscription: you top up any amount and spend it on sessions whenever you like.
No. A session is paid in full when you launch it, so the Mac is yours until the end of the window whatever your balance does after that.
Unused credits can be refunded within 14 days of purchase. See the Refund Policy for the full details and how to request one.
Security & data
Every session runs on its own physical Mac that nobody else uses while it is yours, and AnyDesk encrypts the connection to it. The Mac is wiped when the session ends. Its AnyDesk ID and password are shown only in your account.
Cobalt operates under applicable data-protection law. You can access, export, and delete your data at any time. See the Privacy Policy for specifics.