Apple has added GitHub Copilot to the built-in coding assistant in Xcode, starting with the first beta of Xcode 27.3, which was released to developers on November 3. The change is listed in the Coding Intelligence section of Apple's release notes, which say simply that GitHub Copilot is now available in the coding assistant.
The addition follows a steady widening of the assistant's menu of AI providers. Xcode's coding assistant first supported ChatGPT, then gained Anthropic's Claude along with OpenAI's Codex and a Claude Agent option in Xcode 26.3, and added Google Gemini in Xcode 27, according to 9to5Mac's summary of the release history. Copilot's arrival matters mainly for developers whose employers already license the GitHub tool, since they can now use it without leaving Xcode. The release notes do not say which underlying models Copilot will use inside Xcode, and neither Apple nor GitHub has issued a separate statement.
Copilot is not the only change in the beta. Apple lists several developer-facing updates:
- Device Hub: developers can drag and drop to install apps, open links or save files on iOS simulators. Apple notes that CarPlay support requires a USB connection rather than a network one, and the iOS Simulator is not supported for CarPlay.
- Previews: updates to the RenderPreview MCP tool, including snapshot metadata and interactive delayed snapshots for macOS previews, along with several bug fixes.
- Testing: UI tests can now be written with Swift Testing and XCUIAutomation.
- iPhone Duo: a new XCUIHinge class lets automated tests set the hinge angle on the foldable.
Apple also documents a known issue with Sidecar or a Touch Mac, where only two touches are passed to the device and three or more are treated as a macOS gesture. The suggested workaround is to turn off touch gestures in the Touch Display settings.
Xcode 27.3 beta 1 requires macOS Tahoe 26.6 or later and ships with Swift 6.4 and the 27.3 SDKs for iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS and visionOS. It supports on-device debugging for iOS 17 and later, tvOS 17 and later, watchOS 10 and later, and visionOS. As with the matching OS betas that Apple seeded the same day, the final release is expected in December, according to 9to5Mac.
Because this is a beta, the feature set could still change before release. Developers who want to try it can download the build from Apple's developer site.
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