Apple Releases Xcode 9.3.1 Update - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Releases Xcode 9.3.1 Update

by

xcode 6Apple today released an updated version of Xcode, Xcode 9.3.1. The new version of Xcode comes over a month after the release of Xcode 9.3, which was launched alongside iOS 11.3 back in late March.

Xcode 9.3.1 is a minor bug fix update. According to Apple's release notes, it addresses an issue that could cause a user to have to log in with their Apple ID repeatedly and it fixes a bug that could cause Xcode to hang when using Playgrounds.

Xcode 9.3, the previous update, introduced a new Energy organizer designed to help developers detect when an app or app extension is using too much battery life on a user's device.

The software also brought a new 64-bit testing mode for macOS 10.13.4, which is designed to let developers test software for 64-bit compatibility as Apple prepares to start phasing out 32-bit Mac apps. As of Xcode 9.3, Xcode support for macOS 32-bit support has been depreciated.

Xcode 9.3.1 will be followed by Xcode 9.4, which is currently in beta testing. Apple has seeded two betas of Xcode 9.4 to developers thus far.

Top Rated Comments

Reason077 Avatar
104 months ago
Xcode really does crash a fair bit, doesn’t it.
Mines pretty stable so long as you stick to the code editors. But once you start messing around in Interface Builder, it can be a nightmare.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
104 months ago
That goodness for the fix to Playgrounds crashing. It is hard to test stuff when it crashed every 5 minutes.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tzm41 Avatar
104 months ago
The Playgrounds are almost useless. Due to bugs and limitations, and I don't just mean the one they fixed, it's honestly faster in almost every case to use a fresh project.

Better yet, use React Native if you wanna quickly iterate with GUI. It's so much easier because you just write to the file, and it insta-updates so you can tweak things quickly instead of having to take forever rebuilding (Swift takes sooooo freaking long to build vs ObjC). That and the language and libraries are way easier to deal with for GUI. And I get to use Vim. Only thing is I feel dirty using Javascript.
[doublepost=1526196452][/doublepost]
No, mine crashes pretty rarely now. But... rant incoming... ever since the Swift update, it's been crappy in many other ways. Builds take forever. There are not-super-rare memory leaks. I used to get tons of segfaults IN THE COMPILER while compiling, and it still happens on rare occasions if I have a syntax error in some crazy thing involving generics. The debugger's variable inspection is broken af, like to the point where I can't expect anything to work, so I use print statements instead. The code completion used to also be broken, but now it works pretty reliably but often slowly.

Btw, Swift is a decent language and quite the engineering marvel, but there are some decisions they made that I can't fathom. String manipulation is unbelievably difficult, to the point where I've relied on custom solutions. Structs are very weird to work with, and pass-by-value arrays are a "wtf" kind of surprise to newbies. Syntax is weird and unintuitive in many places, especially code blocks.
Second the part with debugger variable inspection. I never use that crap anymore.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tzm41 Avatar
104 months ago
Finally fixed playgrounds! They're so useful and it sucks not having them.
[doublepost=1526048728][/doublepost]

I go months between crashes and I use it for at least 8 hours a day. I'm not sure how so many people are getting so many crashes. The only crashes I experienced frequently were not even crashes, but rather slowdowns and unresponsiveness in the playgrounds.

I'm not saying you're lying about the crashes, I'm rather just curious on why some people experience so many of them and what the common denominator among those experiencing crashes is.
It definitely depends on the complexity of your project. It doesn't handle very large projects, or projects with a lot of RxSwift, or code that puts compiler's typer inference ability to test, very well. Also if there are some IBDesignables, IB crashes very often.
[doublepost=1526055140][/doublepost]
Except, when someone is using the Apple provided lessons in App Development with Swift (which Apple is promoting as the definitive teaching solution), the student has to use playgrounds for a majority of chapters.

I'm glad Apple fixed it.
[doublepost=1526053450][/doublepost]

I'm guessing here, but I'm betting this line from your signature has something to do with it: "Mac Pro (2010): 3.33Ghz Intel Xeon (6 core) - 24 GB RAM - NVidia Quadro k5000".

Before this latest bug, my 15" MacBook Pro had no issues, but my 13" MacBook Pro would hang from time to time.
For me, Xcode 9 itself probably only crashes once per week. I consider that huge improvement from 7 and 8. The crashes are mostly not due to the power of the machine though. Often times it's code editor trying to access an non existent line and causes index out of bounds, or some other cryptic crash on NSView loading frames.

IB engine crashes quite often, as well as compiler when I switch branches.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chrono1081 Avatar
104 months ago
Finally fixed playgrounds! They're so useful and it sucks not having them.
[doublepost=1526048728][/doublepost]
How can I crash thee, let me count the ways... Xcode crashing is basically expected for me at this point, you just never know what's going to make it crash the next time.
I go months between crashes and I use it for at least 8 hours a day. I'm not sure how so many people are getting so many crashes. The only crashes I experienced frequently were not even crashes, but rather slowdowns and unresponsiveness in the playgrounds.

I'm not saying you're lying about the crashes, I'm rather just curious on why some people experience so many of them and what the common denominator among those experiencing crashes is.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Markoth Avatar
104 months ago
That goodness for the fix to Playgrounds crashing. It is hard to test stuff when it crashed every 5 minutes.
How can I crash thee, let me count the ways... Xcode crashing is basically expected for me at this point, you just never know what's going to make it crash the next time.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

MacBook Pro Low Angle Wide Lens

Apple to Launch 'MacBook Ultra' With These Six New Features

Friday April 24, 2026 10:32 am PDT by
While the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro were just updated with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips last month, bigger changes are reportedly around the corner. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the higher-end MacBook Pro models will be receiving a major redesign by early 2027, and he said that Apple might use "MacBook Ultra" branding for them. If so, the MacBook Ultra would likely be a...
Apple TV Thumb 3

Here's What's Coming in the 2026 Apple TV

Thursday April 23, 2026 12:08 pm PDT by
There are a lot of folks waiting for a new version of the Apple TV because the set-top box hasn't been updated since 2022. There is an update coming this year, but people will need to wait a bit longer because Apple is holding the next Apple TV until the new version of Siri comes out this fall. Design Apple TV design updates don't happen often, and that's not changing in 2026. The next...
Apple Maps General

Tim Cook Calls Apple Maps Launch His 'First Really Big Mistake' as CEO

Thursday April 23, 2026 5:29 am PDT by
Outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook has named the botched 2012 launch of Apple Maps as his "first really big mistake" in the role, according to a Bloomberg report covering the town hall meeting that was held Tuesday with his recently announced successor, John Ternus. The Maps app launched with mislabeled landmarks, faulty directions, and a user experience that fell well short of Google Maps at the...