Apple uses the same tools you do. They just might not be using it like you are; you can find a lot of features that clearly have no reason to exist outside of Apple nonetheless shipping with their software.

> Apple uses the same tools you do.

No. A special directory can be created at the root of the file system called /AppleInternal. Then, if you work at Apple, you can put some special files there that do stuff. I've read somewhere that they are able to easily disable all of this privacy protection crap and other annoying stuff.

There's nothing really special about /AppleInternal, it's just a fairly normal directory that a couple of tools change in order to do things like offer more detailed diagnostics or the option to create a Radar. On a normal internal install there are some internal utilities, many of which are listed here: https://www.theiphonewiki.com/wiki/Category:Apple_Internal_A.... But their code is all Xcode projects and stuff, it's not like they're really using special tools for themselves except in certain cases. There are a couple of internal tools that possess entitlements to bypass security, but more often than not engineers just run with the security features disabled, which you can do yourself.

That's kind of my point - it's surprising to me that they're shipping slow hardware and software, when they're used to develop that same hardware and software. Developer time is expensive.

I would actually be quite happy if the engineers were forced to work on four-year-old MacBook Pros and develop against Display Zoomed iPhone 7 and the second generation Apple Watch, using the toolchain and software they push to their developers.

Is there a list somewhere of Apple's in house dev environments or workflows? I wonder what cool tricks they use internally that could be pretty useful generally.

Nothing special that can really be talked without internal context. You can get a hint at how they use their own tools though (which are available externally) if you pay careful attention to their public appearances and presentations.

Very messy internally, every team has their own.

I wouldn't be surprised if they've determined that developers will generally put up with a bad experience in order to have access to the massive iOS market.

There isn't much incentive to improve because they know that people will buy their hardware regardless.

Not to mention people defend and market their products for free.

Maybe internally they are using a different version of macOS?

It’s basically the same ones you’re running, possibly a couple builds ahead and with all the security features turned off.

Nope