Pipelines 15-20 minutes slower after upgrading to macos 14 + xcode 16

Question

Last week we updated our pipelines to use macos 14 and xcode 16.1.

We noticed that our pipelines now take at least 15 minutes longer up tot 20.
especially the xcode build step is taking at least 10 minutes longer than before.

Which is weird because I do not notice this difference when building locally with either xcode 15 or 16 using the same fastlane lane.

We use fastlane to build and deploy.

Occasionally our pipeline also completely times out.

Has anyone encountered the same and how did they optimize this?

Answer 1

Hi Martijn Kuypers,

Azure DevOps Pipelines Slower After Upgrading to macOS 14 + Xcode 16.1

This is primarily due to the fact that Microsoft-hosted macOS agents in Azure DevOps currently run on Intel-based Mac Pros, while Xcode 16 is optimized for Apple Silicon (ARM64). Unfortunately, macos-14-arm64 runners are not supported on Azure DevOps, they are only available on GitHub Actions.

Try the Below Workaround to Fix Build Times:

Enable Build Caching to Offset Delay

Caching Swift packages and DerivedData helps reduce rebuild times between runs. Add the following to your Azure DevOps YAML pipeline:

trigger:
- main
pool:
  vmImage: 'macos-14'
variables:
  derivedDataPath: '$(Agent.TempDirectory)/DerivedData'
  swiftPackageCache: '$(Agent.TempDirectory)/SwiftPackages'
steps:
- task: Cache@2
  inputs:
    key: 'derivedData | "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)"'
    path: '$(derivedDataPath)'
    restoreKeys: |
      derivedData
- task: Cache@2
  inputs:
    key: 'swiftPackages | "$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/Package.resolved"'
    path: '$(swiftPackageCache)'
    restoreKeys: |
      swiftPackages
- script: |
    bundle install
  displayName: 'Install Ruby Gems'
- script: |
    bundle exec fastlane your_lane_name derived_data_path:$(derivedDataPath) build_path:$(swiftPackageCache)
  displayName: 'Run Fastlane Build'

Replace your_lane_name with actual Fastlane lane.

Update paths based on how Fastlane is configured in your project (derived_data_path, build_path).

For more details, please refer this Microsoft documentation: Azure Pipelines Cache Task

Try GitHub Actions (macos-14-arm64) for Benchmarking

If you're open to testing GitHub Actions, it supports Apple Silicon runners, which are often significantly faster for Xcode 16 workloads.

name: Build with Xcode 16 (ARM64)
on: [push]
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: macos-14-arm64
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    - name: Install dependencies
      run: bundle install
    - name: Build with Fastlane
      run: bundle exec fastlane your_lane_name

Github Runner Reference: GitHub Actions macOS ARM64 Runner

Consider Self-Hosted macOS Agents for Maximum Performance

If build time or reliability is a major concern, consider running your own self-hosted Mac mini (M1 or M2) as a build agent. This eliminates the architecture mismatch and can greatly reduce build duration.

Please refer this Microsoft documentation: Deploy self-hosted macOS agent

Hope it helps!

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