How do I run my React Native application on my device rather than in IPhone 6 simulator?

Question

I have been reading React Native's documentation as well as forums, and answers to similar questions but cannot figure out how to run my application on my device.

I have tried what was mentioned in this question " Run react-native application on iOS device directly from command line? ", as well as deleting the build folder from the ios directory and rerunning the script. I will run this command npm run ios --device "Anthony's iPhone" , but it results in this Launching iPhone 6 (iOS 11.3)... I have also tried running npm run ios --simulator "iPhone 5s" but again I get Launching iPhone 6 (iOS 11.3)... . I am not sure where to go from here, more information can be seen below. Of course, the simulator is always launched and functions properly but I would like to control whether it runs on a device or in which simulator.

Anthonys-MacBook-Pro:fitness-app anthonysette$ npm run ios --device "Anthony’s iPhone"

> FitnessApp@0.1.0 ios /Users/anthonysette/Documents/fitness-app
> react-native run-ios "Anthony’s iPhone"

Scanning folders for symlinks in /Users/anthonysette/Documents/fitness-app/node_modules (15ms)
Found Xcode workspace FitnessApp.xcworkspace
Launching iPhone 6 (iOS 11.3)...
Building using "xcodebuild -workspace FitnessApp.xcworkspace -configuration Debug -scheme FitnessApp -destination id=28DE4434-4D1A-4B5E-8C16-0AC2C101F8E0 -derivedDataPath build"
User defaults from command line:

Edit: Added info from package.json

My package.json has a portion called scripts which contains the following

  "scripts": {
    "android": "react-native run-android",
    "ios": "react-native run-ios",
    "rename": "node ./bin/rename.js",
    "start": "react-native start",
    "test": "jest"
  },

Answer 1

The npm run ios as defined your script will run react-native run-ios . Therefore you can either install react-native cli globally and use

react-native run-ios --device "Anthony’s iPhone"

or add a new script to your package.json as

"ios-device": "react-native run-ios --device"

and run npm run ios-device "Anthony's iPhone"

Answer 2

I would suggest you to install " create-react-native-app " to create react native app. You can run your app in your device through " expo ". Run your app with " npm start " command. Download and install expo in your phone and scan the generated QR code. It also supports hot reload.

Note - Make sure your computer and phone are on same network.