Ios automation without xcode

Hi,

In case I’m responsible for building the wda and run it on the device, do I really need xcode in order to run using real devices?

When I try to run it without xcode (renamed the app), I got an error saying “Error: Could not find path to Xcode by symlinks located”

In another case when I ran it with xcode installed and when the driver was initialized - I renamed the app again and everything went well.

My conclusion is that appium requires xcode for the initial step only.

Can you please share why it is needed or how can I overcome this situation?

Thanks,
Avi