diff --git a/pkg/apple/RetroArch_iOS13.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj b/pkg/apple/RetroArch_iOS13.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
index c762bdf503b..6a6892b3dd2 100644
--- a/pkg/apple/RetroArch_iOS13.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
+++ b/pkg/apple/RetroArch_iOS13.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj
@@ -2140,6 +2140,10 @@
 				ENABLE_BITCODE = NO;
 				GCC_C_LANGUAGE_STANDARD = gnu99;
 				GCC_OPTIMIZATION_LEVEL = 2;
+				GCC_PREPROCESSOR_DEFINITIONS = (
+					NDEBUG,
+					"NS_BLOCK_ASSERTIONS=1",
+				);
 				GCC_WARN_ABOUT_RETURN_TYPE = YES;
 				GCC_WARN_UNINITIALIZED_AUTOS = YES;
 				GCC_WARN_UNUSED_VARIABLE = YES;
@@ -2227,8 +2231,6 @@
 					"-DHAVE_ZLIB",
 					"-DINLINE=inline",
 					"-DIOS",
-					"-DNDEBUG",
-					"-DNS_BLOCK_ASSERTIONS=1",
 					"-DRARCH_INTERNAL",
 					"-DRARCH_MOBILE",
 					"-DRC_DISABLE_LUA",