Simulating iOS and watchOS Hardware Interactions

With Simulator, you can simulate most of the actions a user performs on a device. Table 3-1 lists hardware manipulations you can perform in Simulator by using the Hardware menu. Each menu item shows if it works on a simulated iOS device or watchOS device, or both.

Simulating User Gestures

With Simulator, you can perform traditional Multi-Touch gestures using the mouse and keyboard. Table 3-2 lists gestures you can perform in Simulator. For more information about gestures, see iOS Human Interface Guidelines, the "User Trackpad Force for 3D Touch" row in Table 3-1, and Adding 3D Touch Segues in Storyboard Help.

For simulating Touch ID, see Table 3-1.

Simulating Watch Interactions

With Simulator you can simulate most of the interactions with the Apple Watch using the mouse and keyboard. Table 3-3 lists the simulated interactions you can perform in the watch simulator.

Selecting Keyboard Layouts on the Simulated Device

In addition to using the keyboard that most closely matches your Mac keyboard layout, you can also manually select a keyboard layout in the Simulator settings. This approach can be helpful if you’re using a keyboard layout that Simulator cannot automatically associate with a keyboard.

To add a new keyboard for a specific language and region

1. From the Home screen, open Settings.

2. Choose General > Keyboard > Keyboards > Add New Keyboard.

3. Choose a language and a keyboard layout.

4. Tap Done.

   The new keyboard is now available as soon as the user selects it.

   Here is what the screen looks like after adding a Cherokee keyboard:

   

To show the new keyboard

1. Open the keyboard on the simulator.

   This can be done by tapping in any text entry view on the simulated device.

2. Tap the Globe key on the keyboard.

   If the Globe button displays an alert like the one shown here, dismiss the alert.

   

3. Tap the Globe key until the desired keyboard is shown.

   Here is a screenshot of the Cherokee keyboard that was added earlier:

   

   Alternatively, you can tap and hold down the Globe key to see a pop-up menu of keyboards, and select a keyboard from that list.

   The screenshot below shows the list with the Cherokee keyboard selected.

   

Uninstalling Apps

Uninstall apps the same way you would on a real device.

To uninstall apps that you have installed in a simulation environment

1. Select the simulation environment from which to remove the app by choosing Hardware > Devices > device of choice.

2. Place the pointer on the icon of the app you want to uninstall, and then press and hold down the mouse button or trackpad until the icons start to jiggle and a close button appears.

3. To uninstall the app, click the close button on the app icon.

4. In the dialog that appears, click Delete.

5. To stop the icons from jiggling, press Shift-Command-H or choose Hardware > Home.

Copying and Pasting in Simulator

Simulator provides a variety of copy and paste operations, both within the simulator and between the simulator and your Mac. The actual copy and paste operations in Simulator are performed in the same way that they are on an iOS device, but if you are trying to copy and paste between the simulator and your Mac, additional steps must be taken. Copy and paste operations can be used on strings and images.

If you are copying an image from a webpage in Simulator, save it to the Photos app first.

To save an image from a webpage to the Photos app

1. Place the pointer on the image you want to save, and hold down the mouse button or trackpad.

2. When the menu appears, click Save Image to save the image to the Photos app in an iOS simulator.

   

   The image is saved to the Saved Photos album in the Photos app.

Alternatively, you can drag an image from the Finder on your Mac to Simulator, and it is saved to the Saved Photos album.

To copy an image in Simulator

1. In the Photos app, open the photo you want to copy.

2. Place the pointer on the image you want to copy, and press and hold down the Command key and the mouse button or trackpad.

   

3. Click Copy.

4. If you intend to paste the image on your Mac outside Simulator, choose Edit > Copy instead.

   This action copies the image to the Mac Clipboard. To paste the image in another app on the Mac, use that app’s Paste command.

To copy text in Simulator

1. Click the insertion point to display the selection buttons.

   

2. Click the Select button to select the adjacent word, or click Select All to select all text.

3. Drag the grab points to select more or less text.

4. Click Copy.

   

5. If you are pasting the text on your Mac outside of Simulator, choose Edit > Copy.

   This action copies the text to the Mac Clipboard. To paste the text in another app on the Mac, use that app’s Paste command.

To paste text into Simulator

1. If the text you are pasting was copied from your Mac, choose Edit > Paste.

   This action copies the text from the Mac Clipboard to the simulator’s Clipboard.

2. Navigate to the location where you want to paste the text you just copied.

3. Double-click the location where you want to paste the text, and then click Paste.

   

Testing Retina and Non-Retina Display Devices

With Simulator, you can simulate iOS devices both with and without Retina displays, regardless of whether you have a Mac with Retina display.

When working on a Mac without a Retina display, the simulator is mapped from pixel to pixel instead of from point to point. When simulating an app for an iOS device with Retina display on a Mac without a Retina display, the simulator appears twice as large as it would for a non-Retina display app to account for the extra pixels in a Retina display.

When working on a Mac with a Retina display, your computer maps each point in the iOS app to a point on the Mac screen. If the simulated app is for an iOS device with a Retina display, each point is composed of 1 pixel. If the app being simulated is for an iOS device without a Retina display, each point is composed of 2 pixels.

To learn more about mapping points to pixels, see Points Versus Pixels.