The previous article talked about the basic usage of the iOS simulator. This article focuses on the deeper usage of the simulator and is useful for development and testing. It mainly references the official apple documentation.
Interaction with Simulators
Menu option |
Hardware action |
Rotate Left |
Rotates the simulator to the left) |
Rotate Right |
Rotates the simulator to the right. (rotate to the right to test horizontal and vertical screen switching) |
Shake Gesture |
Simulates shaking the device. (shake module, test sensor) |
Home |
Displays the Home screen of the simulated device. (switch to the background to test the frontend and backend switch) |
Lock |
Displays the Lock screen. (Lock screen) |
Simulate Memory Warning |
Sends the frontmost app a simulated low-memory warning) For information on how to handle low-memory situations, see "Observing Low-Memory Warnings" in iOS App Programming Guide. |
Toggle In-Call Status Bar |
Toggles the status bar between its normal state and its in-call state. this command shows how your app's user interface looks when a user launches your app during a call or while navigation is running. the in-call state bar is used when a phone call is in progress, a FaceTime call is in progress, or Maps in iOS 6 is navigating. the status bar is taller in its in-call state than in its normal state. (simulate call and test the app's response to the interruption) |
Simulate Hardware Keyboard |
Toggles the software keyboard on an iPad simulator. Turn off the software keyboard to simulate using a keyboard dock or wireless keyboard with an iPad device. Note: The Mac's keyboard can be used as input into the simulator at all times. |
IOS Uses Same Keyboard Layout As OS X |
Automatically selects the iOS keyboard that most closely matches the keyboard layout of your Mac. |
TV Out |
Opens a window simulating a device's TV Out signal. Note: Several TV Out resolutions are available by choosing Hardware> TV Out> desired resolution. |
Simulate gestures
Gesture |
Desktop action |
Tap |
Click. |
Touch and hold |
Press and hold down the mouse button or trackpad. |
Double-tap |
Double-click. |
Drag |
Drag. |
Swipe |
Drag. |
Flick |
Drag quickly. |
Two-finger Drag |
1. Place the pointer where you want the two-finger drag to occur. 2. Hold down the Option key. 3. Move the circles that represent finger touches to the start position. 4. Move the center of the pinch target by holding down the Shift key, moving the circles to the desired center position, and releasing the Shift key. 5. Hold down the Shift key and the mouse button, move the circles in the direction you want to drag, and release both the Shift key and the mouse button. |
Pinch |
1. Place the pointer where you want the pinch to occur. 2. Hold down the Option key. 3. Move the circles that represent finger touches to the start position. 4. Move the center of the pinch target by holding down the Shift key, moving the circles to the desired center position, and releasing the Shift key. 5. Hold down the mouse button, move the circles in and out to the end position, and release the Option key. |
Rotate |
1. Place the pointer where you want the rotation to occur. 2. Hold down the Option key. 3. Move the circles that represent finger touches to the start position. 4. Move the center of the pinch target by holding down the Shift key, moving the circles to the desired center position, and releasing the Shift key. 5. Hold down the mouse button, rotate the circles to the end position, and release the Option key. |
Screenshots To take a screenshot and save it to your Mac's pasteboard, choose Edit> Copy Screen.
To save a screenshot as a file, choose File> Save Screen Shot. the screenshot is saved to the desktop of your Mac. (It stores screen snapshots and images on Mac desktops. For example, if a bug is found, it must be submitted to developers)
You can change the scaling ratio of the simulator to 100%, 75%, or 50% (command + 1, command + 2, command + 3). Restrictions on iOS simulators 1. Hardware restrictions:
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Camera
Proximity Sensor
Microphone Input
2. OpenGL ES Limitations (omitted)
3. API Limitations
Apple Push Services
Privacy alerts for access to Photos, Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders
TheUIBackgroundModes
Key
ICloud document syncing and key-value storage support
Unsupported frameworks include: