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I have a scroll page that I specified two fingers minimum. It works on my device, but don't know how to mimic this gesture on Simulator. I can mimic one-finger scroll without problem. I've tried option/ctrl/shift etc, but couldn't get it work. Maybe my combination is wrong. Anyone knows how? Thanks.

Tony Xu
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7 Answers7

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Holding the "Alt/Option" key and dragging simulates multi-touch pinch-to-zoom.

Holding "Alt/Option + Shift" and dragging simulates multi-touch scrolling.

SilentK
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Joe C
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  • I hold Alt(i.e., Command) key and Shift key, and two fingers on Mac mouse pad, scrolling up or down, didn't see a response .... :( – Tony Xu Nov 07 '12 at 19:25
  • I don't have a mac mouse pad to test with, but I don't believe you're supposed to be using the two fingers - just one. You're not enabling the multi-touch in the simulator, you're *simulating* it. – Joe C Nov 07 '12 at 19:41
  • Yes, Apple never updated the simulator to map from Mac OS multi-touch to multi-finger iOS gestures. It's only been what, 8 years? – Duncan C Jul 09 '20 at 20:08
  • If pressing the given key doesn't seem to work, make sure that the "Send Keyboard Input to Device" feature isn't enabled. To enable/disable this, while the emulator is focused open the I/O menu -> Input -> Send Keyboard Input to Device – Fearnbuster Jan 05 '22 at 22:32
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There is a nice table with all the supported gestures in the iOS Simulator User Guide from Apple. Here is the extract for the 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.

Hope it helps.

Eric Giguere
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    Here's the full list - https://developer.apple.com/library/safari/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/iOS_Simulator_Guide/InteractingwiththeiOSSimulator.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40012848-CH3-SW3 – Marcus Leon Feb 15 '16 at 09:19
  • [Updated Link to Gesture List](https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/IDEs/Conceptual/iOS_Simulator_Guide/InteractingwithiOSandwatchOS/InteractingwithiOSandwatchOS.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40012848-CH8-SW1) – Brent Aug 08 '17 at 17:03
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    Updated list https://help.apple.com/simulator/mac/current/#/deva6cdf367f – henrique May 24 '19 at 18:29
  • The part you quoted explains how to do a pinch gesture, where the 2 fingers move together/apart. That doesn't explain how to do a 2 finger swipe, where the fingers move in the same direction. It sounds like you use option-shift for that. – Duncan C Jul 09 '20 at 20:04
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To appear two fingers:

press ALT and drag mouse.

To zoom using two fingers:

press ALT and press SHIFT (to adjust touches.After adjusting release SHIFT key) and drag mouse.
Ram Madhavan
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Things moved around in Sierra for me, but here is how I enabled 3-finger scrolling:

  1. **System Preferences > Accessibility
  2. Scroll down to Mouse & Trackpad and tap Trackpad options
  3. Make sure 'Enable Dragging' is selected
  4. Select 'three finger drag' from the drop-down

Makes such a big difference when testing on various devices & simulators.

David West
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The best way to scroll in the iPad simulator is by the Three Fingers dragging, which is a global setup of the OS X and not a particular feature of the iOS simulator.

In order to scroll using three fingers you need to turn on the 'Three Finger Drag' under TrackPad > Point and Click in the Settings App of OS X.

and to set the Mission Control and App Exposé to use four fingers (in TrackPad > More Gestures in the Settings App of OS X)

(I made beautiful screenshots, but I'm too rocky to post answers with images)

Skulas
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It works with Three finger scroll on the Track pad.

Fizer Khan
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It works for me on MBP trackpad as well as on Magic Trackpad.

The clue is to enable "Three finger drag" in Trackpad settings (Preferences.app), then dragging, while ALT+SHIFT are pressed, makes scrolling work as expected.

It also works with the "Three finger scroll".

matm
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    Sorry didn't mean to down vote but this is just the same as ALT+SHIFT and normal click, no need to enable Three finger drag to do this. – Oliver P Jun 08 '16 at 13:11