Xcode 6: Keyboard does not show up in simulator

Question

The keyboard does not show up when I run the simulator and click in the UITextView. How do I re-enable the keyboard?

It used to work but now it doesn't - I don't know what I might have clicked by accident.

You must have accidentally disabled it when you are trying to "clean" your code. :) — Gellie Ann, Dec 21 '15 at 08:20
That's right, this issue appeared after I cleaned my Terminal window :) Thanks a lot for the tip! — Nekto, Aug 17 '17 at 00:55

score 1320 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 29 '14 at 14:15

1320

I had the same issue. My solution was as follows:

iOS Simulator -> Hardware -> Keyboard
Uncheck "Connect Hardware Keyboard"

Mine was checked because I was using my mac keyboard, but if you make sure it is unchecked the iPhone keyboard will always come up.

edited Jul 29 '14 at 14:15

dwitvliet

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answered Jun 30 '14 at 19:43

Joe

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Ironically they keyboard is there, if you change screen orientation you can see it hidden off-screen in the bottom corner as the frame adjusts size and reveals it for a split second... so when Apple has hardware keyboard enabled they actually just slide the keyboard just off-screen so that it's invisible. Interesting, I suppose they do this so that a `UIInputAccessoryView` still displays at the bottom of the screen. – Albert Renshaw Jul 30 '14 at 15:22
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@AlbertRenshaw They keyboard is always there. any ios. It is just under the view bounds. You can play around with the views and you will find it there! The slide up animation is just pulling it up :) – João Nunes Aug 15 '14 at 12:02
@JoãoNunes You would think Apple would remove it from superview for RAM's sake. – Albert Renshaw Aug 15 '14 at 14:15
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I would think this would be considered a bug in the Xcode 6 iOS Simulator; for me `Connect Hardware Keyboard` was checked by default. – pkamb Aug 20 '14 at 16:49
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Actually, this is *really* a bug: when I uncheck `Connect Hardware Keyboard` I can't type using my Mac's keyboard. In pre-iOS 8 it didn't "simulate a hardware keyboard", it just allowed you to additionally type using your Mac. – pkamb Aug 20 '14 at 17:03
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@AlbertRenshaw somewhere in iOS6 docs (referring why DidUnload was removed) apple mention that a UIView structure doesn't take that much memory. Also having the keyboard in RAM is not an issue. You will use it over and over again. It is a speed gain, which is more important than a RAM gain! – João Nunes Aug 24 '14 at 14:48
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So from now on we can only use either real or sim keyboard but not both?? – Stas Oct 15 '14 at 16:10
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To fix this issue AND still be able to type with your real keyboard, see the [answer by Aidan Melen](http://stackoverflow.com/a/25053454/159758) – DonnaLea Mar 09 '15 at 08:30

score 416 · Answer 2 · edited Mar 02 '18 at 20:21

416

While testing in the ios8 beta simulator, you may toggle between the "software keyboard" and "hardware keyboard" with ⌘+K.

UPDATE: Since iOS Simulator 8.0, the shortcut is ⇧+⌘+K.

edited Mar 02 '18 at 20:21

L Y E S - C H I O U K H

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answered Jul 31 '14 at 07:47

aidanmelen

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actually your answer is great, and the only reason it doesn't show is because it's set to soft keyboard, and cmd+K will toggle the keyboard.. this answers the question, and it's great.. i wish i can give you +1000 – Nour Helmi Aug 13 '14 at 14:43
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OMG, I just spent an hour on this thinking that becomeFirstResponder wasn't working! – SmileBot Sep 19 '14 at 19:30
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**⌘⇧K** In Simulator v8.0(550.1) – beryllium Sep 25 '14 at 18:50
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this worked for me...but I don't remember when did I press ⌘K to disable the simulator keyboard.... – iphondroid Sep 30 '14 at 13:55
That's Golden! I hit the keystroke by mistake! And hmm! Have two simulator work in one and not the other! i'm glade i googled so quickly! After thinking a bit about it! Thanks! Gold – Mohamed Allal Aug 05 '21 at 21:44

score 102 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 17 '14 at 03:32

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Simulator -> Hardware -> Keyboard -> Toggle Software Keyboard should solve this problem.

Simulator->Hardware->Keyboard->Toggle Software Keyboard

answered Oct 17 '14 at 03:32

Kent Ke

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Simple and best answer..+1 – Gajendra K Chauhan Nov 04 '14 at 09:44
Your answer save me :) Vote + – core114 Oct 25 '18 at 08:31

score 60 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 02 '18 at 17:21

60

This seems to be a bug in iOS 8. There are two fixes to this problem :

Toggle between simulator keyboard and MacBook keyboard using the Command+K shortcut.
Reattach keyboard to simulator :

a. Open Simulator

b. Select Hardware -> Keyboard

c. Uncheck and then check 'Connect Hardware Keyboard'

Screenshot for step 2

OR simply press the Shift + Command + K shortcut

edited Mar 02 '18 at 17:21

L Y E S - C H I O U K H

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answered Nov 12 '14 at 09:59

Jayprakash Dubey

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I agree that this seems to be a bug, at least as of Xcode 8.3.3. After I call endEditing, the keyboard **intermittently** ceases to appear _even after I pop the view controller and reload it_. Once I noticed that the behavior was intermittent, it became pretty clear that it's not something my code is doing (which is the case 99% of the time--most of the time when I think it's Xcode's fault, it's usually something I'm doing!). In this case I'm pretty certain this is an Xcode bug. – James Toomey Jul 15 '17 at 14:38

midhun p · Answer 5 · 2023-01-11T10:05:47.043

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To enable/disable simulator keyboard: click ⇧+⌘+K to show the keyboard on simulator, click again to disable (hide) the keyboard.

⇧+⌘+K

OR

Simulator ->I/O ->Keyboard ->Toggle Software Keyboard

edited Jan 11 '23 at 10:05

answered Sep 13 '18 at 07:38

midhun p

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iAnkit · Answer 6 · 2018-03-05T10:14:11.563

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To enable/disable simulator keyboard,

⌘ + K (Ctrl + k)

To disable input from your keyboard,

iOS Simulator -> Hardware -> Keyboard -> Uncheck "Connect Hardware Keyboard"

edited Mar 05 '18 at 10:14

answered Nov 08 '14 at 10:53

iAnkit

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score 37 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 16 '18 at 11:36

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You can use : ⇧+⌘+K to show keyboard on simulator.

edited Apr 16 '18 at 11:36

byJeevan

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answered Oct 27 '14 at 12:37

Rachit

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score 35 · Answer 8 · answered Dec 20 '18 at 16:21

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Just press ⌘K it will toggle keyboard.

answered Dec 20 '18 at 16:21

Iryna Batvina

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score 18 · Answer 9 · edited Oct 26 '20 at 10:42

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In the new simulator Hardware option is removed,

If you want to find a Keyboard option manually, Then click on the I/O section,

I/O -> Keyboard ->Toggle Software Keyboard(⌘K)

edited Oct 26 '20 at 10:42

Dharman

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answered Oct 26 '20 at 10:36

Jaywant Khedkar

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score 14 · Answer 10 · answered Jul 09 '21 at 07:14

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This worked for me. Click I/O, then Keyboard. When the "Connect Hardware Keyboard" is deselected, then the simulator keyboard will popup.

answered Jul 09 '21 at 07:14

ScottyBlades

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score 13 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 26 '14 at 00:56

It would be difficult to say if there's any issue with your code without checking it out, however this happens to me quite a lot in (Version 6.0 (6A216f)). I usually have to reset the simulator's Content and Settings and/or restart xCode to get it working again. Try those and see if that solves the problem.

score 9 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 05 '17 at 21:47

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To fix the problem follow this -

Quit Xcode and simulator
Press ‘command+shift+g’ .. it will open the “go to folder” dialog.
type “~/Library/Preferences” in this dialog to go to your preference folder.
Delete “com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist” in this folder
Done. “com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist” will be regenerated when you start simulator again.

Alternatively you can also do this with just one command.

Open terminal and fire - 1. rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist

This will do the trick in one step! Just make sure you quit Xcode and simulator before running this.

answered Oct 05 '17 at 21:47

Adeesh Jain

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Thanks. Toggling Software Keyboard did not work for me. This one did! – TomV Oct 07 '19 at 15:08
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Great answer. + ten billion. – KeithTheBiped Oct 27 '19 at 04:48
Didn't work for me – Pedro Paulo Amorim Jun 13 '23 at 11:06

score 8 · Answer 13 · answered Nov 15 '17 at 05:25

8

If keyboard do not shown up automatically in simulator, just press [Command+K]

or Hardware -> Keyboard -> Toggle Software Keyboard

answered Nov 15 '17 at 05:25

Syed Sadrul Ullah Sahad

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score 3 · Answer 14 · answered Oct 03 '19 at 10:22

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in viewDidLoad add this line

yourUiTextField.becomeFirstResponder()

answered Oct 03 '19 at 10:22

Talha Ahmed

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score 1 · Answer 15 · answered Sep 23 '17 at 07:39

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Simple way is just Press command + k

answered Sep 23 '17 at 07:39

saigopi.me

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score 1 · Answer 16 · answered Oct 10 '22 at 09:46

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If the simulator's keyboard doesn't open by pressing ⌘K, reset the simulator to factory settings. go to Simulator's menu Device -> Erase all Contents and Settings.. It will resolve the keyboard not opening issue.

answered Oct 10 '22 at 09:46

Faraz Ahmed Khan

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score 1 · Answer 17 · answered Nov 01 '22 at 20:57

Using Script You can run via Xcode Pre Run Action

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print :DevicePreferences" 
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist | perl -lne 'print 
$1 if /^    (\S*) =/' | while read -r a; do /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 
"Set :DevicePreferences:$a:ConnectHardwareKeyboard false" 
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist || /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c  "Add :DevicePreferences:$a:ConnectHardwareKeyboard bool false" ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iphonesimulator.plist; done

score 1 · Answer 18 · answered Aug 02 '23 at 19:48

1

just.
uncheck connect Hardware keyboard

answered Aug 02 '23 at 19:48

Muzammil Hasnain

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I really like when someone just provides solution. – Mahammad Yusifov Aug 26 '23 at 11:13

soundflix · Answer 19 · 2023-08-26T09:55:17.130

DISCLAIMER: This is a very old question, but since other questions on this subject are getting closed as duplicates of this one, I thought it could benefit from an answer that puts all the updated options in one. Thanks to all who have contributed in answering!

If the iOS Keyboard ("Software Keyboard") does not show up while a text entry field (UITextField/TextField etc.) is focused, the cause are most probably the settings in Simulator.

There are 2 settings in Simulator menu:

I/O > Keyboard > Connect Hardware Keyboard ⇧⌘K
I/O > Keyboard > Toggle Software Keyboard ⌘K

Pre-XCode 8, the "I/O" menu was called "Hardware"

As you can see, each setting has their own keyboard shortcut. The first one controls if you can use your macOS keyboard for those field. The second controls the show/hide state of the iOS keyboard. If Hardware Keyboard is connected, Software Keyboard will be pushed out of view.

You don't have to Connect/Disconnect Hardware Keyboard each time you want to use it. Instead, keep it connected and whenever you need to use it, just type along (Software Keyboard will disappear), then push ⌘K to make Software Keyboard appear to judge your layout.

Additionally, in some edge cases where changing the 2 settings does not help, you may need to use:

Simulator menu Device > Erase all Contents and Settings ...

Xcode 6: Keyboard does not show up in simulator

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