Change iOS simulator keyboard layout to match Macbook keyboard

Question

I have a Macbook with an Azerty (French) keyboard. Whenever I start the iOS simulator, the default keyboard layout is Qwerty (Dutch), so when I am typing using the physical hardware keyboard of my macbook, some keys (A,Z,M,...) do not match. The setting Hardware > Keyboard > iOS Uses Same Layout as OSX is enabled. I know how to change the keyboard settings in when going to the Settings app on the simulator, but the setting is forgotten every time the simulator is restarted (which happens very often when switching between different simulators), so this is a real PITA. Is there a way to fix this?

Answer 1

"iOS Uses Same Layout" is not very accurate as there's no real way to perfectly proxy the layout between the two very different (at this level of the stack) systems. It uses a "best guess" and will tell iOS to switch to the keyboard associated with the language of your host keyboard.

If you toggle between French/Azerty and Dutch/Qwerty, the simulator will tell the hosted runtime "french" and "english". You need to select "Azerty" as your French layout and Qwerty as your Dutch layout from iOS's keyboard preferences (for each device).