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Squirrel – Enable scrolling in the Xcode Simulator

Pronounced: Scroll-Wheel.

A menu bar app that adds scrolling to the simulator.

  • For some reason, you can’t scroll in Xcode’s simulator.
  • This app enables scrolling again!
  • Features: customizable settings, made with SwiftUI, and a cute squirrel.

Installation

You can download Squirrel on the App Store.

Alternatively, get the ZIP file, or use Homebrew:

brew install hkamran80/things/squirrel-for-simulator

Note: Squirrel requires macOS Big Sur (11.0) or higher.

Notes

  • Press ESC to stop scrolling in case something bugs out.
  • Trackpad support is currently unstable, but most scroll wheels / mice should work.
  • Customization Reference – General:
    • Enabled – whether Squirrel is active.
    • Natural Scrolling – toggles the scroll direction.
    • Pointer Color – the color of the cursor pointer.
    • Pointer Size – the length of the pointer.
    • Pointer Opacity – the opacity.
    • Pointer Scale – scale the pointer by this when scrolling starts.
  • Customization Reference – Advanced:
    • Launch Simulator On Startup – launch the Simulator when Squirrel starts.
    • Quit If Simulator Is Closed – auto-quit the app when the Simulator isn’t active.
    • Scroll Steps – how many iterations to get to the final scroll value.
    • Inactivity Timeout – how many seconds to wait before stopping scroll.
    • Scroll Interval – how often to execute a scroll step.
    • Top Inset – top insets to cancel out simulator bezels. Only allow scrolling when the cursor falls inside the inset frame.
    • Left Inset – same as above for the left side.
    • Right Inset – same as above for the right side.
    • Bottom Inset – same as above for the bottom side.
    • Simulator Location – the file path of the simulator, for Launch Simulator on Startup.
    • Simulator Check Frequency – how often to check if the simulator is alive, for Quit If Simulator Is Closed.
    • Max Height – the maximum height of the menu popover.
    • Menu Width – the width of the menu popover.

Community

Author Contributing Need Help?
Squirrel is made by aheze. All contributions are welcome. Just fork the repo, then make a pull request. Open an issue or join the Discord server. You can also ping me on Twitter. Or read the source code — there’s lots of comments.

How does it work?

Squirrel uses your Mac’s accessibility controls to simulate a “drag” gesture.

Apple, if you’re reading this:

Please add native scroll support to the Simulator! Feels like such a small feature but it’ll be very welcome.

Squirrel on GitHub: https://github.com/aheze/Squirrel
Platform: iOS
⭐️: 562
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