How to re-enable keyboard shortcuts in Xcode 27's Device Hub

iOSdev / Xcode 27

For some odd reason, Apple decided to disable keyboard shortcuts in Device Hub, their replacement for Xcode Simulator. Well, most shortcuts. I've been using many of Xcode Simulator's shortcuts very often while building and testing my apps - things like Toggle Appearance (to turn Dark Mode on/off), Zoom to Fit, Physical Size, and, most importantly, Screenshot and Record Screen (see image below).

Surprisingly, all the keyboard shortcuts work in the Expanded Mode of Device Hub!

I'm not sure what Apple officially calls this mode, but when you hover over the button for switching modes, it says either "Expand to view all controls" or "Switch to compact window", so I'll call them Compact Mode and Expanded Mode here.

It seems a bit buggy, though. Sometimes shortcuts are not enabled even when I switch to Expanded Mode. Switching back to Compact Mode and then to Expanded Mode again solves this.

Thankfully, there is a better fix - I found a way to enable keyboard shortcuts in both modes! The solution is in the Xcode 27 Release Notes:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xcode-release-notes/xcode-27-release-notes

This part specifically:

Fixed: Added a preference to control whether key combos are sent to Device Hub or to the remote device.

defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices write com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy -int

Use these values to define a specific behavior:
0 - Device Hub uses rich key combo shortcuts.
1 - Minimized when interacting with device.
2 - Device Hub uses minimal key combo shortcuts. (178920247)

I don't find this note very obvious, but basically it means that we can use this command in Terminal with three different values (0, 1, or 2):

defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices write com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy -int 0

All keyboard shortcuts work in both Compact Mode and Expanded Mode.

defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices write com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy -int 1

All keyboard shortcuts work only in Expanded Mode.

defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices write com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy -int 2

Most keyboard shortcuts are disabled in both Compact Mode and Expanded Mode.

We can also run this command to check the current setting:

defaults -container com.apple.dt.Devices read com.apple.dt.Devices hostKeybindingPolicy

I set this new option to 0 and done! I can use keyboard shortcuts again in every mode in Device Hub.

Now I just hope Apple will add proper settings in Device Hub 27.1 where we can change these options in the UI, instead of making it a hidden, magical Terminal spell just to do something as basic as taking screenshots. 🫠