How to get Tilde (~) to work correctly in macOS

tildeOnMac.md

This is to solve an issue where you use a non-apple european keyboard with the US keyboard layout in macOS where the Tilde key is in the wrong place.

This is the process for the Logitec MX Keys Mini

• Connect the keyboard (bluetooth)
• Make sure the keyboard is in PC mode (hold fn + p for 3 seconds)
• Go through the keyboard wizard and at the end select the European ISO... layout
• Switch the keyboard to Mac mode (hold fn + o for 3 seconds)
• Tilde should work

If this doesn't work:

• delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist
• reboot
• try above again

great. thank you very much :)

Thanks - the only place I could find an answer to this.

Not sure why but it works!

For future reference: I tried this, but when I did the fn + o to go back it wouldn't go back, so I was stuck with the PC mode. I fixed it by completely forgetting the keyboard from my bluetooth preferences and pairing it again. After doing this I got the Mac mode back, and the tilde key was now working, so this did work!

Hint: if you have Logi Options+ installed, you need to go to the keyboard settings and uncheck “Always keep keyboard in Mac layout” in order to be able to switch between PC mode and Mac mode. In won’t work otherwise.

what do you mean by "Go through the keyboard wizard and at the end select the European ISO... layout"? I can't find anything like that in System Settings -> Keyboard. Or in the Logi Option+ app

I had to do this again with the MX Keys S Plus today, and the same instructions worked out fine. It's like the Nordic keys one which I use in US layout. When I went through the Wizard it wasn't recognized as European ISO, but it was the only one with ISO in the name. "~" worked fine once I switched it back to Mac mode.

I mentioned the Wizard, because when it seems when you connect these Logitech keyboards to macOS by adding them as a Bluetooth device, they always bring up a keyboard Wizard (says something about not being able to identifiy which layout the keyboard is in etc).

Also I guess I should mention that I've never actually tried to buy the "Mac version" of these keyboards even though I see that is an option. Things might just work then, but these are the Cross-platform editions I've tested with where you have both key's printed on the actual keyboard.

Maybe someone finds it helpful, but I couldn't get used to the fact, that tilde was on the right to the Shift key, but I get used that it's above the Tab. To swap them, hold "fn+U" for around 3 seconds and it will be changed. I found it somewhere over Reddit, but no docs to this behaviour attached.

@whydrae yessir! that did the job. thank you very much!

@whydrae yes that worked, fn + u. Thanks a lot!

Thanks @whydrae, save my day ! 

Thanks a lot! It worked!

Maybe someone finds it helpful, but I couldn't get used to the fact, that tilde was on the right to the Shift key, but I get used that it's above the Tab. To swap them, hold "fn+U" for around 3 seconds and it will be changed. I found it somewhere over Reddit, but no docs to this behaviour attached.

@whydrae thank you! Your advice helped me with the keyboard Logitech ERGO K860 for macOS Sequoia 15.5!

Thank you so much for this. In my case:

1. sudo rm -rf /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist
2. reboot

worked out. Using Logitech MX Keys Mini, M1 Max MBP16 on macOS Sequoia 15.5

I think it is doable without rebooting

fn+P

terminal

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist
open /System/Library/CoreServices/KeyboardSetupAssistant.app

select iso
finish setup
fn+O

Didn't work without rebooting unfortunately, but the reboot did it for me, thanks !

@whydrae yes that worked, fn + u. Thanks a lot!

You've saved my life!

sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist did the trick with my Keychron Q1 Max. Thank you!

Maybe someone finds it helpful, but I couldn't get used to the fact, that tilde was on the right to the Shift key, but I get used that it's above the Tab. To swap them, hold "fn+U" for around 3 seconds and it will be changed. I found it somewhere over Reddit, but no docs to this behaviour attached.

OMG! THANK YOU SO MUCH!