ISO virtual keyboard setting swaps ^ and < keys on MacBook M3 German keyboard

[Leon-Lo]

Hi! I encountered a weird issue with Karabiner-Elements on my MacBook M3. When using the ISO virtual keyboard setting (which should be the correct one for a German keyboard), my ^ and < keys get swapped.

The strange part is: Switching to ANSI or even JIS fixes the issue, even though these are technically the wrong layouts for a German keyboard.

What I've found:

• Happens only with ISO virtual keyboard setting
• ANSI and JIS work fine
• Built-in keyboard of MacBook M3
• German layout in macOS System Settings
• No Simple/Complex modifications enabled
• Disabling Karabiner fixes it

System info:

• macOS 15.1.1
• Karabiner-Elements 15.3.0
• MacBook M3 internal German keyboard
• macOS input source set to German

I found this really counter-intuitive since ISO should be the correct setting for a German keyboard. Any ideas what might be causing this?

Note: Used AI to help format this report clearly.

[arkhandir]

I encountered the same issue after switching from an Intel mac to Apple silicone a few weeks ago. Settings like above, but on macOS 15.2.

[arkhandir]

See also

• In macOS Sequoia with ISO keyboard the keys "`/~" and "§/±" are swapped #4032
• Incorrect Remapping of / Key with < on Italian Keyboard #4019

[msmuenchen]

Encountered the same issue, MBA M2 German physical keyboard. Unfortunately I can't tell if it is Sonoma related or Karabiner related, I didn't even think about Karabiner back when this first appeared.

[SolidStill]

Similar issue: Have a British keyboard internal MBP 2018 on Sequoia. §/~ are flipped and only resolved when I set keyboard type in Karabiner to ANSI rather than the ISO that it should be.

[rickyah]

This issue also happens on version 15.3.0 with a Spanish Apple Magic Keyboard, Model A1644 (launched in 2015) with the 65% layout:

Karabiner reports the keyboard as

Magic Keyboard (Apple Inc.)
Vendor ID:   1452 (0x05AC)
Product ID:    615 (0x0267)

Karabiner swaps keys º (the one to the left of the number 1 key) and < (the one to the right of the left shift key), so pressing the former actually inputs the latter, and viceversa

Keyboard is set to ISO in preferences. Curious thing is, if I switch to ANSI, the problem does not appear.

Workaround is either disable events for Apple Magic Keyboard if you don't need to change the behaviour of any key for this specific keyboard (in my case I use Karabiner to adjust another windows keyboard I use), or just create a simple Modification as stated by @gdguglielmo here