iPad Magic Keyboard backlight not turning off. Draining battery when iPad is not being used.

I have a 3rd generation 12.9” iPad. I purchased the Magic Keyboard recently, and when in low light the backlight would come on - but then stayed on after I finished working and closed the ipad into the keyboard. I tried to turn off the backlight, but it did not work. I updated to 13.5 and it is still a problem. Now, in Settings, if I move the slider there is still no change. This seems to be a software issue - or is it a compatibility issue with the pre 4th Gen iPads?

Has anyone found a solution?

I read several other threads, one of which suggested removing the iPad from the Magic Keyboard. I removed the iPad and pressed the button to shut off the iPad. Then I reconnected the iPad to the Magic Keyboard - but it still did not work.

I then decided to add a step. I pressed the button to turn off the iPad, removed it from the Magic Keyboard, then I did a complete shutdown of the IPad. (You press and hold the top button and the volume up button at the same time until it prompts you with the option to shut down). I restarted the iPad and then connected it to the Magic Keyboard. It now works fully. If I close the iPad into the keyboard the backlight goes off. If I am typing and pause for a while, the backlight goes off. If I go into settings and increase or decrease the backlight, it immediately adjusts.

Hope this helps folks solve this issue. Now I love this keyboard.

I read several other threads, one of which suggested removing the iPad from the Magic Keyboard. I removed the iPad and pressed the button to shut off the iPad. Then I reconnected the iPad to the Magic Keyboard - but it still did not work.

I then decided to add a step. I pressed the button to turn off the iPad, removed it from the Magic Keyboard, then I did a complete shutdown of the IPad. (You press and hold the top button and the volume up button at the same time until it prompts you with the option to shut down). I restarted the iPad and then connected it to the Magic Keyboard. It now works fully. If I close the iPad into the keyboard the backlight goes off. If I am typing and pause for a while, the backlight goes off. If I go into settings and increase or decrease the backlight, it immediately adjusts.

Hope this helps folks solve this issue. Now I love this keyboard.

Makes total sense. Except in coming here, you are not addressing Apple. Cognizant Apple employees do NOT participate on this user to user only forum, with the exception of Forum Hosts who monitor the forum for violation of terms of use. If you think you're getting the attention here, you're not. Apple is not going to investigate or debug or fix anything because you posted anything here. You need to let Apple know you're having an issue by either contacting Apple Support or using this link to provide feedback directly to Apple --> Feedback - iPad - Apple

In fact anyone who is having this issue should contact Apple directly AND provide feedback using the link I put above.

Now, since this is not a universal issue effecting all Magic Keyboard owners, I'd say it's not a software issue. If it was, just about every user would have the same problem because we all are using the same iPadOS. So, that leaves environmental or accessory caused issues or an actual hardware issue with some keyboards. This is why I asked if anyone is using a full screen protector, which no one has answered. You have to remember the Back Lights are controlled by the Ambient Light Sensor built into the iPad Screen. If the sensor is blocked, it will communicate to the keyboard it's dark and the lights should be on.

If you lock your iPad screen, the back lights should go out regardless. Do they on your keyboard if you actually lock your screen?

I understand you'd like Apple to acknowledge this, but unless this was a rampant issue (it's not) Apple doesn't publicly do that. That doesn't mean they're not looking into it. They have a storied reputation for working on things behind the scenes and given the Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro is so new, I'm confident someone in Apple-Land is looking into it. You'll just not hear they are.

I do get your frustration. I would have your frustration if my Keyboard acted as yours does. Since yours does this, I would suggest if you're not going to use your iPad for any extended period of time, you power it off to avoid having your battery drained.

Another suggestion I would make is to backup your iPad and restore it from backup, but not using iCloud. Use your home computer with iTunes. When you restore using iTunes on a computer, iOS is wiped and a fresh copy downloaded. There could be a little glitch in the iPadOS version on your iPad.

This link explains how to restore from backup --> Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

Well for me, the steps I outlined have continued to work. I have stopped using the iPad for about an hour, then opened it up and the screen backlighting functions continues to work, and the keyboard shuts off when I stop typing for a while, or when I close the iPad against the keyboard the backlighting shuts off. If I adjust the backlighting it responds immediately (either up or down). All I can say is to try it. If the problem reoccurs then I will report it here again.

We own two 2018 iPad Pro 12.9s with magic keyboards--and BOTH are having the backlight issue. Adjusting the backlight slider has no effect when it's stuck in this buggy mode. We can get the keyboard light to work normally again ONLY if we take the ipads off the keyboard and re-attach. The biggest problem is--this light gets stuck sometimes after it's been sitting there for awhile and we dont know its flipped on. So it drains the battery. We also have 2 11" iPad Pros with magic keyboards, and we have not encountered this problem so far (one of the 11" ipad pros is the latest one just released). So... this is a clear bug. We've contacted Apple customer support, and they claim to have no info on this problem. They finally agreed to send out a new keyboard... hopefully it's a hardware defect as opposed to a software-related bug. But it is a major nuisance. We have the latest iOS updates installed.

Well last time I posted was 5/30/20. I did not have the problem reoccur until last night 6/11/02. The keyboard stayed on almost all night with the iPad closed. It ran the battery down quite a bit. I hope there is a Magic Keyboard software fix forthcoming. If nothing is out in the next week, I am going to contact Apple and request a replacement. This is unacceptable for as expensive a keyboard as this one. Has anyone else continued to have the occasional need to detach and then reattach the iPad in order to have the backlight work properly for a while? I think Johste was correct, this must be a software issue.

I saw a youtube video in doing some research about programming shortcuts for my new Magic Keyboard and one reviewer commented about this (I can't remember which video, I've watched many) and his comment suggested the issue is not necessarily with the Keyboard, but with 3rd party apps not properly using Apple API's for keyboard integration?

I would recommend anyone who is having this happen, to see if they may have a 3rd party app running when they lock their screen and the backlit keys don't go off.

I think it's less an API hijacking your keyboard, it's more likely 3rd party developers NOT incorporating the Apple API they were provided well in advance of iPadOS 13.4 (which provided track pad support to begin with) into their apps. If this reviewers take on this is correct, it's up to the app developers to fix the code in their apps. Of course a simple solution would be to force close an app if it causes this. I'll again comment that I've not had this happen on my keyboard since I got it, but perhaps I'm not using an app which wasn't properly updated after that iPasOS release?

Is there any way as a user to determine which app could be causing this type of problem? I really like the magic keyboard but find this “occasional” problem a real pain. I use my iPad while traveling in my business and really can’t have the ipad die going into a meeting.

Actually Apple can and does expect App developers to keep their apps up to date with iOS. That's part of their agreement in order to keep their apps up on the App Store. If an app developer intends to make money off Apple customers, it's their responsibility to ensure their apps stay up to date. And Apple helps them by providing the requisite API changes to iOS long before they are released to us users. More importantly, Apple cannot access the code insider a 3rd party app, so your assertion Apple should fix this isn't the way things work with 3rd party apps.

I'm still not even saying 3rd party apps are absolutely the issue here. I just mentioned a Youtube reviewer commented they noticed this and figures out it was a 3rd party app issue. This is not proven in any way. I offered it for people to see if that 'may' be the issue they are experiencing.