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?

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.

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.

Again, I'm not saying there is a specific app issue with iPadOS and Apple Magic Keyboard. But when Apple updates iOS, if you have apps on the app store, don't you get updates from Apple which you can use to update your app in the app store, so it is compliant with the changes in iOS? I could be completely wrong, but other app developers and those who are part of the App Developer program with Apple supposedly get advance update data for them to update their apps.

A good example of this is that using Apple Shortcuts on my Apple Magic Keyboard doesn't work with some 3rd party apps, but does work with ALL Apple apps. I was told by Apple this is because the App Developers haven't yet updated their app with the API's they were provided to update their app.

Hi i dont use my keyboard so often but today when i turned it on the keyboard’s backlight is not working anymore. Happened to anyone? Tried detaching the ipad from the keyboard but still not fixed the problem. 😩

Well today is June 28th and I have a Genius Bar appt to have them look at my Magic Keyboard. Probably I'll have to leave it with them - meaning I'm without for as long as it takes to resolve. While trying to resolve this issue, I've waited too long to do an exchange . . . I'll report back on what I found out. Has anyone exchanged their MK and found that it resolved their issues?

It's such a handy accessory, but so irritating that Apple can't seem to acknowledge the problem.

Charles Gardner wrote:

It's such a handy accessory, but so irritating that Apple can't seem to acknowledge the problem.

Probably because the issue is most definitely not universal. I've not had any issues with the back lights not turning off on my Magic Keyboard at all. I get that it's happening to you and some others, but if it was universal, given they can't keep these keyboards in stock, this thread would be flooded with other's having the same issue.

so you’re the lucky one, i guess there are not a lot of these expensive keyboards out there and many customers didn’t acknowledge the problem, i got a swap ipad (new) and a swap MK and the problem was/is still there or maybe i got unlucky 2 times, i tested the new ipp with the new MK and the old IPP and the other way around still the problem was/is the same. If it’s not universal what can we do to get rid of the issue?

Perhaps. The only publication I've seen even mention this is 9to5 Mac. This is after all the worlds most used forum for all things iOS and we're just not seeing many posts about it. Since we know the back lights will take the iPad battery down fast, I still say we'd see way more people post about this if was happening to them.

It could be a hardware issue with the keyboard. It could be a software issue, but again if it is, it should effect just about everyone. Or it could be as you suggest a combination.

If you and others have told Apple about your issue, they're aware. Apple rarely IF ever publicly acknowledges any issue. But behind the scenes Apple is almost always working on seeing what the issue may be and often includes a bug fix in an iOS (in this case iPadOS) update without any fanfare.