Q: Smart Cover on iPad Air does not work in iOS 8

I can tell you that I have a Smart Cover for my iPad 4, and it is still working. There is a choice that you have to make, though, where you say you want the Smart Cover to sleep and wakeup ... it's in the Settings, somewhere. It coud be that the Setting got turned off.

Settings General, Lock/Unlock.

mine did not need turning back on. Is it a genuine Apple coverr?

I'm still having this issue with an iPad air. I've checked the settings mentioned and they were correct. I even unset toggle and reset it and the issue still exists.

it's an Apple Smart Case (more than cover...) and it was working fine before iOS 8. The only thing that's changed that I can think of is the operating system. I've also checked that the iPad is inserted correctly in the cover and hasn't come loose.   With sounds on, when I close the case it clicks closed and clicks open so it's recognizing the operation of the case. It's just not doing the lock/unlock

Any other suggestions?

Same here, iPad Air 128, upgraded to 8.02 and notice battery drain overnight and then noticed screen was staying one when the apple case cover is closed. Anybody find a solution? Tried the three covers I have, spigden and Belgian and OEM case- none turn off display when cover is closed......

Thanks much - I upgraded my ipad 4 the other day to 8.0.2 and noticed the battery was draining fast.   Realized today the cover wasn't 'locking' it and found those settings you mentioned to be OFF.  Turning them on has solved that problem.  Thanks you thank you.

ALSO ... you might want to set this, too ...

Go to -- Settings-->General-->Autolock -- and set it to five minutes. You might try two minutes if you think it won't irritate you too much ... :-) ... I have it for five minutes, since I find two minutes is too quick even while I'm using it.

If you do that, in addition to the previous setting you just did ... even if the cover didn't turn it off, it would turn off by itself ... cover or not ...

Went to Genius Bar and they were a tad stumped and after some huddles and checks said first they have ever seen, diag showed my mag sensor was inop. Had to be a new one and replaced it. So there is the possibility of a mechanical failure, rare as it may be.

I have this same question.  The lock/unlock will set the lock if the smart cover closes,but it doesn't put it into sleep mode. I spoke to Apple and the person I talked to didn't even know what the smart cover was. Is there another setting for the smart cover and sleep mode? I don't have any that I can find and never noticed it before as it always worked out of the gate. My iPAD isn't even a year old. I have an iPAD Air and upgraded to 8.02.  Everything worked fine until the upgrade.

Yes, it locks it, but does it put it in sleep mode? It doesn't on mine.

Yep ...  a hardware failure is always a distinct possibility. And for that to be checked, you do have to go to Apple. Hardware failures should always be eliminated at the beginning of the troubleshooting proces. I'm glad you got it solved!

I have the same problem with my iPad3; the genuine cover can lock but does not sleep. This happened immediately after going to iOS8, so I doubt that this is hardware related. I do not want autolock timeouts.

Update:

I just updated to iOS 8.1 and now when Lock is activated in settings, it goes to sleep when the cover is closed as in iOS 7 and before. This also means that I need to enter the PIN to use it when I wake it, which I do not want whilst at home. Sleep and lock seem to be merged... Does anyone know how to separate them?

That is how it works. It sleeps it and you need to put in the PIN to wake it,  unless the PIN protection has been deactivated which is not a good idea ever.

How would you think it would know you are "at home" to behave differently?

When you open the cover you don't need to slide the lock screen first so it does save one action. 

Works fine in iOS8 like you say.

Thanks Peter.

"That is how it works". A bit depressing really. Apple have removed one layer of functionality by merging the lock and the sleep. Remember they used to be discrete setting controls in earlier OS's. By "at home", I meant that I rarely take it out and about, and would rather have it set up (manually) to just go when I open it, again, as my other machine with my beloved iOS 5 allows.

Why would anyone ever want to keep it running at full power with the screen on when the cover is shut? It used to still play music etc. with the cover shut ("dozing"). That lock setting simply applies the wrong system control.

I did not say works fine on iOS 8 (for others who are reading) – I said the battery stopped draining when I upgraded to iOS 8.1 with the appropriate settings activated.