iOS 8 Bluetooth Keyboard: Safari issues

Any news on this?

Is it fixed?

I think my colleagues are having the same issue on their iPads in the Microsoft dynamics NAV app. Where Bluetooth scanners doesn't input all characters.

Where can I see my current iOS version?

This is a symptom of an underlying bug in Safari (iOS 8 only). I first encountered this problem when using a bluetooth barcode scanner in HID mode. Using the Notes app, I can scan very fast, with no characters skipped/truncated. In Safari, in the most simple web form, with a single input text field or textarea, the character skipping/truncating is intermittent. This is not specific to barcode scanners. You can reproduce the same issue with any bluetooth keyboard, if you can type fast enough but accurately so you know that it's skipping/truncating. If someone thinks I'm overlooking something, please chime in!

My findings:

• I just installed iOS 8.2 beta on my iPad Air and the issue is still there.
• This only occurs with bluetooth keyboards paired in HID mode.
• I tracked the keyboard events while scanning and here's what I found. The textinput event fires for the first few characters but not for the rest. So I tried to scan this text: LOT00002. But the "T" and "2" were omitted because the TEXTINPUT event didn't fire after the keypress event. See bold and orange lines...

keydown keyCode=76 (L) which=76 (L) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=76 (L) which=76 (L) charCode=76 (L)

textInput data=L

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

keydown keyCode=79 (O) which=79 (O) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=79 (O) which=79 (O) charCode=79 (O)

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

textInput data=O

keydown keyCode=84 (T) which=84 (T) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=84 (T) which=84 (T) charCode=84 (T)

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

[MISSING textInput event]

keydown keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=48 (0)

textInput data=0

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

keydown keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=48 (0)

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

textInput data=0

keydown keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=48 (0)

textInput data=0

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

keydown keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=48 (0) which=48 (0) charCode=48 (0)

textInput data=0

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

keydown keyCode=50 (2) which=50 (2) charCode=0

keypress keyCode=50 (2) which=50 (2) charCode=50 (2)

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

[MISSING textInput event]

keydown keyCode=13 which=13 charCode=0

keypress keyCode=13 which=13 charCode=13

keyup keyCode=0 which=0 charCode=0

I reported the bug myself via the Apple Bug Reporter under iOS, but have yet to see any activity. See: https://developer.apple.com/bug-reporting/

I'm going to report it under Safari now. Maybe someone will see it then. This is very frustrating as I had to implement my own keydown handler to intercept all keys and fake the input in the input text field. It works so at least customers can use their BT scanners without missing a beat.

Our organization is experiencing this exact same problem. We've moved our users over to Chrome in the meantime.

If you don't mind me asking, could you provide any technical details on your custom keydown handler workaround/solution?

Thanks!

Here's a working JSFiddle: http://jsfiddle.net/vidala/0cweo6tn/

The gist of the custom handler is to capture all keypress events and update the text field programatically. It's an illusion, but it works.

BTW, you'll need to login to JSFiddle if you want to "Debug on mobile" option to appear.

Tested with...

• Safari
• iPad Air (iOS 8.2 beta 4)
• Socket Mobile BT scanner

Wow. We have the exact same problem. Tested on iPad, iPhone 6+ with iOS8 and can duplicate the problem exactly. I'm really surprised that Apple has dropped the ball on this. It needs to be rectified immediately. It looks like Safari is having problems keeping up with the speed of the characters being transmitted by the bluetooth scanner. It worked up until iOS7, so Apple certainly broke something.

I installed Chrome for iOS and it functions perfectly there. I find it hard to swallow to tell our users to download and use a different browser on their iOS device. It should not have to be that way.

It works fine on MacOSX in Safari though, so the problem definitely confined only on iOS8 devices.

Apple needs to get this problem fixed pronto.

We are facing the same issue here.......Tested on iPad 2, iOS 9.3.1 both safari and chrome 49.

Sometimes our bar code scanner entries are getting truncated inside textbox on html page browsed in safari or chrome.

Sometimes the carriage return do not reach to the text box. It happens intermittently.

Reproduced by independent people on independent set of hardware.

I opened a ticket#26060679.

Did you find a solution to this?

Having the same issue here iOS 10.

If I disable the barcode scanner from sending the Carriage Return/Enter code at the end, I get the full barcode read no problem. it's like the enter key gets precedence over anything else that might be in the keyboard buffer.

I'm going to see if I can rig up some javascript that delays the processing of the enter key for a half second.

Did this work for you?

I get the exact same problem with chrome for ios

I could not get the delayed submit to work, but having javascript catch the enter key and ignore it did. It makes the barcode scanner a pain to use, because you have to tap the screen to submit the form yourself, but it's a decent workaround.

I can probably set it up so it auto-submits the form when it hits 22 digits (the length of the barcodes), but there are also 16 and 20 digit ones, so will take a bunch of code to make it work right. Haven't gotten around to that part yet.

Yes the problem is across all browsers not just safari in Iphone/Ipod Apple IOS 10 eg chrome and firefox browsers are now all affected.

Scanning a barcode

123456789

Would result in

1234

56789

Then the next scan it might be

12

3456789

I might start have a go at removing the enter key then producing a scan 30ms after the last keypress.

Same here. Someone updated one of our station iPads to iOS 10 from 9.3.5. The barcode inputs from the bluetooth scanner is getting truncated in Safari and Firefox.