iPad Pro Smart Keyboard not working

Hi bob burns, to fix your issue you will need to disconnect your smart keyboard, restart your iPad Pro, when you turn your iPad Pro back on and reconnect your keyboard it should be working again, hope this was helpful and that you got your issue sorted 👍

Mine was replaced for free by post after I phoned Apple Support last year. Getting the serial number was an issue until I looked in the box, and there is was, printed in black ink on white. My wife no longer calls me silly for keeping the boxes for my tech in the attic, so that's one less thing.

So this was very frustrating for me too and I tried it all. First there was intermittent error messages that the accessory wasn’t supported and then it came up all the time and even several messages one after another and nothing worked. I had an inkling that maybe Bluetooth may somehow be interfering so I turned it off and tried an voila the keyboard worked. Then I turned on Bluetooth again and it still works. I’m typing this on the keyboard. Hope this works for anyone else having the issue! Yay on my end!!

I had the same issue and then toggled Bluetooth and turned off the ipad. It worked for a bit and then it wasn’t being recognized again. Now it’s working again. Only difference is that I’m turning off the iPad Pro at night where I used to leave it in sleep mode all the time when not using it. Since I started doing that, it hasn’t disconnected and always recognized. Worth a try...

Did an iPad power-off and back on, while in the “type” position, and it now works. How long it holds, we’ll see.

Another poweroff of the iPad. Back to working agIan and counting.......

I went to the Apple store. They replaced the keyboard even though it was out of warranty. They know there’s problems with them.

I’ve solved my problem.... I made an appointment with the Apple Store and they very nicely replaced my keyboard with a brand new one. At no extra cost.

I’ve successfully used the same method. Put the iPad to sleep. Wake it up. The keyboard works.

If you’ve had your iPad and keyboard for a while (a year or more) you might try cleaning the contacts. Rub the contacts lightly with a dry pencil eraser, then reconnect the keyboard to the iPad.

Just happend again just switching apps. Seach bar did not work either but hitting the power button and reauthenticating did work. I reported this as a bug in every public beta of iOS 11 (even though it was there in iOS 10 too). Not sure what else we can do if its always been there and its only going to be addressed if fixed by accident.

The problem seems to have to do with wifi for me as well. I have had no problem at home, but on public wifi such as the airport or library, the keyboard stops responding. It remains connected and recognized, because the touch-screen keyboard does not appear. If I remove the smart keyboard, the screen keyboard comes up and works fine. Apple told me that weak or unstable wifi, or any changes in wifi settings, causes the smart keyboard to stop working—and they offered no solution for this. They said that in the keyboard should continue to work in those circumstances for offline apps, like Pages. I have not had a chance to test this out yet.

Count me as another person with the same problem. iPad 10.5” with the smart keyboard. Worked fine with iOS10, but starting with 11 (11.0.1 was the first I tried) it periodically disconnects. The only solution I’ve found is to reboot, which has always worked without disconnecting the keyboard or anything else. Have had the problem on 11.0.1, 11.0.2, and 11.0.3.

I read someone else who said that turning airplane mode on then off fixes it, so will try that next time. But this is a pretty pathetic problem for one of Apple’s supposedly premier products.

Bruce

I have the identical problem on an iPad Pro and SmartKeyboard that I recently purchased. I took both back to an Apple Store and got replacements under Apple Care, just in case it was a hardware problem. The issue persists however, and it ranks as my number one frustration with the iPad Pro. I wonder if a software fix is in the works from Apple?

A workaround in the meantime, is to lift the iPad off the docking slot for moment, and then reconnect it. This takes all of 2 seconds to accomplish, but it’s annoying nonetheless.

Apple isn’t publicizing this, but they know there’s a problem with the Smart Keyboard. They have a “quality program” for that product and replaced mine even out of warranty. Make an appointment at the Genius Bar.