iPad Pro Keyboard "This accessory is not supported by this device"

I had all all this nonsense with my iPad Pro and its keyboard after about a years use. Seems the thing that activates the keyboard is a small reed switch (I am guessing) in the guttering just above the keyboard. When you snap the keyboard together ready for typing a magnet on the oposing face triggers the switch. Try it out! With the keyboard attached but not in the support guttering get a small magnet and rub it just above the 1 and 2 keys on the keyboard. If you are in an application that is waiting for input the onscreen keyboard will dissapear meaning that the physical keyboard is ready for typing.

What is clearly happening is that the magnetic strength of the top part which fits in the guttering has lost flux. Get that magnet which you were playing about with just a moment ago and rub it on the top part of the keyboard which mates with the guttering. Magnet flux is restored and the final act of snapping the keyboard to typing position should activate the switch. Works for me! I used a neodymium magnet, BTW.

I am the Director of Technology for a private school. We have 54 iPad Pro 12.9" iPads with Smart Keyboards deployed. We gave them out in February of 2016. By the end of the school year (May 2016), we had 4 or 5 students who were getting the "This accessory is not supported by this device" message. Sometimes a hard restart did the trick. Often times, it did not.

We did find that swapping keyboards, many times, would work. What I mean is, two students would come in with the message. We would swap the two keyboards and the message would go away on both iPads.

Sometimes, that did not work and we had to swap them a brand new keyboard.

Fast forward to this school year we have had 12 smart keyboard issues. We found that many of the keyboards that were giving the "This accessory is not supported by this device" message finally stopped working on ay iPad. I currently have 7 smart keyboards that no longer work. I had another student come in this afternoon with the "This accessory is not supported by this device" message.

I really do not think it is software related. I think it is hardware related, probably related to the Smart Connector.

I am in the midst of contacting Apple to see how to deal with the issue.

Bill

That works! My switch is around the 2-3 keys (9.7" iPad Pro, first gen) and works like a charm just by running a small neodymium magnet in the support gutter. Brilliant. Stack mags for the win! Actually, iPodge for the win! lol

Contacted Apple support, they claimed because the issue is not listed on Exchange + Repair Extension Programs - Apple Support webpage , it's not covered. So, basically they claimed there is no warranty extension . Does anybody have any suggestions ? Is there actually a warranty extension for late 2015 12.9 inch Smart Keyboard ?

Totally frustrated .

This worked for me! A small addition for those who have the same problem and happen to own an Apple Watch: you can use the Watch charging cable magnet for this. Worked perfectly, I rubbed it from left to right on both sides of the keyboard. My iPad Pro 12.9 (2018) instantly recognizes my Smart Keyboard Folio again.

2 photo - one shows the wear on the iPad and the second shows an example of my clumsy taping of the keyboard. The affected areas are circled in yellow. I suspect that electrical tape might provide a more lasting solution.

You are basically remagnetizing the metal work which triggers the switch. Because the tolerance here are really tight it is also important to keep the guttering free of any swarf which might be ferrrous. I find I get lots of little metal fiilings stuck to it and these have to be carefully wiped away. Anything that detracts from allowing the two parts to meet will cause a problem. Just been testing my discovery all this evening by tearing the keyboard away and reattaching it and all seems to now be well. In fact I am typing this using the keyboard. Something else which also helps is to lower the iPad onto the keyboard right hand side first and then drops the left to meet. This is where I think the switch lies (Just above keys 1 and 2). If you now have a new keyboard and it works just fine straight out of the box the new example has the required magnetic flux to operate the switch.

This bug exsists since the first iOS 10 beta. We found two solutions and a workarround.

The bug gets silenced if the keyboard gets disconnected from the iPad Pro. However it does quickly reapear after the pad goes into sleep.

The two solutions are dead simple. Stop using an iPad or stop using Apples NotSoSmartKeyboard. No issues with blueetooth keyboard here.

Honesty, Apples software quality isnt that good anymore. AppleTV 4 freezes after each return from slumber for up to 5 minutes. SmartKeyboard stops working with a modal Dialog blocking the iPad during productivity and all iPhones and iPads that got updated to 10.x reboot overnight, leaving you with an inoperatiive touchid next morning. List is longer, but there is no point in complaining here or to apple support.

This same thing is happening to me. I have the message "this accessory is not supported by this device" pop up about every couple seconds repeatedly. It makes my iPad difficult to use. I can no longer connect my Smart Keyboard. This happened within a few months of purchasing it. I asked an apple employee and they showed me that I had to push on the side of the keyboard to get the magnets aligned EVERY time I attached it for use. This became a pain but now this technique no longer works. Keyboard will not connect regardless of what I do. Very disappointed. I agree that this is a software issue with the keyboard not user error. Wish apple would do something to fix it. I would just buy a new one but I'm sure the same thing would happen after a few months.

Adding my note here so that Apple knows it's a real issue. I've had my iPad Pro for all of 2 months and have gotten this message several times within 15 minutes tonight. I always keep my iPad inside of a soft case and the contacts are spotless. If I reconnect the iPad, I'll be able to type using the keyboard for up to a minute before I see the "not supported" error. For the price paid, and the "legendary design" promise, this is nothing short of a huge disappointment. How are you the market leader and you can't even design a keyboard that retains a connection over a physical contact? This really takes the "magic" out of the experience.

I posted earlier that I bought the magnets and that they worked. Sadly, that is just a temporary fix and you have to do it over and over again to use the keyboard. I have given up and put the keyboard back in its box for a while because of the frustration that it has caused me. The first year that I owned the keyboard it worked absolutely fine, then I started getting the message "This accessory is not supported by this device". I am wondering if one of the upgrades has caused this problem. The main reason I bought the pro iPad was for the use of the keyboard....now, it only works temporarily at best. I find it mind boggling that an Apple IT person has not come up with a fix for those of us that own a keyboard for our iPads...guess that they just don't care.

I also had this problem, and tried all the solutions that others tried with no success. I understand that no company is infallible and occasionally an Apple product has a particular problem that merits a 'Quality program' fix. It may take some time after enough people have the same problem for Apple to become aware of it. So be patient and I've found that Apple is good about backing their products. In the case of my Smart keyboard problem, I took it in to the Apple store and found that they are aware of the problem and are replacing these keyboards FREE. Mine was 180 days out of warranty. Here also are links discussing this problem and others that might give you replacement devices for free. I also had the iPhone plus camera problem and they replaced my phone with no argument. https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/08/apple-smart-keyboard-ipad-pro-repair-program-stic king-keys-functional-issues/

Exchange + Repair Extension Programs - Apple Support

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/10/17/apple-activates-quality-program-for-re tina-macbook-coatings

I have the same problem. My experience - it's nothing but the Smart Keyboard issue. We happen to have 3 Apple Smart Keyboards in our family. So the problem repeats with "my" keyboard, while our iPadPro 12.9 are working perfectly well with 2 other Keyboards. It's a pity it took the Smart Keyboard to go to crap within just 13 months.

I think we should all post to Apple's Twitter page. Companies tend not to reply until you go public on their social media page. This is ridiculous that they're not doing anything about it. It's not only that we bought a keyboard that doesn't work, but it then renders the ipad unusable as stated in Genevieve Clemons comment above. Sometimes you can't clear the error message out because it keeps popping up non stop to where you can't use the ipad.

Aftee a lengthy chat with Apple Tech Support, it seems there are too few of us having problems to warrant their looking into the problem. They indicated that they would have gladly replaced my keyboard while it was in warranty - it was 2 months out of warranty at the time. My takeaway lesson is to report problems as soon as they appear and get on the record. I did not report my issues because I thought they were related to an IOS upgrade. I still love my Apple products, but I am disappointed in the keyboard and Apple's response.