Smart Keyboard not working since ios11.

You’re right there is a problem with IOS 11 and the Smart Keyboard. Support would have us all running in circles with reboots and resets that are not going to fix it. it needs a « just works » solution pronto.

Ugh. Let me rephrase that. Putting my iPad Pro in the iOS 11.1 public beta stream did completely fix the issue for me...until I installed iOS 11 public beta 5 last night. Now, the problem has returned all over again. After months of this issue, I'm coming up on paying off my device agreement with Verizon for my 2015 iPad Pro 12.9 and my one-year upgrade window for my iPhone 7 Plus. For the past several weeks, I have been researching non-Apple alternatives for replacing both--specifically because of the lack of trust that this keyboard issue has generated for me. If I can't reliable use my iOS devices, why remain in iOS?

I had the problem since purchasing my iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard two weeks ago. I even had apple replace the keyboard. Didn’t help at all. I finally sent both of them back and got my money back. Two weeks old and never worked properly!

I have found out that once the keyboard doesn‘t respond the shortcuts CMD+Tab and CMD+H (you have to be in an app for this) will still work. Guys, please try this to see if this also works on your smart keyboards once it becomes unresponsive.

That worked for me. I had not been having issues at home or at work, but sitting by the pool at this Hilton suddenly the keyboard was not working. Needless to say Hilton Wi-fi features a splash screen!

Come on Apple, it must be a software issue!

anybody from Apple weighting on this one? getting really frustrating. combined with the horrible battery life of both iPad and iPhones, it is starting to negate why i am an Apple fan to begin with (reliability and no brainer usage)... please do something... thanks

I’m having the same exact issue. It seems to occur as soon as I log in to the public WiFi on the bus.

Instead of rebooting the iPad, I do a memory clear by holding the power button until I get the “swipe to shut down”, letting go of the power button then holding down the home button until the screen comes back to life. The keyboard then works fine.

But I’m tired of having to do this every time I need to use WiFi on the bus. I tried resetting the network settings but it didn’t help. This is clearly an iOS issue because it never happened prior to iOS 11.

Same problem! I want my Smart Keyboard back. It is the main reason I bought the iPad Pro (1st Gen, nearly a year old). I’m sick of rebooting, dealing with WiFi issues, ”Accessory Not Support” warning in the middle of everything I do. My family has completely switched to Apple products (except for my phone which I’ve been planning on upgrading to Apple). I’m starting to feel like I made a mistake, especially since no one from Apple has responded to any of us since the OP got a response on 9/21/17.

APPLE - Your temp solution *****. Please find a way to fix this. This was a known problem before update 11.0.3 was released. This is not fair to us: the consumers who have trusted you over and over to have superior tech products. We want to continue to believe in you!

Same problem for me after ios 11, even after rebooting though my ipad will oftentimes still not recognize the keyboard, I’ve had it for a little less than a year, the method enigma2k mentioned though did end up working for me

I went to apple store in California in March 2017 with TWO keyboards experiencing problems described in this thread. ONE was purchased in Japan and the other in california. Only the california purchased keyboard had become unusable. At the apple store, they denied any issues existed and because I had bought it 13 months prior, that it was out of warranty. Now the Japan purchased keyboard is also malfunctioning. I was about to buy a logitech product and saw that apple has finally recognized an issue and has a 'program' to fix it ( http://appleinsider.com/articles/17/05/08/apple-offers-free-ipad-pro-smart-keybo ard-repairs-in-wake-of-functional-issues ) as long as it is within 3 years. Just 5 minutes ago I got off the phone with "nathan" a "senior manager" on the phone support. He declared that they do NOT currently have a program and that they will only deal with issues if it was within 12 months of purchase (i.e. the warranty). I highlighted the websites and this forum to them and they said that they do not acknowledge any issues. Can you believe it!?!? I'm just one guy... but my family has easily purchased 40k usd of prodcuts over the last decade or so between phones, computers, ipads, nanos, etc.... I highlighted that I'm not sure how I will react but that putting our next decade of business at risk over a 129 dollar keyboard with OBVIOUS problems seems to be a silly decision. SO this ONE guy is going to go thru a lot of inconvenience in the coming years and abandon apple products as much as I possibly can. Anyone have the logitech keyboard?

No. Sorry nothing is working. Same problem here. Rebooted. Tried everyhting but there is no way to see whether the keyboard is even connected. Random windows with “device not compatible“ popping up while using the device in non typing position. And no way to use the keyboard to type. Frustrating that this expensive keyboard and iPad have been rendered unusable with this latest iOS.

It must be a known error, I’ve bought two smart keyboards now, both worked a while, then failed. So it looks to be clearly a hardware problem inherent to the keyboard design or manufacture. Hence should be a warranty replacement I’d have thought.

Several others have mentioned this, but I’ll add to the list. For me it is entirely tied to WiFi and iOS 11.x. Both my Smart Keyboard and my external (Bluetooth) keyboard are doing this. As long as I am at home, I can use my iPad whenever I want, it will come out of sleep and work just fine. The minute I take it to work (or anywhere else where there is a splash-screen, public wifi) the keyboard stops working. As others have said, the keyboard IS being detected because the on-screen keyboard disappears, but entry from any key is not detected. Restarting the iPad, then rejoining the public (I.e., not my home) WiFi, makes everything work fine. Interestingly, if I leave that public place and return to my home WiFi, I never have this issue; it jumps back onto my home wifi perfectly and the either keyboard works fine. This is clearly tied to iOS 11.x and public WiFi spash-screen access. I have submitted several times now to Apple. Hoping a later revision of 11 fixes this.

I’ll agree with Peter. I think there are now two intertwined issues on this thread - both equally problematic and both need attention from Apple. Like Peter, my keyboard is working fine (using it right now) and is being detected. But when I try to connect to a public WiFi with a login page, it stops working and I have to reboot.

So there are two issues...

1) The Public WiFi related lock-up that started with iOS 11x

2) Hardware related general failure and keyboards not being detected that seems to have been going on for some time.

This issue has to do with the splash login screen for public wifi and is software related. An easy fix for everytime this happens is to press Alt+Tab when you are in an app and Alt+Tab again to go back to the app. This will make your keyboard work again.