Smart Keyboard not working since ios11.

I just went to Starbucks to test the Smart Keyboard further. First the keyboard does work with cellular service as long as you do not accept the public WIFI splash screen. Second, if you press cm+tab after you accept the public WiFi the keyboard does work in all the apps after you press this combination of keys. This is a fairly quick work-around for the software issues with public WIFI until Apple decides to address the issue. It does not of course address any hardware issues of the conductivity of the keyboard after a year long period of average wear.

I'm as near to certain as I can be that while some people naturally have hardware issues, the main problem here is a software issue.

In the case of my iPads I even get error messages warning me that I have an incompatible third party device... i.e.: the iPad thinks the smart keyboard is another vendors product. While this could be a hardware problem I find it near to inconceivable that this could have happened to two of my iPad Pros simultaneously. This smacks far more of a software/firmware issue that is causing the keyboard to be mis recognised.

Old keyboard caused the “accesory not supported” random error message ( gen 2 iPad pro ) , as was hard used and some rust showing around each end purchased new one. New one did not work at all !!! Moved to logitec old case/keyboard worked fine , then tested gen 1 iPad pro on new keyboard worked .... back to gen 2 pro and by accident discovered a small horizonal nudge and presto it worked. Seems to have solved the issue , and gen 2 iPad now works.

Conclusion it is a hardware alighment issue ? Running 11.2.5

I found another thread on this topic where the person starting the topic posted photos of what appeared to be corrosion on the magnetic strip of the iPad Pro. Smart Keyboard Corrosion on Magnetic Strip Side?

Try switching the airplane mode off and on instead of rebooting. Seems to fix it for me. Still annoying but it’s somewhat more bearable.

Airplane mode toggle is your friend. I know it’s a laughable solution, but better than having to reboot or randomly attach and reattach the keyboard.

@hraynm, instead of rebooting, try doing CMD then TAB. This almost always works for me. Immediately following that sequence, go back to any app and start typing. Hope this helps.

Yes, that "command, space, cancel" thing seems to do it. Very odd.

I find my smart keyboard cannot be connected once I connect to unsecure or public wifi. When I turned off the connection with these wifi network, I can use my keyboard again without re-booting my iPad.

This workaround works for me.

The trick is in turning off/on the wireless radio and then using the CMD and TAB keys.

I surmise that with ios11 the fact that Apple have introduced a wireless change might be at the root of the issue. How / why this is related - shrug, it is just annectotal and the fix suggested on this thread works for me. My iPad Pro mini with smart keyboard did not have an issue prior to iOS 11. Specifically, I believe the ios11 introduction of having to got to settings to shut down the wireless & Bluetooth radios (before, you could do it from the slide up control panel) is at the root of the issue (there are separate threads on this issue).

Overall, Apple - please investigate the suggested work around to help diagnose the issue. It is clear that many of your clients are staff are waiting considerable time and resources on this software issue.

This issue has rendered my invaluable and frequently used ipad in back to back meetings to become a nice paperweight. I cannot predict when the keyboard will fail and it looks pretty silly cycling through settings when I need to be taking simple notes.

The software problem (at least one of them) is the keys not being recognized after you accept the splash screen on any unsecured WIFI network. The solution is simply to press cm + tab and the keyboard works fine. The other alternative is just not to us unsecured public WIFI with splash screens.

I am on my 4th keyboard, second iPad and second reinstall of software and STILL, walking out of apple with the latest keyboard last night, STILL have this issue. I am narrowing it down to the SWITCH IN WIFI. It may register when i go somewhere new but then stops as i’m Trying to connect to the WiFi.

This new one worked in the store but i was hooked up to apple WiFi, which they also had me working once i went through NOTES, an apple program, after it not working all day. The issue finally happened (stopped working) when in front of the Genius Bar guy, on a hunch, i turned off the WiFi and then he saw the problem but could not find a solution online so he gave me another keyboard, which, upon going to a coffee shop and signing in, did not work AGAIN. I finally had the bluetooth options run through, thinking it needed to connect WiFi AND Bluetooth (give it a minute) and then play around with “notes” and such and bam, it’s working again.

I don’t trust this and will see how the week goes but this is something to do with registering wifi along with the Bluetooth, back and forth from place to place i have this problem. Apple...after all these keyboards and new iPads, i cannot see the issue being fixed. I’m SO sad.

I had worked with this like you said and found it to be more consistent in “magicically getting it to work.” It still is not consistent in fixing the issue for me. The most consistent for me is using both hands thumb and forefinger to push the bottom of the iPad back and forth, causing the part of the keyboard attached to the iPad to rotate. Started that after noticing that the magnets do not hold completely, letting the force of the iPad rotate the contact points.

Just had my Apple smart keyboard replaced 2 days ago under the extended warranty and I and still getting the intermittent issue of the keyboard not responding. Although this time I am not getting the not supported accessory message, it just fails to type and the onscreen keyboard is displayed. If I lift the Ipad away from the keyboard while it’s still connected and place it back down onto the keyboard it will work again. I don’t need to do a hard reboot. However like the majority of comments in this thread I only started to experience this issue after the ios11 update.

I'm not convinced this is a hardware issue, partly because the problem started almost simultaneously in two different iPad pros I own after the iOS 11 release, they were bought a year apart and are two different sizes and one keyboard has hardly been used at all.

The other reason is an observation that in many cases the Smart Keyboard *is* working but very slowly. This would be odd for a hardware problem.

I note that there are certainly hardware issues with the keyboards because Apple has extended the warranty on smart keyboards to three years because of problems, but there appears to be a deeper problem going on here and I'm guessing it has to do with whatever controller and firmware is handling the smart connector.

The problem seems less severe on the one iPad I've installed iOS 11.3 beta on, so maybe Apple are starting to get a handle on this. I notice also some news that Apple have removed some planned features from iOS 12 to focus on making it a consolidation release so they have the opportunity to fix existing problems, that seems wise as if they don't fix these keyboards they will lose sales to Surface.