Smart Keyboard not working since ios11.

I went back to using my recently replaced Apple Smart Keyboard. It's been working almost constantly. Sometimes the virtual keyboard pops ups and the Smart Keyboard is 'negative function.' I literally rock the iPad Pro backward and forward. It almost always re-activates the Smart Keyboard. I suspect it triggers a reset. I don't think it is a hardware contact issue, but I regularly wipe off the contacts on both the iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard with a microfibre rag just in case there is some invisible schmutz causing less than optimal connection.

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.

I used the Apple online chat support and the support person suggested I wait for a software update and also sent me a document on how to clean the connectors. When I asked about software issues He said, “Yes we expect it to be resolved in a future update, however its not affecting the performance of the keyboard is it? As I’d treat that as a separate issue to troubleshoot. And as for going back to iOS 10, at this point its not possible.” This is the first I’ve heard that they know that its a software issue. I was trying to explain that yes the keyboard works fine when I can get it to connect to the iPad but that the “accessory not supported“ pop-up occurs daily and is difficult to get around and that this never occurred for me in iOS 10. He wasn’t on the same page and kept trying to guide to towrdas the connectors being dirty even though he admitted it was going to be resolved in a future shoforward update and even said I should wait for that.

The same thing happended to me, so I took my iPad Pro and keyboard to my local Apple store. While initially reluctant, they replaced my keyboard on the spot, even though my ipad was no longer covered by AppleCare. Unfortunately, my new keyboard still has intermittant problems, albeit less frequent (25% vs 90% disconnect).

I'm wondering is there is some corrosion or build-up on the magnets of the iPad Pro itself since the problem persists even with a new replacement Smart keyboard. If that's the case, the next question is, "What's the best method to remove the corrosion or build-up?"

This is exactly what I'm seeing. On some, not all, WiFi networks, connecting to the network will cause the keyboard strokes to no longer be recognized. Solution is to hard reboot (turn off and back on) and reconnect to the WiFi. Sometimes even that doesn't work and I need to reboot with the smart connector detached from the keyboard, connect to WiFi, and then attach to the keyboard. It's been going on for some time, but since it works OK at my home WiFi and for some of our connections at work, I've not pursued it further. But it is REALLY annoying.

They had me power down and resign in after powering back up but i found that i had to sign in BEFORE powering down...the steps i mentioned and so this has worked for the past 7 weeks faithfully, albeit a pain in the a__. I hope you find out what works. Their programmers are on it but nothing satisfactory to the masses. I would still call them direct and get a tech person to KEEP working with you because they all seemed to say that they've not heard much problems.

I FOUND ANOTHER KEY...the guys at apple genius were playing on my 4th keyboard and found that it works AFTER i hit “command“ and then space bar, bringing up some page i forgot what they called it, and i tried to type and still couldn’t but when i hit CANCEL and then tried to type on pages, it worked. Spread it to others and see if it helps. Mine has been working like this for several days, which is shorter than having to shut down a bunch. Its’ not going to help the issues of a connection not being right at the magnet port.

This is a problem with our organization as well since IOS 11 on iPad pro 9.7. This happens with the Logitech smart keyboards too. They are connected via the clean smart connectors. We are a buisness so when it happens I have plenty of iPads and Logitech smart keyboards to try. Its never the keyboard. Same iPad with the issue on multiple keyboards experience the same issue. Only the screen lock and home buttons at the top of the keyboard work, nothing else. Powering off the iPad and then powering it back on resolves the issue for an unknown amount of time.

Hopefully apple bots read these types of threads and use them as input. I think they were going to focus more on reliability in the next few IOS releases instead of features. I hope thats true because the last few IOS releases have been a dozy, especially for our fleet of iPhones.

Yes, I have similar situation. My Smart Keyboard is always needed to disconnect and connect again, after boot the IPad, then it works.

It’s very annoying problem indeed.

Hope Apple can solve it as soon as possible.

This all started with iOS 11 for me on my 9.7" iPad Pro. I'm having to restart it every day to get the keyboard to work. The keyboard is being detected as it doesn't throw up the on-screen keyboard when I want to type. It's just that the keys don't work until I restart the iPad in place (i.e. not changing anything physically on the keyboard and iPad).