IPad Pro 2018 (11”) Smartkeyboard not working on airplanes

Thanks for sharing the results of your keyboard replacement, dwk106. I finally got around to requesting a replacement for mine and, one flight in, it looks good: the new keyboard worked fine at cruising altitude. It appears as though there was an early batch of the 11” iPad Pro Smart Keyboards that were faulty at altitude, but perhaps not the more recent batches.

The newer batches of the SmartKeyboard work fine during flights, but not the covers that came with the first iPad Pro’s in 2018. Everyone that exchanged the initial version for a new SmartKeyboard reported that this solved the problem.

Same answer here: first generation smart keyboard for the 2018 iPad Pro does not work up in the air, newer replacement works fine. The “feel” of the new keyboard is somewhat different, so I guess something has changed in the manufacturing process. Question: now that this appears to be a very common problem, why does Apple take no action to recall those faulty keyboards?

I recently had my keyboard folio exchanged at the apple store. So far the new one is working fine both on the ground and on the airplane throughout the flight!

Quick update: I reached out to Apple Support last week on this issue and they initially asked that I update to iOS 12.1.1, which I did, but I of course had to wait for my next flight to test again. I flew again yesterday and observed the exact same issue again.

After communicating the same to Apple Support, I was informed that “the operating altitude for the iPad Pro was tested up to 10,000 feet. This would mean the iPad and Smart Keyboard are functioning as expected. That can be found under "Environmental Requirements" here: https://apple.co/22Fh6m4“.

This is unreasonable on its face from my perspective. Pressurized, commercial air travel is a different environment than, for example, high-altitude mountaineering and it is not relevant to directly compare these environments. Moreover, my understanding is that most (all?) commercial aircraft are pressurized to an equivalent altitude that is lower than 10,000 feet. I have provided this feedback to Apple, but currently do not have any clear next steps.

Get help

If your iPad Pro doesn't detect your Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard or you see an "Accessory not supported" alert on your iPad Pro, make sure there's no debris or plastic covering on the Smart Connector pins on the keyboard or the Smart Connector on the iPad Pro. Also, try these steps:

1. Make sure that your iPad Pro and Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard are in the Type position and that you have the latest version of iOS.
2. Remove the Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard from your iPad Pro.
3. Restart your iPad Pro.
4. Reconnect the Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard.

Whilst your iPad may be certified by Apple as fully functional to an equivalent pressure altitude of 10,000’, the Smart Keyboard may have different specifications.

Without knowing the exact construction of the keyboard, we may only guess upon the likely cause - but it is highly likely that the keys use something other than a simple butterfly-spring to control key travel. If the keyboard uses a closed-cell foam, or similar, this will be affected by cabin pressure.

To everyone here.

You are all just posting among yourself here.

Apple is NOT being made aware of anything here.

No one from Apple knows that the new iPad Pros are having this issue.

There is no one in ANY of these Apple Support Communities from any Apple product teams, here.

Cognizant or responsible Apple product teams, designers and engineers do not read, nor participate in these, largely Apple product user to user technical support communities.

Cognizant Apple teams do not monitor these Apple user support communities, either!

I and others, in these Apple product support communities, are simply Apple product users, just like you, that volunteer our own time and knowledge here.

Apple supplies these product support communities for Apple product users to work out their product issues and share technical product knowledge with other fellow users, BUT these community forums ARE monitored/moderated by Apple Support Community Staff and content moderators, as well as Apple Community Technical Support Staff Product Specialists, assigned, specifically, to these community forums, but I do not think any specific user posted info, issues and/or feature requests/changes is ever passed on to who/mever the cognizant parties are who would need to know if there are any mounting issues or changes needed with any Apple products or software.

These ASC ONLY moderators and staffers, due to Apple privacy policies, do not forward any info contained/obtained from ANY postings within these communities to any cognizant Apple staff, teams or individuals.

The only way to get Apple to, DIRECTLY, listen to you is to use their feedback portion of their website.

iPad Feedback

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper and responsible Apple teams and personnel, but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.

The more users that post product feedback about any product issue, the faster Apple is made aware and starts working on a fix/solution for a future software update.

Also, you may want to phone contact Apple, directly in Cupertino, California, and calmly talk to an Apple customer service employee about this issue via the link below.

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

Good Luck to You All!

That’s very odd. I had a third party case/keyboard combo for the third gen iPad & never had an issue. I would recommend returning it & looking at third party options.

I also had this same issue manifesting in the same manner: keyboard is fine on the ground and then only at peak altitude is completely inoperable.

I took mine in to the local Apple Store and at first they told me that the operating altitude limit is 10k feet. I can’t believe that applies to planes. I checked and the MacBook Pro has the same limit. Everyone uses their devices on planes. I’ve never had anything fail during a flight before. Not to mention, the Smart Folio Keyboard on the iPad Pro is a pretty expensive accessory.

Still, after some discussion they agreed to replace it. Remains to be seen if this keyboard will have the same issue during flights or not.

dwj106,

Thanks for the update.

This is certainly an interesting issue and as such, I would recommend you contact Apple Support directly. They are more able to assist you directly with this particular issue.

Cheers.

Took a few flights and it’s been a very “reliable” issues. It works when taxing and ascending, and fails completely near and at cruising altitude. It will regain functionality once the plane is close to the ground and on the ground. This has been true for different airplanes, going over large swath of water and land, as in the Pacific and the N. American and Asian continents. Very frustrating. And spend at least 4 hours on chats and calls with Apple. And they are utterly unhelpful on this. Need an engineer review.