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

Hi Everyone,

I had a problem that Smartkeyboard not working on airplanes.

I spoke to Apple and they replaced to the new one and now it works fine on the planes.

This is very odd problem that you won't know until you use it on the plane and it works just fine elsewhere.

- the one had problem was maybe a first production lot of the keyboard as it was delivered before my iPad Pro 11".

- When you encounter problems on the plane, take a photo of keyboard and screen keyboard (it shows when iPad thinks it does not have a smart keyboard)

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?

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.

I know this thread is not very recent but I wanted to bring up that my SmartKeyboard works perfectly the entire trip, three flights already and no complains. I just bought it 4 days ago (May 2019), so I don’t know if they have made any changes on the keyboard recently. So far I am loving it.

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.

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.

Thank you so much for this update — I’m headed to Apple today to talk through a replacement. Thanks again.

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!

I’m having exactly the same problem with my Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro 12.9”. The keyboard stops being recognized as connected at high altitudes, then reconnects as coming in for a landing.