Mouse and keyboard keep disconnecting

Hi everyone ..... HAVE SOLUTION ...... most likely.

There is another forum on here, somewhere that I ran across.

The problem is the Android File Transfer app ..... everyone that was having the bluetooth disconnecting, etc. just deleted this app and everything went back to normal, and working .... including me.

I restarted after deleting just to make sure, but I've been problem free for over a week now ..... others MUCH longer!!!

The upgrade to 10.14.4 most definitely did not solve the issue for me.

However uninstalling the Android File Transfer App did.

Since then I have not had any issues... Fingers crossed that this continues.

For us, there was clearly a dependance of Android file transfer with the disconnection problems. Once deinstalled the problem did not reappear. We also installed a similar utility (OneCommander, if I recall correctly) and the problem reappeared right after installation. So it was kicked off immediately.

Well I assume Apple will not help fixing that problem. After all, it wants to sell iPhones and not support Android devices.

One could also suspect, that slight variations in the way the USB interface has to be used (interrupts not handled correctly?) introduced this problem to Mojave (in our case).

I’ve gone 2 days without a disconnect. Not 100% sure what’s responsible for my newfound stability because I did a few things.

-updated Mojave to the most recent version.

-deleted android app.

-removed an Anker usb hub.

-removed all third party software that I wasn’t using.

-moved my wireless charger away from my iMac.

-stopped leaving my A73 near the computer.

Got it my fingers crossed the connection stays solid. I’ve got a wired option as backup so at least I won’t have to force restarts like I was doing.

I would recommend updating to Mojave 10.14.4, and also deleting Android Transfer app if you have it installed. Doing both finally worked for me after having experienced similar problems to those you describe. Restarting SMC only worked temporarily. The latest version of Mojave does now appear to be working fine, fingers crossed.

I understand that that issue was addressed in OS10.14.4 according to MacRumors, though keeping your fingers cross may be a good idea.

This problem is REALLY a hardware design issue. The cause of these disconnections is the problem "USB 3.0 * Radio Frequency Interference on 2.4 GHz Devices". It is a well known problem, but I AFIRM that it is a hardware design problem because if you install an adapter (dongle usb bluetooth) this problem simply disappears. If a simple adapter shows that it is possible to bypass this interference, why can not the apple hardware? Apple is aware of this problem but will never recognize it!

• USB 3 devices can cause problems with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
• Apple Support - Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference

Do they respond? No. They do, however, happily notify us every time someone posts to this thread.

I mostly solved my issue by doing a factory reset of the keyboard and mouse. Pain in the ***, but it seems to work most of the time. Not all of the time - this morning both were cranky as **** & I had to turn them off and back on and wait before they'd play nicely. Still better than having to do a hard reboot every time I wanted to use my 13-month-old iMac.

I don't know but . . .

I sent a letter (you remember those things - paper, envelopes, stamps etc.) to Apple and made a warranty claim because the iMac was not working properly. I did this to shake the tree more than anything else.

I received a call from the support people who let me know that a new release of Mojave was available 10.14.4. With nothing to lose, I installed it. Glancing through the release notes, there was no mention of resolving bluetooth issues, but there was some mention of fixing a wifi issue. Was that the conflict causing us all grief??

I'm 24 hours down the track and have not, to this time, had any disconnect issues. I know that this is early days and something malicious could jump up out of the wood heap BUT it does seem to have solved the problem.

Oh yes, I also threw out the Android Transfer program which I do not use - just in case.

So, give the wheel a spin.

I also updated to Mojave 10.14.4 in the hope that the bluetooth connectivity issue would be resolved. However, within a few minutes of using the computer after the installation the connection was lost. I then decided to delete the Android File Transfer app and I have had no bluetooth issues since. That was only a day ago, so fingers crossed for the days ahead.

First, not 100% sure, but don't think wifi has anything to do with bluetooth.

I think you'll find by far the majority will find that the fix was with the "notorious" Android File Transfer app; which,

as far as I can tell has resolved the issue in every case where this problem occurred and we had that app lurking somewhere.

What is sad, is that Apple choses not to listen to or monitor these discussions for the solutions and even ignores the actual solutions. I've read about several cases, of this problem, where the people took it to the Apple Store Genius' and even got brand new iMac's, or MacBook Pro's, etc. ....... Apple will go that far, instead of spending a little time monitoring these discussion boards and helping with input? Wow!

Yes, I had similar problems when I kept the Android File Transfer app on my iMac even though it wasn't connected. Copying it onto a USB flash drive and connecting only when required finally solved the problem for me, having permanently deleted the app from the iMac.

A BUNCH of us had this problem; I believe some had Mojave; personally I am still on the latest High Sierra. One person discovered that the issue (for us "bunch") was having the "Android File Transfer" app installed, and it was used at one time or another.

For me, this WAS the problem; and, the issue everyone is talking about here started when I installed the Android File Transfer app.

IMMEDIATELY upon deleting this app, the problem was solved.

It has NOT shown up since.

So, if the latest version of Mojave is causing this, either you may unknowningly have the Android File Transfer app installed; or, perhaps Apple somehow included an app, or something that does whatever that app did, to cause the Bluetooth / Keyboard / Mouse disconnect issues.

I wish I could tell you more, but my rule is to NEVER upgrade to a new OS for at least about 3 years. As long as High Sierra works, I ain't changing it.

Personally, I wish they would almost NEVER upgrade the stupid OS. Every time some tinkering engineer seems to think they have to change the way things were done previously, or take away a feature that I've made use of for a long time. I could make a pretty long list with High Sierra.

I went from Snow Leopard to High Sierra. If I could, I'd go back to Snow Leopard in a heartbeat. The only reason was because software after software started to NOT be supported by Snow Leopard.

It IS a conspiracy, collusion, etc. by the software developers and Apple to cost us more money.

And, we can't even get Apple to address basic things such as this Bluetooth disconnection issue.

Apple: "Oh, forgot the problems with the current Mac OS ... let's just design a new iPhone!"

I have put a number of posts onto this discussion thread detailing what has happened to me and what I have been doing.

My last communication with my support person reveals that the issue is being addressed at a central level - he, like us users, is now in the waiting game - waiting for advice either about a remedial action that individuals can undertake or a user-wide release of a new version of the O/S that will have the fix as part of it.

As I have noted previously, putting the Mac into a restart rather than sleep after you've finished your activity/work seems to clear the decks for when you recommence through logging back into the system. I haven't experienced disconnects that need a power off/on remediation since doing this. That suggests something volatile is being reset/cleared and thus stops the problem.

I'm using the 21.5 inch 2017 Mac - purchased and set-up in December 2018. Are others that are having this problem using the same machine or are there some using a different Mac model? (I am assuming that we are all using the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.) I note that my son-in-law has a larger Mac (recently purchased) and is not having these issues so I am wondering whether this is idiosyncratic to the 21.5 Mac? If the problem is contained to the 21.5 Mac then I would ask what is different between these and the other models? That could be a clue that can be used to trace what/why the disconnects are occurring. For example, is the chip architecture the same? If not, how does it differ?

I am happy to pass on any information from other users that ties down this issue further through to my support person. He can then send this onto his system support and hopefully we will edge closer to resolution.

Thanks for the information you have been sending through in reply. I have sent my Apple Support person the following note:

I put a posting onto Apple Community to gather more information which may or may not be of assistance to you and your colleagues.

In summary, it would appear that all roads lead back to the current implementation of Mojave.

I asked whether others who are having this problem were using a 2018 build 21.5” with magic keyboard/mouse. To date, the answers have varied e.g. Logitech keyboards, bigger Retina Macs. So this being idiosyncratic to one particular Mac model seems not to be the case.

As I mentioned to you, the restart protocol for when work is finished seems to be working 100% of the time. I had one issue the other day where I stopped using the machine for a short time while I did paper work, it went to sleep and when I tried to get it awake again, all had frozen. To me, this indicates that the area to be investigated is the sleeping/waking function.

I’ll keep you in the loop should a posting on the discussion board provide any additional information.

I'll post any new information that I receive that is pertinent onto this discussion group.