Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
That sounds like a software bug to me. If it was purely interference, why would it need the iPad to sleep to trigger it? It should occur every time you plug the adapter in.

I hope it’s just software but don’t know enough about WiFi interference to say.

Does kinda suck you have to pull the cable out and back in to get WiFi again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
This issue has really become an annoyance for me here on my 11” iPad Pro. I’m seriously thinking of just returning it to Apple and getting a MacBook but I have the feeling that I’ll again run into the same issue with my USB headphone amp. :rolleyes: Some engineering you’ve got there, Apple.

I returned my iPad. It just feels like Apple needs a “revision 2” of this iPad with fixes for USB-C and maybe some internal structural reinforcements. Mine also had a speck of dust inside the screen. I’ve been buying Apple equipment for 30 years; so have seen this before — they probably rushed it. If you replace your products every cycle it’s maybe OK, but I tend to keep mine 4 years or more; so will wait to see if they have a fixed version in a few months.

Regarding buying a MacBook: I have the 2015 MacBook retina, and it’s one of the most solid products I have ever owned. Absolutely no problems with the USB-C port; and I have tried MANY devices. Also it has a headphone jack :-/
 
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
I returned my iPad. It just feels like Apple needs a “revision 2” of this iPad with fixes for USB-C and maybe some internal structural reinforcements. Mine also had a speck of dust inside the screen. I’ve been buying Apple equipment for 30 years; so have seen this before — they probably rushed it. If you replace your products every cycle it’s maybe OK, but I tend to keep mine 4 years or more; so will wait to see if they have a fixed version in a few months.

Regarding buying a MacBook: I have the 2015 MacBook retina, and it’s one of the most solid products I have ever owned. Absolutely no problems with the USB-C port; and I have tried MANY devices. Also it has a headphone jack :-/
Oh wow; thanks for the reply! How do you find the keyboard and general performance on your MacBook? I was thinking of maybe going with the Air and seeing how it fares.
 
Oh wow; thanks for the reply! How do you find the keyboard and general performance on your MacBook? I was thinking of maybe going with the Air and seeing how it fares.

I really like the keyboard on my MacBook. The performance is great for a fanless design. That was a key feature for me, as I wanted it to be silent. The Air and Pro have fans. That said, the Air and Pro will have a lot more performance. I do a lot of business/tech type work on mine. Terminal sessions controlling Linux servers, code editing, excel, browsing, etc. I find it very snappy; as the very fast SSD helps a great deal. It would not be optimal for video editing or any kind of gaming.

When I was in the Apple store yesterday they had the 12” MacBook, new Air, and 13” MacBook Pro all lined up. I took the opportunity to type for a while on all three of them. The Air is excellent, and the Pro is very similar. I would say the 12” comes in third. However I don’t see any problem typing a lot on any of them. I am a very fast typer on my 12”. It took me about a week to get used to the short key travel. Because of the short travel it ends up being a bit loud when typing; as you tend to hit the keys a bit harder to ensure they register. The Air and Pro would be quieter.

One of the things — other than being fanless — that I love about the 12” is that at 2lbs it really feels more like a slightly heavy iPad than a laptop. It’s incredibly light and solid with a gorgeous screen for photos. The Air look really great though if you are OK with a fan (I’m sure it’s a quiet fan).
 
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
I returned my iPad. It just feels like Apple needs a “revision 2” of this iPad with fixes for USB-C and maybe some internal structural reinforcements. Mine also had a speck of dust inside the screen. I’ve been buying Apple equipment for 30 years; so have seen this before — they probably rushed it. If you replace your products every cycle it’s maybe OK, but I tend to keep mine 4 years or more; so will wait to see if they have a fixed version in a few months.

Regarding buying a MacBook: I have the 2015 MacBook retina, and it’s one of the most solid products I have ever owned. Absolutely no problems with the USB-C port; and I have tried MANY devices. Also it has a headphone jack :-/

I bet if you used the adapter on the Mac it would do the same. Macs has usb issues as well so it may not be the iPads fault. Yes the Mac has a headphone jack but still.

A bit of dust can get under any device in production as well. Can happen to the next iPhone, iPad etc.

I don’t plan on returning mine at all, since I came from the iPad Air this thing is everything I want in an iPad. But yeah this WiFi thing is a bit of a pain but it is what it is.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
I bet if you used the adapter on the Mac it would do the same. Macs has usb issues as well so it may not be the iPads fault. Yes the Mac has a headphone jack but still.

A bit of dust can get under any device in production as well. Can happen to the next iPhone, iPad etc.

I don’t plan on returning mine at all, since I came from the iPad Air this thing is everything I want in an iPad. But yeah this WiFi thing is a bit of a pain but it is what it is.

Oh and thanks MR for responding to my email/ pff

I don't think everyone should return their 11". If you love it enjoy it!

I tested the dongle on my 12" MacBook (2015 Retina) without problems. I will do a longer test and let you know if I can reproduce it on the MacBook.

I have owned the MacBook since 2015 and have maybe 10 different USB-C devices and dongles. I have never experienced any sort of problem with USB-C on the MacBook. The videos I found where people did experience the problem seemed to be with somewhat wonky looking USB-C peripherals (maybe low quality). Thats a bit different than experiencing it with actual Apple brand peripherals.

I agree that dust can be an issue on any LCD screen. However I have purchased approximately 20 iOS devices since my first iPhone; and this was the first device I have received with dust. It was just one clue in the set of clues that gave me the gut reaction that this device was rushed. I could very well be wrong; and there may be MANY that are absolutely perfect. This is just my opinion. But it is the opinion of a tech consultant with 30 years professional experience with Apple products (starting with the Macintosh II in 1987).

I really wanted to love my new iPad as well. It truly saddened me to return it. But I try my best to be unemotional with tech because I have a limited budget; and devices just have to last for me.

My conclusion to this issue is I replaced my 11" iPad Pro with a 10.5" model. Here are my findings:

The 10.5" I replaced it with has:
Pros:
- Headphone jack <- big one for me
- Optical image stabilization on the camera (yeah, I do occasionally use my iPad as a camera. shoot me.)
- Has a much more robust feeling case structurally. I believe the curves actually improve structural strength.
- Has a home button; not as cool as Face ID...but notably faster to tap/double tap than to swipe up for multitasking
- $699 shipped new (BH Camera sale $100 off). $250 savings over 11". There are likely to be many more deals on the 10.5" vs. the new shiny 11" and 12.9"
- Works with my daughters old Apple Pencil so I can borrow it. I don't use it enough to buy one for myself.
- Maybe I had bad speakers on my 11"; but the 10.5 inch sound seems more precise to me, and I don't have the balance issue I was experiencing (was shifted toward left side on my 11").

Same Same:
- 4GB RAM, 256GB Storage
- Same exact weight to the ounce
- Exact same color accuracy and brightness as 11"
- Still has USB 3 speed over the lightning port for my camera card reader; its actually exactly the same 5GB/s as when you plug the camera card reader into the new USB-C iPads
- Works with the dozens of lightning peripherals and chargers I have everywhere in a house with many devices
- This is still considered a "new device sold in 2018" by Apple. It has 4GB RAM. My guess is it will support exactly the same future revisions of iOS as the 11" for the exact same number of years.

Cons:
- No Face ID. I really liked this and will miss it. Animoji was really cool also! However, I would have likely used Animoji like twice with to make my wife laugh...and then never again.
- When in landscape orientation (my normal use case) has same height as 11" (1668 pixels same as 11") but is 7% smaller horizontally to make room for the button (164 fewer pixels horizontally...2388-2224). I always say "if it's less than 20% I probably won't notice it"; and this seems to be true of most things. I do however miss watching 16:9 videos on the 11".
- Slower CPU by 25% in single core and probably 50% in multi core. Also GPU is around 30% slower. I don't actually think I can tell the difference in any real applications.
 
Last edited:
Just got posted to here from Reddit.

12.9 Pro 2018 256gb cellular and WiFi, both on 5 and 2.4 GHz and O2 4G and Truphone LTE

It's been driving me absolutely insane for 3 days now, ever since I got the dongle.

I thought my WiFi had gone faulty. I would restart like mad, force reboot, reset network settings, leave off for a while. Absolutely everything I could think off, even deleted recently installed apps.

Also it affects cellular too. Mobile data doesn't work whether it's embedded SIM or physical SIM. I even tried replacing Sims.

Restarting my router didn't work either.

I realised it was the dongle last night because as SOON as I unplugged it, would you look at that WiFi worked fine

It glitches out the flight mode. So even when you press it, the WiFi stays on. If you turn the WiFi off it goes grey but doesn't disappear from the notification bar.

Definitely a problem with the dongles. 100% sure of that now if we are both having the EXACT problem.

What do we do about fixing this? Can't use earphones if I want the WiFi/4G to work, it becomes super super slow then stops working - I also notice it after I leave it in for long times.
 
Just got posted to here from Reddit.

12.9 Pro 2018 256gb cellular and WiFi, both on 5 and 2.4 GHz and O2 4G and Truphone LTE

It's been driving me absolutely insane for 3 days now, ever since I got the dongle.

I thought my WiFi had gone faulty. I would restart like mad, force reboot, reset network settings, leave off for a while. Absolutely everything I could think off, even deleted recently installed apps.

Also it affects cellular too. Mobile data doesn't work whether it's embedded SIM or physical SIM. I even tried replacing Sims.

Restarting my router didn't work either.

I realised it was the dongle last night because as SOON as I unplugged it, would you look at that WiFi worked fine

It glitches out the flight mode. So even when you press it, the WiFi stays on. If you turn the WiFi off it goes grey but doesn't disappear from the notification bar.

Definitely a problem with the dongles. 100% sure of that now if we are both having the EXACT problem.

What do we do about fixing this? Can't use earphones if I want the WiFi/4G to work, it becomes super super slow then stops working - I also notice it after I leave it in for long times.

Good info. More confirmation that it is effecting the entire internal USB bus (bother cellular and WiFi radio). I also had it disable my front facing camera. So that’s three different devices on the internal USB bus getting disabled. My guess is there may be a design flaw in the USB bus for the iPad. So it may require new firmware or a replacement motherboard with fixes.

I expect we will be hearing a lot more about this issue in the coming months.
[doublepost=1543010409][/doublepost]
Has anyone answered if using another brand of this headphone adapter would solve the problem?

Example: https://www.amazon.com/Google-USB-C-Headphone-Adapter-devices/dp/B077NNWW2J

I might ask the same about the battery drain reported by an user.

Multiple brands are having the same problem:

I've had similar issues that everyone is describing. I bought a 3rd party 3.5mm only adapter, and one that also has a USBC connector for charging as well as a 3.5mm jack, and both had the same issue. I was restarting the ipad each time, but then I figured out if I just remove the headphones or the adapter entirely from the ipad, my wifi connectivity gets restored within like 10 seconds. I can then replug the headphones or adapter back in without further issue. It seems that once I put the ipad to sleep again, I have to repeat the cycle.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
  • Like
Reactions: iapplelove
Has anyone answered if using another brand of this headphone adapter would solve the problem?

Example: https://www.amazon.com/Google-USB-C-Headphone-Adapter-devices/dp/B077NNWW2J

I might ask the same about the battery drain reported by an user.


Didn’t order the google version, but I did order another usbC/headphone adapter off amazon.

0c4ef0da0833036183cce5c444343d8e.jpg


Same issue. No difference.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Can this problem be fixed in a new iOS version or it’s an hardware issue? I am glad I didn’t buy this new iPad anyway... and why this is not being reported by the major sites? Apple has really gone downhill...

P.S. Filed a bug report with Apple and in my message I posted a link to this thread. I suggest all users do the same.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
Tried the USB C to 3.5mm V2 Adapter from Google. Also tried a usb c hub and attached a keyboard Same issue (wifi drops out)

Unplugging the adapter fixes the wifi instantly

Edit: on 5GHz Wifi
 
  • Like
Reactions: iapplelove
Did someone try a 3rd party USB-C headset? As these don't require the dongel and can be connected straight to the iPad Pro, I was wondering if the interference still occurs.

E.g. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DMDS8F4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rLp-BbBRDTJKM
I’ve tried a straight USB-C to USB-mini cable for my headphone amplifier and it similarly throws the connection. At this point in my experience it seems as if any cable or dongle used to transfer data (as opposed to only power) affects wireless connectivity.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
  • Like
Reactions: iapplelove
Have you all tried using your iPads plugged into the power plug and provided usb-c power cable that came with the ipad so its charging and do you still get the same problem ?
 
Have you all tried using your iPads plugged into the power plug and provided usb-c power cable that came with the ipad so its charging and do you still get the same problem ?
Yep tried it, no issues with wifi, its probably the power draw of the USB C port interfering with the wi-fi
 
Yep tried it, no issues with wifi, its probably the power draw of the USB C port interfering with the wi-fi

so if its ok with the power lead and might be a power draw problem could this even be fixed with a firmware ?
 
so if its ok with the power lead and might be a power draw problem could this even be fixed with a firmware ?
Maybe? Could also be noise feedback from the adapter? Oh I guess someone should try charging their phone with their Ipad and see if the issue occurs
 
If anything, using the official Apple HDMI dongle with Wi-Fi had not caused any issue throughout the 14 days the iPad Pro 2018 was with me, which narrows down the problem to how Apple handles USB C and audio data

Has anyone tested any dongle that has both HDMI and 3.5mm jack?

Given that some handphones seem to turn the headphones into a form of antennae for phone calls etc, I wonder if the iPad Pro somehow trying to do the same via the dongle and only to create such interference
 
For me it’s just headphones. Can’t duplicate the issue while charging.

But from what I gather, it’s any peripheral that transfers data, which a simple charge does not.

I see. And how did this resolve or not resolve with the usbc mbp’s? Haven’t followed

Is this gonna turn into a huge gate? Weird reviewers never mentioned it. Or concerns of durability.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.