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iPad Pro iPad Pro M2 and Apple Keyboard - Cursor keeps vanishing

usmaak

usmaak

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 13, 2012
1,086
950
I have an M2 12.0” iPad Pro and an Apple Keyboard. Lately I have noticed that my cursor will disappear and I cannot see where the trackpad is pointing. It doesn’t happen that often and when it does, it only seems to last a minute or two and then it comes back, but it is annoying. I haven’t been able to determine why it is happening. It doesn’t happen in any one app.

Things I have tried.
  1. Detach the keyboard and reattach it.
  2. Restart iPad.
  3. Turn iPad off and then turn it back on.
Nothing I have done fixes this problem. My iPad is on 17.2. It started happening before upgrading to 17.2 and has continued happening since.

Anyone know what might be going on?
 
I get this once in a while. Only solution is to turn off and back on. I also occasionally get a message that his accessory is not compatible, same fix. Brought this to the Genius Bar once and was told to buy a new keyboard, REALLY!
 
Pierre535 said:
I get this once in a while. Only solution is to turn off and back on. I also occasionally get a message that his accessory is not compatible, same fix. Brought this to the Genius Bar once and was told to buy a new keyboard, REALLY!
Click to expand...
Yeah. I was afraid that would be their answer. It's like a year and month old. If I had just gotten AppleCare on the iPad, the keyboard would have been covered. But alas, I forgot about it until it was too late.
 
usmaak said:
I have an M2 12.0” iPad Pro and an Apple Keyboard. Lately I have noticed that my cursor will disappear and I cannot see where the trackpad is pointing. It doesn’t happen that often and when it does, it only seems to last a minute or two and then it comes back, but it is annoying. I haven’t been able to determine why it is happening. It doesn’t happen in any one app.

Things I have tried.
  1. Detach the keyboard and reattach it.
  2. Restart iPad.
  3. Turn iPad off and then turn it back on.
Nothing I have done fixes this problem. My iPad is on 17.2. It started happening before upgrading to 17.2 and has continued happening since.

Anyone know what might be going on?
Click to expand...
I am seeing this randomly on my M1 iPadPro as well, since the recent software updates.
 
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I’ve had my IPad Pro 11” (M2) for about a month now, never had any issues with the cursor appearing until this afternoon (coincidence that I then stumbled onto this thread)!

This is correlated with updating to 17.2

Who knows… Mine was resolved by a restart. I had tried waiting and detaching and replacing to no avail.
 
My keyboard has been doing this for 2-3 years so it isn’t related to IOS updates nor by design since I have to reboot to get the cursor back. Another incident, every so often i get a message “this accessory isn’t supported” and the cursor disappears. Sometimes it goes for months and other times after few days. Genius Bar says buy a new keyboard.
 
darngooddesign said:
My M1 13” with Magic Keyboard does this, think its by design Because it happens with the BT mouse as well.
Click to expand...
I have had this keyboard and iPad for a year and a month and it’s only started happening in the last month or two. I’m not sure why this would be by design when it makes it impossible to use the keyboard until the cursor reappears. Usually it comes back after a minute or two but the last time it happened, I had to restart the iPad to get it back.
 
Pierre535 said:
My keyboard has been doing this for 2-3 years so it isn’t related to IOS updates nor by design since I have to reboot to get the cursor back. Another incident, every so often i get a message “this accessory isn’t supported” and the cursor disappears. Sometimes it goes for months and other times after few days. Genius Bar says buy a new keyboard.
Click to expand...
I’m guessing that is the answer. I’ll probably bring it all to an Apple store sometime soon. It’s getting old.
 
usmaak said:
I have had this keyboard and iPad for a year and a month and it’s only started happening in the last month or two. I’m not sure why this would be by design when it makes it impossible to use the keyboard until the cursor reappears. Usually it comes back after a minute or two but the last time it happened, I had to restart the iPad to get it back.
Click to expand...
I have no problem using the keyboard after the pointer disappears. Can you explain what you mean.
 
darngooddesign said:
I have no problem using the keyboard after the pointer disappears. Can you explain what you mean.
Click to expand...
When the pointer disappears, I cannot see where it is on the screen when I am moving it around using the trackpad. I have to use my finger until it becomes visible on its own or I restart the iPad. So while I can type, I can’t position the cursor anywhere without using my finger on the iPad screen. Because I cannot see the gray dot.
 
I get this occasionally. Seems to be a bug where the ipad gets confused as to whether its attached to the keyboard or not. Never found a solution but happens on and off ever since i got the magic keyboard on release day.
 
usmaak said:
When the pointer disappears, I cannot see where it is on the screen when I am moving it around using the trackpad. I have to use my finger until it becomes visible on its own or I restart the iPad. So while I can type, I can’t position the cursor anywhere without using my finger on the iPad screen. Because I cannot see the gray dot.
Click to expand...
I get that. For me it isn’t a big deal because I have a general idea of where it is and it does reappear as soon as I touch the trackpad; if yours doesn’t appear when you touch the trackpad then its a bad issue. But I do recognize that it can causes issues for people who want to know its position all the time.
 
Seanm87 said:
I get this occasionally. Seems to be a bug where the ipad gets confused as to whether it’s attached to the keyboard or not. Never found a solution but happens on and off ever since i got the magic keyboard on release day.
Click to expand...
I don’t think its related to the keyboard because it also happens with a BT mouse paired to a naked iPad.
 
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darngooddesign said:
I get that. For me it isn’t a big deal because I have a general idea of where it is and it does reappear as soon as I touch the trackpad; if yours doesn’t appear when you touch the trackpad then its a bad issue. But I do recognize that it can causes issues for people who want to know its position all the time.
Click to expand...
Mine generally acts this way as well. When I type, the pointer vanishes and when I move it on the trackpad, it comes back. But there are times when it just completely disappears and won’t come back. Sometimes it eventually comes back and sometimes I reboot to get it back. I have a focus on my iPad that is triggered when I open the Kindle app. It puts the iPad into low power mode, flips around my home screen so there are only a few things available, and shuts off notifications. This morning the keyboard did the same “cursor disappear“ thing and instead of fighting with it, I decided to just read for a while. As soon as I opened the Kindle app and the reading focus turned on, the cursor came back. So next time it happens, I am going to try it again and see if it works.
 
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Instead of rebooting, I found that I can:

Settings->General->Trackpad
Disable and reenable Tap To Click

Then the cursor comes back. Definitely an iPadOS issue, otherwise why would rebooting or changing a setting off and back on temporarily fix the issue.
 
Same with my 2017 iPad Pro. Cursor randomly hides. Rolling my Magic Mouse around a bit causes it to reappear. This is a known bluetooth issue. Maybe future hardware and software will be up to par. This shouldn’t be such a mess from Apple! Getting a new Mac Mini to connect to the monitor, and maybe a new iPad Air this year, but I’m done trying to use an iPad with a screen.
 
I've noticed that it seems to happen most frequently when I leave the iPad open and it shuts off (I have my time out set to something like five minutes). It does happen randomly as well, but it seems a bit more than just random when it times out. Maybe.
 
Very annoying isn’t it? I’ve a two year old iPad Pro with a Magic Keyboard, but it only started happening a month or so ago, but the frequency is increasing. I might upgrade to the M2 version, but this one should work well for a long time yet, according to Apple itself at their store. The only thing that fixes it that I’ve figured out is a restart and that is very annoying. Haven’t talked to Apple Support yet but likely will try that soon as I’ve yet to find anything they couldn’t fix.
 
Mine will eventually come back if I just leave it for a while and use my finger on the screen. Another thing the keyboard has been doing more frequently is when I'm typing it will occasionally put the cursor somewhere else in the document. I'm a touch typist so I don't always look at the screen when typing and I'll end up with a mess. I'm guessing that my keyboard is going bad and is going to need to be replaced at some point.
 
it is an Ipad OS issue as recently started to happen with my IPP (2018) and I end up having to reconnect the Magic Keyboard.
 
usmaak said:
Mine will eventually come back if I just leave it for a while and use my finger on the screen. Another thing the keyboard has been doing more frequently is when I'm typing it will occasionally put the cursor somewhere else in the document. I'm a touch typist so I don't always look at the screen when typing and I'll end up with a mess. I'm guessing that my keyboard is going bad and is going to need to be replaced at some point.
Click to expand...
I've noticed that a bit too, rarely, but it does it. My Magic keyboard is only 2 1/2 years old, it shouldn't be that.
 
JD2015 said:
it is an Ipad OS issue as recently started to happen with my IPP (2018) and I end up having to reconnect the Magic Keyboard.
Click to expand...
Yeah. That works for me for a while and then it starts messing up again.
 
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