Longstanding bug with letters being entered twice when using a bluetooth keyboard

By Maxine Alexander, 24 September, 2016

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

hi. I have been having a problem for ages now where if I use a hardware bluetooth keyboard, often, each letter is input twice when I type. It does not seem to matter what bluetooth keyboard is used, and I cannot see how or why it starts happening. I notice it when trying to actually type text into anything, sms, web pages, passcode, phone numbers, anything. The only way to temporarily sort this out is to restart the phone. It's almost as if the device thinks there are 2 keyboards both typing at the same time. I'd appreciate any help with this. Thanks

I am running the latest ios 10 on my iphone 6S, but it's been doing it since ios 8.

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Comments

By Lynne on Monday, September 26, 2016 - 05:08

Yes, this is an annoying bug, to be sure. I turn Voiceover off and back on. That works but it would be terrific if Apple would finally look into a true fix for this problem.

By Toonhead on Monday, September 26, 2016 - 05:08

I'm using an amazon basics Bluetooth keyboard and despite everyone mentioning it, I've never seen this problem. I guess I'm just really lucky?

By Missy Hoppe on Monday, September 26, 2016 - 05:08

I have been dealing with the double typing bug on my BT keyboard ever since IOS 8. Just this past week, I discovered that turning VO off and then back on seems to fix it, at least temporarily. Of all of the long-standing bugs that frustrate me from time to time, this one is by far the most serious and the most annoying. I did report it when I was doing the ios 10 public beta, but who knows when or if anything will ever come of that. In the mean time, just try restarting VO, and hopefully it will help at least a little.

By Zivan Krisher on Monday, September 26, 2016 - 05:08

Strangely, the double typing bug seems to be a feature.

For some inexplicable reason, Apple have key repeat set way to fast as default, causing most useres to experience multiple character input when short pressing keys on their hardware keyboards.

This can be fixed by going to:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Keyboard > Key Repeat

There you can either turn key repeat completely off. But then long pressing keys will not repeat them at all. So No long pressing the backspace to quickly delete all the text in a search field for example.

Or you can play with the key repeat interval setting and try to find a length of time that will prevent single key presses from entering multiple characters on your hardware keyboard.

I've also reported this to apple, but they don't seem to be interested in changing the default settings over multiple versions of IOS.

I've never once seen this, and every time I ask someone to demonstrate it happening, they never can make it happen either. I've been using a Bluetooth keyboard with iPhone, iPad, and Mac in one form or another since it was possible. I've never once had a letter duplicated unless a key was stuck. I still want to see it happen sometime, just so I can try to figure it out.

By Jeff on Monday, September 26, 2016 - 05:08

As pointed out, restarting your device or Voiceover fixes the problem for a time. I'm not sure just how much time must pass before the problem begins to manifest, since it might be several days before I turn on my BT keyboard. Likewise, if the BT keyboard is left on and used frequently, I don't know if the problem will still arise, again, because I don't use it this way myself.

So, to reproduce the problem, you must not restart either your device or Voiceover for several hours, perhaps days, without turning on your BT Keyboard. Then, when you turn on your BT Keyboard and it's connected, typing into any edit field will duplicate every character you type if the problem is occurring.

I had not heard or thought of the key repeat interval being a possible issue, but I might experiment with this to see if it effects the problem. If anyone else experiments with this, please let us know what you discover.

By dvdmth on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - 05:08

I have run into this bug repeatedly on my old iPad Air, running various iOS versions from 7 to 10, but I have never had the issue occur on my iPad Mini 4, under iOS 9 or 10. I have no idea why. I have reported the issue multiple times to Apple Accessibility, but there has been no resolution to date.

By Lysette Chaproniere on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - 05:08

I've noticed that sometimes the first letter I type into a text field will be duplicated (sometimes it'll be entered twice, but occasionally three or four times). I've only ever had that issue with the first letter, and then it continues typing normally, but it happens often enough that I've got into the habit of typing a letter, deleting everything in the text field and then starting again.

By Brian Tew on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - 05:08

I reported this to apple a few weeks ago.
They said it had been fixed in ios 9, lol.
They said if it still happens you should unpair the btkb and then pair it again.
I did that, and I have not had the double trouble any more.
Using a Zaggkeys Folio btkb with an ipad mini.
If you do unpair, re pair and still have this problem please tell apple that.
I have the impression that this problem happens less with apple and logitec btkb's.