Onscreen keyboard refuses to appear in IOS 17.1.1

By Bruce Harrell, 12 November, 2023

Forum
iOS and iPadOS

Hi everybody,

I am having a very inconsistent problem getting my onscreen keyboard to appear when I double tap on an edit box in IOS 17.1.1. Sometimes it appears; sometimes it doesn't. In either case, the instant I touch the screen at the bottom, my iPhone 15 pro makes a sound it does not make anywhen else.

Brian suggested I might change things with a 2 finger scrub and/or one finger double tapping the screen again, and sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't.d. I have tried all the combinations.

Good old dictation works, but I often need to enter text into the edit box in situations where silence is necessary (my wife is sleeping).

does anyone have any suggestions how I can get my onscreen keyboard to show up?

Thank you! smile

Bruce

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Comments

By TJT 2001 on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 - 09:33

Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Braille and ensure that Show Onscreen Keyboard is enabled.

By Bruce Harrell on Tuesday, November 7, 2023 - 09:33

Great suggestion. Unfortunately, I don't use a braille device with my iPhone, and although the Braille section setting you identified had been turned off, and although I turned it on as per your suggestion, I still can't get the onscreen keyboard to show up when I'm trying to enter text into an edit box. sigh

By Bruce Harrell on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 - 09:33

I did try that. Good suggestion, though. Unfortunately, it didn't change anything.

Mysteriously, however, the keyboard reappeared later, possibly because I used dictation before trying again. I have no idea why or how long it will last. All I can think of is that using dictation might have retriggered the onscreen keyboard to reappear. Shrug. I just don't know.

I have to believe there's some simple command or touch gesture that causes the onscreen keyboard to show and hide. I just can't find it anywhere. I did call Apple accessibility and talked to someone for a few minutes. All I wanted to know was whether there's a command to toggle the onscreen keyboard to show or hide. They wanted to see my iPhone's screen. My wife had already looked at it and saw nothing. I was telling Apple accessibility all I wanted to know was that command. They didn't ever respond. They never said there was or was not such a command to toggle the onscreen keyboard. The conversation was not productive.

Sigh

Thanks for helping. Please let me know if you think of anything else.

Bruce

By Bruce Harrell on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 - 09:33

Apple tech support told me to take my iPhone 15 pro to the local Apple Store or its equivalent. Nothing worked, so off to the repair shop I go!

By Adrian on Tuesday, November 14, 2023 - 09:33

Hi, I had a similar issue iPhone 14 pro iOS 17.1. For some reason anytime I tried to bring up my keyboard, it would never pop up and always make a different sound. What I eventually did, was disconnect my keyboard, and it stopped doing that. Worth a shot. Good luck.

By Carlos Alonso on Tuesday, November 21, 2023 - 09:33

I have experienced these same bug randomly, what worked for me to resolve it was turning on my external keyboard, VoiceOver announced 'keyboard hidden', then I turned the external kb off and VoiceOver announced 'keyboard visible', and indeed, the keyboard re-appeared, will report to Apple accessibility.

By AppleGirl1985 on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 - 09:33

For me to get my onscreen keyboard back, I have to connect my Braille device, wait for the onscreen keyboard to appear, then turn off Bluetooth. I then turn off my braille device. Then I turned Bluetooth back on. I can't have any external keyboards connected otherwise the onscreen keyboard keeps going away. I have an iPhone 15.

By Bruce Harrell on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 09:33

Report it to Apple Accessibility, using Case-ID: 6259334

By AbleTec on Tuesday, March 5, 2024 - 09:33

I ended up having to reset my phone. I was able to keep my files & apps, but all my settings disappeared. It was a pita-&-a-half, but it got the kb working again. I don't use Braille but I do have an external bluetooth keyboard I use occasionally. Turning off bt & deleting the kb didn't help though. :(.

By cosmic_octopus_the_first on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 09:33

Thanks to your comment. I finally have my keyboard back thank you.

By Justin Harris on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 09:33

This seems to be related to bluetooth devices, whether keyboards or Braille devices.

By Kevin Shaw on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 09:33

I use one BlueTooth keyboard and one braille display. They were both working fine until the keyboard stopped appearing a couple of days ago. Disconnected, restarted, toggle Bluetooth, removed keyboards and displays and ended up having to reset phone settings… again.
Could this be an issue with the braille display driver? I have had the BlueTooth keyboard connected for over a year with no issues.

By Justin Harris on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 09:33

Entirely possible. Hope you can find a fix. Since I use Braille screen input, the keyboard not appearing doesn’t bother me if/when it happens because BSI still works.

By Bruce Harrell on Friday, March 22, 2024 - 09:33

When I had this problem, the disappearing onscreen keyboard, I wasn't using an external input device.