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The bluetooth keyboard on my iMac seems to work for a while then starts to skip letters or mix up letters while I am typing. It seems there is also a delay between the time I type a character and when it shows up on screen. I've switched to my wired keyboard and the same thing happens. If I reboot, the problem goes away for a while, then comes back. Any suggestions?

Sam
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3 Answers3

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For macOS Monterey and later:

macOS Monterey and later don't have factory reset options. In macOS Sonoma, macOS Ventura, and Monterey, you can use Terminal as an alternative method.

  • Open Terminal via Spotlight.
  • Run this command: sudo pkill bluetoothd

Some times you need to restart your mac.

For macOS Big Sur and earlier:

  • Hold down the Shift and Option keys ('Alt' on some keyboards) and, at the same time, click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
  • Find your keyboard on the device list and select "Factory Reset"
  • Confirm "remove" when prompted.
  • Reconnect keyboard.

I tried "resetting NVRAM and SMC" as Apple Support mentioned but didn't enough to solve. If the solution above doesn't solve the problem, please try to reset NVRAM and SMC before following the solution steps.

Additional Info for new MacOS: There is no "Factory Reset" option for a specific device in the latest macOS (I'm not sure when it changed). You can use the "Factory reset all connected Apple devices" option after the first step.

Community
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ali6p
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    Boom. Factory reset of the keyboard fixed it for me. Man you're a life saver - it was deriving me nuts. I went through closing a bunch of Safari tabs thinking the /computer/ was running slow, until I tried the laptop keyboard and realised it was the bluetooth keyboard's fault - sorry Safari, I take it all back! ;) – Antony Stubbs Jun 26 '20 at 11:53
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    I have an almost new 27" iMac. Keyboard was laggy and seemed to go in spurts of 3. Did the keyboard reset, and it is now working without lag. Thank you ali6p. – mmm Nov 14 '20 at 04:37
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    Always critical of fixes that ask you to reset or restart something, but boom! This was the only one that worked. Thank you! – Navid Khan Apr 05 '21 at 10:04
  • This did not work for me (macbook air 2021). I bought a logitech keyboard and that even had the same problem when connected via bleutooth. The problem was solved when I connected via the logitech thingy. – Hans Dash May 12 '21 at 18:33
  • @HansDash I had the same problem with Logitech's mouses. I had to use unify dongle to connect a bluetooth mouse! This is frustrating... I'm not sure if Apple or Logitech is responsible for this. – ali6p May 13 '21 at 22:56
  • I really was afraid to comment that my mouse was working fine on bleutooth. I was afraid it would put a jinx on the mouse. But after todays macos update this happened anyway. Now also the mouse is working crappy :-( – Hans Dash Jun 08 '21 at 17:26
  • It seems like there is no option to reset neither individual nor all bluetooth devices in Sonoma – Alexander Vasenin Feb 21 '24 at 10:43
  • @AlexanderVasenin you can use terminal cmd sudo pkill bluetoothd for Sonoma – ali6p Mar 20 '24 at 12:54
  • @ali6p I don't know what Apple called "Factory reset" in previous versions, but I don't think it was just restarting Bluetooth daemon (though it might help in some cases) – Alexander Vasenin Mar 21 '24 at 13:32
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Apple says the following:

You may have accidentally set an option that changes how your keyboard operates.

Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Accessibility, then click Keyboard. Make sure Slow Keys is turned off. If Slow Keys is on, you must hold down a key longer than usual before it’s recognized.

If the problem persists, enter "Safe Mode" to bypass all third party system extensions and only load the required system components. This should help you determine whether third-party software is to blame for your situation.

If you google "Apple HT201262" you will find the article describing how to do this (I can't refer to 2 links/articles yet, sorry!)

Would you still face these issues in Safe Mode, then my final advise is to contact Apple directly.

Rini
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5

Apple's solution of resetting NVRAM did not work for me either. I fixed this by going to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Input Sources -> Set Up Bluetooth Keyboard. I disconnected my keyboard there, switched off the keyboard, turned it on, and reconnected the keyboard. Then the problem disappeared.

ztyreg
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