The Magic Keyboard is an integrated battery that lasts about a month between charges, making it not necessary to charge it often. It is recommended to charge the Magic Keyboard for two hours as it does not have a dedicated battery but is powered by the Smart Connector on the back of the iPad. This means that the battery inside the iPad Pro is also powering the Magic Keyboard.
Some users have reported issues with their iPad Pro battery draining quickly when using the Magic Keyboard, which doesn’t have a rechargeable battery but needs two AA batteries. The batteries empty within three days, and more if not used. However, some users have noticed an increase in battery life when using the iPad Pro without the Magic Keyboard.
The Magic Keyboard uses a rechargeable lithium battery, which can be checked by checking the battery level on your iPad. If not used for an extended period, you can never leave with a dead keyboard. Some users have noticed that the Magic Keyboard drains their battery quicker when they first get it, but this may be attributed to the iOS.
The battery life for the Magic Keyboard is 5.5 hours, which is not as noticeable as the advertised up to 10 hours. For context, the iPad Pro battery drains around 10-15 drops overnight, but this may not be as directly noticeable as the 3-5 full charge of the Apple Pencil 2.
The Magic Keyboard doesn’t inordinately drain the iPad Pro’s battery, but it is charged from time to time via a lightning cable. It is only expected that the Magic Keyboard will draw some power from the iPad, but it’s just a question.
📹 Magic Keyboard for iPad: How to Charge & Check Battery %?
This video explains how to charge the Magic Keyboard for iPad. The keyboard doesn’t have its own battery, but draws power directly from the iPad. The video demonstrates two ways to charge the keyboard, using the USB-C port on the iPad or the port on the keyboard itself.
📹 Warning! Is your Magic Keyboard killing your iPad Battery?
It’s taken several months to figure out BUT I definitely know much power my Magic Keyboard is stealing from my iPad! Over the …
I am wondering if maybe the Overland game is such a large drain on the battery, that is maybe why it is so close. I.e. If the iPad were doing something less demanding of a power drain in apps (i.e. composing emails, light we browsing, typing in pages) then the keyboard would have a higher percentage of the overall draw on power, and therefore you might see a larger discrepancy in that scenario.
Just saw this article. Probably the first one that has really boosted my existing knowledge, and efforts to break down battery usage using this keyboard. I have tried many variables trying to diminish battery drain on my iPad pro 2018, and most of my usage involved no games, mainly apps. Everyday I use my combo iPad pro and Mkeyboard I seem to get different depletions of battery power, and I never know whether the next time I am going to open it up, whether the battery has totally drained. I just have to monitor it all the time, within the space of 4 or 5 hours, and if I notice that it is draining faster than normal then I plug in. I couldn’t even think of leaving the combo not plugged in over night. Seems like that is a recipe for waking up with dead battery. And no, Coconut battery results are not indicating my battery is near end cycle. I have 153 cycles used. I also keep keyboard battery to zero when not needed. I think I have also read that in some cases that the closing of the keyboard still is keeping the usage of the keyboard active, something about autobrightness being something to monitor. But, really, thanks Monty,, I really, really appreciate the work you have done to this. I have been scratching my head for over 2 years now, trying to figure this out, and you have done a masterful job. I had previous third party bluetooth keyboards, that had virtually no impact on overall battery usage, but of course when the trackpad came along with this new keyboard, convinced me that was the way to go.
Nice article! I felt like my iPad Pro 12.9 was not getting great battery life… and I started to suspect the magic keyboard. REALLY interesting to see that it loses 20 minutes of battery life (on discharge) simply by being attached to the magic keyboard! Also I’m wondering…. Is it a bad idea to charge your ipad through your MacBook? Will it increase the number of charge cycles on the MacBooks battery life?
The biggest problem I’ve noticed when it comes to power is how much power it takes to charge. I’ve previously (when using other bluetooth keyboards such as the bridge keyboard) been able to charge the iPad using my phone charger. However, now that I’m using the magic keybaord, it seems that the battery drain is significant enough that it still loses power even while connected to a phone charger, hence why I’ve been bringing along my iPad charger (the one that came in the box).
So….question. I’m looking at getting an iPad 12.9 with the magic keyboard, (great article by the way!!) I’m on Zoom almost all day for my job, if I keep the keyboard plugged in with the 12.9 attached…streaming article…is there a significant drain on the Pad? I would probably be typing notes at the same time. TIA
Nice article! You can actually get a sense if 10 min are statistically significant if you calculate the standard deviation of all your measurements. Also I don’t know if those measurement apps are even accurate comparing measurements with each other. A counter on the brick would be more accurate. That way you can get even further into nerd mode. 🙂
Awesome article. Very interesting results on the charging. I’ve suspected that it charges slower through the keyboard, but I’ve used that to my advantage. During WFH I have my iPad next to me, on it’s Magic Keyboard and charge through the keyboard. I don’t have to fuss with it as much because the charge rate is so much slower, and that saves some recharge cycles. 🙂
Great article, looks like Author got a work out. I think the battery keyboard rumors were mostly around some manufacturing issue ones in the beginning. I had one of those, let me tell you it was draining about 20% to 30% of the ipad battery. Apple replaced it and its much better, maybe 5% without the backlit keyboard, and 10% with the keyboard lit up. Few things I wish for: A control center that can change keyboard light brightness. And that if I touch the ipad screen the keyboard lights stay off. They shouldn’t come on until I touch a key or the trackpad in my mind and that would save more battery. Just needs a little refinement but still the absolute best keyboard I have used on an ipad or compared to any wireless keyboard in the past.
I think I’d rather know how quickly the battery discharges during normal everyday use. Emails, surfing, YouTube article’s etc. I know my 1st gen 12.9″ iPad Pro using the Smart Keyboard drained the battery in about 2 hours of use, which makes it almost impossible to travel with in my opinion. I assume the new Magic Keyboard probably drains the 2020 iPad Pro in about the same time. The point of an ipad is portability, but if you have to constantly charge it to handle the Magic. Keyboard, its not really worth it, unless you never plan to take you ipad outside your home.
The conclusion I draw from these results is: fast charging only works when directly connected to the iPad. Otherwise, the Magic Keyboard has a minimal effect (especially because it goes to sleep whenever you don’t have Arthur constantly wiggling it). And I actually see the slower charging via the keyboard as kind of a feature, because it’s better for your battery health if you don’t need the charge quickly, and the keyboard’s port is generally intended for when you’re parked at a desk.
Think the issue is the connecting pins on the keyboard. I have several times had my ipad charging through the keyboard and found it discharging while the charge indicator was green. The back left side of ipad was warm and the charger was very warm almost like there was a short circuit issue. I cleaned off the connections between the ipad and the key board and it seemed to do ok for awhile. Think the ipad takes a lot more power to operate than the keyboard. But when you are charging from the keyboard to the ipad it looks like the key board cannot pass the full current to the ipad. Charging directly to the ipad and then powering the keyboard works better because the ipad is getting the full charge current and the keyboard takes very little. Think there is an issue with the connectors on the keyboard. Also beware of your ipad overheating on bottom left quarter if you are charging the ipad from the keyboard.
Awsome articles Love the fact that you are not sponsored! As a mechatronics student i am in love with your idea creatimg Arthur and let gim do the work. Would love to see the same article with the apple pencil 2 attached. I think the ipad should somehow only charge the pencil if its lower than 80%. Also i think it costs some energy because its always powering the pen