How to Reset an Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse or Trackpad (Troubleshooting Pairing and Other Common Problems)

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894 thoughts on “How to Reset an Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard, Mouse or Trackpad (Troubleshooting Pairing and Other Common Problems)

  1. After a hard reboot, for unknown reasons my Bluetooth Apple keyboard was not recognized by my iMac. I struggled with it for a over an hour following Apple’s instructions. Searching for a solution, I found your post and it worked like a charm. I am grateful as it saved me a very time-consuming trip to the Apple store or the expense of a new keyboard! Thank you and happy travels.

  2. You are a life-saver, Dave! In the past I’ve been able to correct keyboard connectivity issues by switching from rechargeable batteries to regular, and then more recently, replacing partially drained batteries with fresh, brand-new ones. But this time, after a full hour of having no luck with any of my tried-and-true solutions including restarting, I was getting ready to take my frustration out on my 4-month-old iMac with my bare fists. This, in turn, would have resulted in my own demise from a pummeling from my normally docile but tech-obsessed husband! Lucky for me, I was able to search for solutions on my iPad and came upon this page. Thank you so much for sharing this! You are a life-saver!

  3. Very useful information but it does not address my problem. I was getting mad with my iMac when randomly it restarts itself. I thought a faulty HD I replaced it with a SSD. Still the same, I changed the RAM memory but still the same issue. My last attempt was removing the wireless keyboard for a wired one and ever since no more restarts. In conclusion, despite the fact I never had a problem pairing the wireless keyboard with my iMac, this change seems to work for me. I hope this helps somebody else because in my case I could not find any kernel panic message after those random restart. Thanks

  4. Hi, my problem is that my Mac requires a password and i cant type because it doest not find the keyboard. Without entering the password, i cant go to bluetooth preferences. I cant do anything actually.

      1. ugh Unfortunately, this didn’t work for me. I have the same problem as Luisa and some others — both wireless track pad and keyboard won’t connect to my iMac. so I can’t input my password. This began after my Internet went down because of cable provider. I used my iPhone as a hot spot because I work from home. After wifi was up again, I couldn’t use keyboard to enter my password.
        ( I have a wireless mouse that works. How? I have no idea.)
        I followed your directions I read from my nearby Macbook.
        The keyboard paired with it! LOL But not the iMac.
        I’ll buy a USB keyboard tomorrow.
        Thank you.

  5. I just received a used keyboard from ebay. I try to pair it and it says unsuccessful. But it still shows the old computer (ellies keyboard) on it. Is there any way to delete or reset the keyboard? I tried the power button thing and it almost paired, but then said unsuccessful.

  6. I had the same problem.  My apple wireless keyboard suddenly stopped working. The battery was 100% full.  According to the Bluetooth system preferences, the keyboard was connected, paired, and discoverable. Only two keys worked: the tab key and the delete key.  I brought it in to the genius bar in Palo Alto.  The genius tested it and found that it works well on his computer.  He suggested it might be my bluetooth software.  I brought it home and tried again.  This time I noticed the following warning in the troubleshooting discussion (http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3048):
    “9. If the mouse keys feature in the Universal Access System Preferences pane is enabled, many of the keyboard keys may not respond as expected.” The resolution: In the Universal Access System Preferences, click on the Mouse tab. If “Mouse Keys” is “On,” turn it Off.  It was on; I turned it off.  Now it works.  I have no idea how “Mouse Keys” was suddenly turned On. 

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