Unable to pause the Idle Time Limit for Bluetooth keyboard events [workaround available]

Description

Following changes made as a part of iOS 7, apps are no longer notified that keystrokes are being received from an external Bluetooth keyboard.

If an iPad has a Bluetooth keyboard connected and a visitor is typing information into a form without touching the screen, Kiosk Pro does not know the visitor session is ongoing and may time out.

As this is directly related to the functionality available in the iOS operating system, we have submitted this issue to Apple as an enhancement request. We will continue to investigate how this might change in future versions of the iOS operating system.

As a related issue, we're also unable to stop the video screensaver on a keyboard event, which was previously possible.

Scope

This bug affects devices running:

  • iOS 7 or later

Possible Workarounds

Our 10.0 update added support for a Keyboard Wedge Device API. By using this JavaScript API, you can listen for Bluetooth keyboard input in order to delay the Idle Time Limit using the Idle Timer API.

Another possible workaround is to use a longer idle timer period and/or breaking a long form into smaller sections that require a touch to the screen to move to the next section.

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