macReports

Apple iOS Mac OS X Reports , Help and News

  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks
  • Guides
You are here: Home / Not working? / How to Fix Keyboard Lag on Mac

How to Fix Keyboard Lag on Mac

Last updated on January 15, 2021 By Stacey Butler 2 Comments

Some users have experienced an issue where their Mac’s Bluetooth keyboard is lagging. The keyboard seems slow to respond; when you type, there is a delay before anything shows up on the screen. This article will give troubleshooting tips for resolving keyboard lag issues for your Mac’s Bluetooth wireless keyboard.

apple keyboard

iPad and iPhone may experience similar keyboard problems.

If your Mac is also running slowly, you hear the fans running a lot or your battery performance is low, see our articles:

  • How to Fix MacBook Overheating after Upgrade
  • Mac Running Slow, Noisy Fan: accountsd High CPU Usage
  • How to Fix Big Sur Battery Drain Issues

How to Fix

Before you do anything, turn off your keyboard, wait a few seconds and then turn it on. For example, Apple wireless keyboards have a button to power on and off. If this does not help you, restart your Mac. And lastly, ensure that your Mac you’ve installed the latest macOS software updates. You can check for updates by going to System Preferences > Software Update.

Charge your Keyboard

bluetooth menu

Check that your keyboard is charged/ the keyboard batteries are sufficiently charged. You can see the battery charge percent by going to the Bluetooth menu in the menu bar at the top of your screen.

Check Keyboard Settings

You can change the length of time between when you press a key, and when you see the response on your Mac.

keyboard accessibility menu
  1. Go to Apple menu  > System Preferences.
  2. Click on Accessibility, followed by Keyboard, then Hardware.
  3. Select Enable Slow Keys and click Options.
  4. Select your desired Acceptance Delay along the slider to choose how long you would like your Mac to wait before responding to the key press.

Turn Bluetooth Off/On

On your Mac

Click on the Bluetooth icon in your top menu bar. Click the toggle switch next to Bluetooth to turn it off. After a few seconds, click to turn it on again. See this article if you are having trouble turning Bluetooth back on.

See also: Mac Bluetooth Not Working? Fix

Reset SMC

For Macs with Intel processors.

  1. To reset the SMC, Shutdown/power off your MacBook.
  2. Press and hold 3 keys: Shift, Control and Option.
  3. Press and hold the power button, without releasing the other 3 keys.
  4. Hold all keys for 10 seconds, then release.
  5. Press the power button on your Mac.

Try Booting in Safe Mode

You can restart your Mac in Safe Mode easily. The steps differ:

Intel-based Macs:

  • Turn off your Mac (Apple menu > Shut Down).
  • Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key.
  • Keep holding the Shift key until you see the login screen.
  • Then login. You may be asked to log in more than once.

Apple silicon based Macs:

  • Turn off your Mac.
  • Press and hold the power button until the startup options appear.
  • Select your startup disk.
  • Press and hold the Shift key.
  • Click Continue in Safe Mode.

To exit Safe Mode, restart your Mac normally without pressing any key.

Test your keyboard problem in Safe Mode and after Safe Mode. Simply restarting your Mac in Safe Mode may fix this.

See our recent article: How To Start Your Mac In Safe Mode.

Reset Bluetooth

Before you use any of the next three tips to reset your Bluetooth, again, as stated above, you may want to check out our article: How to Turn on Bluetooth on your Mac without a Keyboard, Mouse, or Trackpad. This should come in handy if you loose (temporarily) the use of your mouse and keyboard.

Reset Bluetooth Module

  1. Hold down the Shift and the Option keys and click on the Bluetooth icon in the top menu bar.
  2. Select Reset Bluetooth Module.
  3. Reconnect (pair) your Bluetooth devices.

Reset Connected Apple Devices

  1. Hold down the Shift and the Option keys and click on the Bluetooth icon in the top menu bar.
  2. Select Factory Reset all Connected Apple Devices.
  3. Reconnect (pair) your Bluetooth devices.

Remove Bluetooth Devices

  1. Hold down the Shift and the Option keys and click on the Bluetooth icon in the top menu bar.
  2. Select Remove all Devices.
  3. Reconnect your Bluetooth devices.

Reset NVRAM

For Macs with Intel processors

  1. Shutdown your Mac.
  2. Power it back on and immediately hold down 4 keys: option, command, P and R.
  3. Release the 4 keys when you hear startup sounds, the screen flashes twice or after about 20 seconds.
  4. Note: resetting NVRAM can disable Find My Mac, so you may want to re-enable this in iCloud settings.

Apple Support

If none of the above suggestions have helped resolve your keyboard lag issue, you may want to contact Apple Support for more assistance.

Recent Articles:

  • How to Find Receipts for Apple Purchases
  • Touch ID Not Working on your Mac? How To Fix
  • Using Apple Pay: How to Avoid Scams and Dispute Charges

Filed Under: Not working? Tagged With: Keyboard, Mac

Comments

  1. Rob says

    April 18, 2021 at 7:14 am

    thanks SO much for this article. this has been plaguing me since I got my 2020 iMac. changed both keyboard and trackpad, spent endless hours on apple support, reinstalled OS and the next step was to erase the hard drive and start again. was not keen to do that. they never once suggested resetting the bluetooth module or devices. thanks again.

    Reply
  2. Tim Miller says

    March 22, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    Thanks for the article. As someone that’s affected by this, there’s one more solution I’d offer. I have a 2019 MacBook Pro 16″ (MBP) and the Bluetooth Apple A1644 Magic Keyboard. I use it mostly in clamshell mode connected to an external monitor. Often I see the typing / key lag problem after waking the laptop from sleep using the keyboard. The fix I’ve used is powering the keyboard (and trackpad, Bluetooth Apple Magic Trackpad 2, A1535) down, waiting 5 seconds, then powering up again. This has resolved the lag problem each time I’ve seen it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Got a tip for us? Email us.

Latest Posts

Calendar Shows Wrong Week, Day, or Date

Passwords on Safari: The Spinning Wheel – How to Fix the Lag

iPhone Bluetooth Keeps Disconnecting and Reconnecting? How to Fix

What to Do if HBO Max isn’t Working on your Apple TV

Can’t Sign in to Google Account on Safari in iOS and iPadOS

Pages

  • About macReports
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Use

Tags

AirPods Apple Car Apple Card Apple Company Apple ID Apple Music Apple Pay Apple TV Apple Watch Apps App Store Bluetooth Calendar Catalina FaceTime iCloud iMessage iMessages iMovie iOS iOS 14 iPad iPhone iTunes Keyboard Mac Mac Battery MacBook macOS macOS Big Sur Mail Mail App Messages Music Notifications Pages PDF Photos Safari screenshot Siri Update Wi-Fi Windows YouTube

Search macReports

Categories:

  • Guides
  • How to
  • News
  • Not working?
  • Tips and Tricks

About macReports:

This website is founded by Serhat Kurt. He worked as a Senior Technology Director. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University.

Stacey Butler

Stacey Butler is a tech writer at macReports covering news, how-tos, and user guides. She is a longtime Mac and iPhone user and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

 

This website is not affiliated with Apple.

Copyright © 2021 / macReports

This website uses cookies. By navigating around this site you consent to cookies being stored on your machine.Accept