@oskar

Thanks for the update. I appreciate it.

I've also logged an issue with the WebKit project in case they can shed any light: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=290779

@oskar

contenteditable works, but I don't think it's a practical workaround for our web app.

You said that capturing keyboard events without a text field focused has been restricted, but that's not the case - a Bluetooth keyboard still works, and a Flic button that doesn't use "Alternate keymap" works, and a Flic button with "Alternate keymap" works as long as a Bluetooth keyboard is also connected. So, whatever's going on, it's specific to the "Alternate keymap" option. (I also suspect that it was introduced with one of the patches to iOS 18, rather than the initial iOS 18 release, given that iOS 18 has been out for 6 months and we've just heard of problems in the last 2 weeks.)

What exactly does "Alternate keymap" do? Why is it now a problem?

@oskar

Thanks for the reply.

The issue is within webpages (so not in the address bar). It also only appears if a text input does not have the focus. (I omitted this detail; I apologize.)

For example: Using https://codepen.io/joshkel/pen/EaxRMgq, I'm seeing the following behavior:

• If I tap the text input element on an iPad, so it has the focus, then I see all keyboard events from a Flic button, as expected.
• If I click the button element on a PC or Mac, so it has the focus, I see keyboard events, as expected.
• If I tap the button element on an iPad, I see keyboard events from (1) a Bluetooth keyboard, (2) a Flic button that does not use "Alternate keymap," and (3) a Flic button that uses "Alternate keymap" if a Bluetooth keyboard is also connected. But I do not see keyboard events from (4) an "Alternate keymap" Flic button with no Bluetooth keyboard connected.

Looking into this further, it seems that we can't get a Flic Universal with "Alternative keymap" to work at all with iOS 18.3.2, unless a regular Bluetooth keyboard is also attached.

How exactly does Flic Universal's "Alternative keymap" work? Has anything about it changed with newer versions of iOS 18?

We program our Flic button for Flic Universal, configured to send the Enter key when clicked. We enable the "Alternative keymap" feature so iOS still shows the on-screen keyboard. It's used with a web application to trigger web page buttons. At some point between iOS 16 and iOS 18.3.2, this stopped working: the web page no longer responds to the Flic button. If we pair a regular Bluetooth keyboard along with the Flic button, then the Flic button works as expected. If we disable Flic's "Alternative keymap" feature, then the Flic button works as expected (but we lose the on-screen keyboard). This leads me to believe that something recently changed in iOS regarding how it handles Flic's "Alternative keymap" feature.