Filed under: Accessories
Magic Mouse draining Bluetooth keyboard batteries
There's a group of users on Apple's Discussion Boards who claim that their Bluetooth keyboards have been devouring batteries since they started using a Magic Mouse. Despite switching to rechargeable batteries and running all pertinent updates, the problem persists. Most of the thread's participants claim to need new keyboard batteries weekly.Some have guessed that the Magic Mouse is preventing the keyboard from going into sleep mode. One user swapped his Magic Mouse with a Logitech model and saw the problem disappear, while another claims to have heard from Apple Tech Support that this is a known Bluetooth driver issue and that a fix is in the works.
This thread appeared on November 12, 2009, just a few days after Apple released Wireless Keyboard Update 2.0 on the 9th. The update was meant to "...use the function key one-touch controls of your Mac with your aluminum Apple Wireless Keyboard," and doesn't seem related to the battery issue.
The Magic Mouse was released on October 20, 2009, and is the first consumer mouse to have multi-touch capabilities. Together, the mouse and keyboard make a pleasant, clutter-free desktop, but aesthetics are worthless if you're constantly buying batteries. Have you experienced this issue? Let's hope it gets fixed soon.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
emodro said 5:47PM on 1-02-2010
I haven't used my bluetooth keyboard for quite sometime (i like number pads) but my magic mouse has been eating through batteries, they said it would last around 4 months and currently i can only get 2 weeks out of my batteries.
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Luddy said 10:19PM on 1-03-2010
TRUE! I have, since receiving my iMac October 28, replaced the batteries in my keyboard three times now and the current set is at about 50%. I don't use cheap knockoff brand batteries either. The same goes for my mouse, I have to replace them at least every three weeks. Finally going to switch to rechargables next week, but I'm sure its going to be the same time, if not less, on how often I replace them.
leskern said 9:39AM on 1-04-2010
I have no wireless keyboard, but my MM devours batteries as you state. Might get two weeks out of a new set. I'd like a desktop USB charger cradle Apple!
osxdude999 said 5:54PM on 1-02-2010
I don't own an Apple Wireless Keyboard, but what I noticed when I connected my Magic Mouse is that my wireless Mighty Mouse slowed down to a crawl and was very very jumpy, which probably means the Magic Mouse uses a LOT of Bluetooth bandwidth. That keyboard is probably trying to get things as smooth as possible, which results in it's using more battery trying to overtake the Magic Mouse's large bandwidth usage. Thus, the battery drains a lot faster.
If I were to use my Mighty Mouse with my Magic Mouse, which would be pretty silly, the Mighty Mouse would probably run out of battery just as fast as the Wireless Keyboard. But, who uses 2 mice on one computer? Exactly.
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Scott said 6:17PM on 1-02-2010
I bought my new 21.5"imac in november and have already replaced my magic mouse batteries once, but my keyboard batteries are still doin fine.
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harley said 5:56PM on 1-02-2010
Yes! When I got my new 27" iMac, I gave the magic mouse to my wife to use with my old 24" iMac and wireless Apple keyboard. And she has been having issues with the keyboard batteries not lasting long. I use to use this setup without a magic mouse and the keyboard batteries would last an extremely long time. I thought maybe she was laying something on the keyboard, but this issue makes more sense. Let's hope Apple releases a fix soon!
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jmillsted said 6:03PM on 1-02-2010
Yes, I have had this issue, apple mistakenly replaced my keyboard which did not fix the problem... I find myself taking the battery cover off over night to prevent my mac from waking itself... and to save battery.
Batteries only last a few days otherwise.
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Thomas said 6:07PM on 1-02-2010
I've not got a Magic Mouse, but recently I've been experiencing issued where my Keyboard drains one battery almost completely whilst the other two are on about 75%, I'm only replacing one at a time and I'm rotating them but I'm changing every couple of weeks to new batteries. In fact I changed them a week ago and I'm on 52% right now.
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dewback said 6:14PM on 1-02-2010
I've been experiencing this problem - I bought the wireless keyboard and after a week using it only for maybe 15 minutes during that time, the battery low message on the computer was displaying. The Magic Mouse I've had for a longer time and it doesn't seem to have power issues. Glad to hear a software fix is coming.
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alansky said 6:14PM on 1-02-2010
"...aesthetics are worthless if you're constantly buying batteries."
Nobody with any brains is "constantly buying batteries". That's what rechargeables are for. My wireless Mighty Mouse has always eaten batteries, but all it really costs me is the minute it takes to insert a fresh battery and pop the dead one into the charger.
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Jordan said 10:14PM on 1-02-2010
But still, the power consumption adds up. Now is the power in a pair of two AA batteries going to kill Mother Earth? No, but when you multiply it by x number of times it adds up. That's a lot of power being wasted. This is just one of those things that people need to realize in order to conserve resources.
SmileyDude said 6:15PM on 1-02-2010
I bought a 27" iMac myself -- I still liked my old white USB Apple keyboard and Microsoft mouse, so I tossed the Magic Mouse into my laptop bag for use while out and put the keyboard on a Mac mini that we use as a TV. I have already had to replace the batteries twice in less than a month. It has got to be one of the worst keyboard experiences I've had. In addition, the machine it's connected to will wake up more often. We've had the machine wake up in the middle of the night, but when it had a USB keyboard instead, it never did. I even powered it off one night and it turned back on within 30 minutes.
At this point, I'm about to dig out the old USB keyboard for that machine and hold off on using the Bluetooth keyboard until Apple issues some kind of update.
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axel.golden said 6:15PM on 1-02-2010
i bouught the wireless keyboard liek 3 months ago and the original batteries only lost like 3 percent over the first month and then i got the magic mouse and the keyboard started drainging percentage everyday.
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Glenn Broadway said 6:39PM on 1-02-2010
27 December - New batteries, 100%
2 Jan (7 days) - 62%
I concur. I've been tracking this a while and I'm pretty sure it's true. Magic Mouse + Wireless Apple keyboard = very poor battery life in keyboard.
The mouse isn't much better to be honest.
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Uzair Siddiqi said 6:40PM on 1-02-2010
I've had this problem. I have to keep buying batteries for the wireless keyboard, probably every 2 weeks. The Magic Mouse eats up batteries of its own as well. I'm using the Apple Wired Mouse at the moment because the batteries in my Magic Mouse have run out. I'm going to see how the long the batteries will last in the wireless keyboard during use of the wired mouse.
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Casper said 6:42PM on 1-02-2010
I don't use my wireless keyboard with the Magic Mouse, but one thing I've noticed is that the Magic Mouse eats batteries for lunch. The "old" wireless Mouse could run for aprox 3 months on a set of batteries, the Magic Mouse can run for around 1 if one is lucky. Not very green from the green Apple;-)
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J said 6:45PM on 1-02-2010
He'll yes!
I just spoke to apple yesterday and the guy I talked to was clueless about another issue I had so naturally he didn't know about this one either. I asked about firmware or a software upgrade or maybe mouse interference (why was I the one suggesting possibilities anyways?) to no avail. He just told me to check the energy saver pref pane. Ya know, the one that hasn't changed on my mac mini since purchase 3 years ago.
My keyboard got a few months of battery life before the magic mouse upgrade (the ONLY user initiated change in my setup which has been stable for a year). Now the board eats up NO LESS than 15% of battery life each day. It uses up to 20% if I actually put it to use multiple times per day.
Bottom line - I considered the keyboard broken since it won't stay alive on one set of new batteries for even a week. I just ordered a new one today. I guess I'll be cancelling that order and hoping for a fix soon.
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craig beal said 6:50PM on 1-02-2010
I have both a wireless keyboard and magic mouse and my batteries run out on the keyboard every 7 days... The magic mouse seems fine.
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Hecktic said 6:51PM on 1-02-2010
I'm honestly really disapointed with the magic mouse, just bought a iMac 21" for my moms office, she needs to run windows on it which is a shame but I can not get the magic mouse to work in boot camp, downloaded the updates pairs fine but forget about it, won't reapond to notthing. Anyone actually get this mouse to work in boot camp?
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milkmage said 10:21PM on 1-02-2010
windows 7?
it's not officially supported yet.. one of the most widely reported issues is with multi touch mice.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10423148-37.html
Most people who've noticed problems have found the multi-touch mouse drivers to not behave properly, but others have found the system to boot and run slowly, and in some cases refuse to boot back to OS X (1, 2).
...Apple was suppsed to patch boot camp in '09, but missed the date. rumor it's being tested now. stand by.