When using my Nillkin Bluetooth keyboard case, I run into an issue with Scaler. When I stop using Scaler, close the case, and then reopen it later to continue working, the sounds in Scaler are no longer produced in the app. The only way to restore audio is to restart the app or go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone to turn off microphone access for Scaler 3.
Is this a known issue? And is there a fix coming?
Hi @BlackHawk Welcome to the forum.
That’s a very strange one. We’ve had one other user mention something similar, but haven’t been able to gather enough detail to pinpoint the cause yet.
Just to confirm - does this only happen when using the Nillkin Bluetooth keyboard case?
It does sound like it could be a Bluetooth or audio session conflict when the device sleeps and wakes. A couple of quick things that would really help us narrow it down:
Also interesting that disabling microphone access restores audio - that suggests iOS may be getting stuck in a different audio mode after waking.
If you can share your iPad model + iOS version as well, that would help us try to reproduce it.
Hello Davide,
I only turn on or connect the keyboard when I am using it, so it is not connected to Bluetooth when I’m using Scaler 3. Also, I have primarily been using the iPad speakers and occasionally my Beats bluetooth headphones. The issue has happened in both use cases. I am using an iPad Pro 13-inch (M4) and ios version is 26.4.1.
The problem has not happened since I turned off the microphone for Scaler 3.
Hi @BlackHawk, thanks very much for the extra details.
We’ve spent some time trying to reproduce this on our side: sleep/wake cycles with Bluetooth headphones, a WIDI-connected Arturia MIDI keyboard, and a Bluetooth Mac keyboard, all with mic access left on. In every case, audio came back cleanly on wake. Worth noting we’re testing on an iPad Air (4th gen) running iPadOS 18.7.7, so there’s a gap between our setup and yours (iPad Pro M4 on 26.4.1) - plus we don’t have the exact Nillkin case here. Any of those differences could be part of the picture.
One thing worth clarifying: toggling the mic permission forces Scaler to fully restart, which is likely why audio returned when you first tried it. Keeping mic access off afterwards may also be quietly sidestepping whatever audio session conflict is happening on wake.
If there’s anything else you’d like to add, feel free - extra details can help us pinpoint these types of things we can’t reproduce on our side. We’d be happy to take another look, and we’ll certainly keep an eye out for any other similar reports.
@BlackHawk I noticed your App Store review and wanted to follow up here.
We’ve spent some time investigating this on our end and, as Steve mentioned, we haven’t been able to reproduce the issue so far. At this stage, we also haven’t had wider reports of the same behaviour.
Based on what you’ve described, it does seem to be related to how iPadOS is handling audio after sleep, particularly when the Nillkin keyboard is involved. The fact that disabling microphone access restores audio points to the system audio session getting stuck in an unexpected state.
For now, the two reliable workarounds are:
That said, we’re still interested in investigating should there be a wider issue.
I have disabled the microphone and I am learning to use scaler 3 on the iPad. I will let you know if there are any other issues related to this.
Thanks
We think we found a quirk and have zapped it. I’ve sent you a DM to test it if you have time.