Just updated to the latest iOS for your iPhone, iPad, or other device and now see the message that your pencil, keyboard, headphones, speaker, microphone, or other Bluetooth or lightning accessory is not supported by this iPhone (or iPad, etc.)? If so, you are not alone!
Quite a few of our readers tell us that after updating to either a major or even minor iOS upgrade that their accessories no longer work with their iDevices.
So here are a few tips that our readers found worked for them!
So if possible, use the original cables, chargers, and adapters that came with your iDevice. And if using a third-party accessory that’s not MFI, then test on a similar product that is MFI to determine if that’s the problem (or not.)
If you connect to your accessory using a third-party cable or adapter, it may be the cable/adapter that’s the problem and not the actual accessory (like speaker or headphones.)
Restart or Reset
Often a simple restart or reset (forced restart) does the trick.
To restart, power your device off, wait 30 seconds, and power it back on.
Perform a Forced Restart
On an iPhone 6S or below plus all iPads & iPod Touches, press Home and Power at the same time until you see the Apple logo
For iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
On an iPhone X, XS, or XR or iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Then press and promptly release the Volume Down button. Finally, press and hold the Side button until you see the Apple logo
Clean The Accessory and the Port
If your accessory makes a physical connection to the iDevice, like the iPad Pro Keyboard or a pair of lightning headphones, make sure you clean both sides of the connection well.
So first, disconnect the accessory from the device and turn everything off, if possible.
Take a microfiber cloth and rub each surface well, removing any lint, dirt, or even corrosion.
Some users like to clean using a standard pencil eraser followed by vigorous cleaning with a lintfree cloth or electronic cleaning cloth. Use the eraser on the lines of the contacts to clean away any dirt, grease, or corrosive build up.
If cleaning a Smart Connector (like on the iPad Pro Models to attach the Apple-branded keyboard), make sure you rub those connections (three dots on the side) well.
For lightning ports, you may need to use a smaller tool to clean inside the port. Things like interdental brushes work well.
Sometimes disconnecting and reconnecting the accessory does the trick!
You may need to perform this action more than once to get it to work–so try a couple of times before you give up.
Forget and Change Bluetooth Device Name
If the message “this accessory is not supported by this iPhone (or iPad/iPod) happens when connecting to a Bluetooth accessory, like speakers or headphones, try forgetting the device and then adding it back while renaming that device something different than before (if possible.)
Another option is to forget all Bluetooth devices and then add them back one-by-one, testing between each to see if there is one BT device causing the error.
Reset Some Settings
It’s often a setting that’s causing the problem. So let’s try resetting a few things and see if that solves and helps this problem.
Reset Network Settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset
Tap on Reset Network Settings
You need to re-enter all WiFi passcodes so have those on-hand before you do this step
Reset All Settings
This action resets to default everything in Settings, including notifications, alerts, and brightness. Performing a settings reset does not impact any app or personal data, like Photos, Messages, Mail, and so forth.
Resetting all settings also reverts all your personalized and customized features like accessibility features, wallpapers, and alarms back to factory defaults.
So you need to reconfigure all these settings once your iPhone or iDevice restarts.
To Reset All
Backup first before resetting all settings, just in case something happens
Go to Settings > General > Reset
Tap on Reset All Settings
Visit an Apple Genius or Contact Apple Support
Tried all these steps and still seeing that message “this accessory is not supported by this iPhone (or iPad/iPod)? If so, it’s time to reach out to Apple Support.
If your Smart Keyboard is less than 3 years old, you may be eligible for a replacement
Typically, Apple’s warranty on accessories like the iPad Smart Connector Keyboard is one year, but for specific keyboard issues, there is an extension program that runs up to 3 years from the date of purchase.
Covered problems include the sensor and magnetic connector issues, sticking keys, repeating keys, unresponsiveness, and data connections issues.
This extension is due to quality alerts and functional issues that were placed on iPad Smart Keyboards back in 2017.
I updated to the latest minor version of iOS, and that fixed my problem with getting that message when connecting my Bose headphones (wired with adapter dongle)
Try using a soft pencil erasure on any contacts, then cleaning it thoroughly with rubbing alcohol. My problem was on the iPad Pro SmartKeyboard, cleaned that Smart Connector (the 3 dots on the iPad’s side) and the 3 pins on the keyboard this way (eraser then alcohol) and no problems thus far!
My Apple Smart keyboard (for iPad Pro) only works if I detach it completely from my iPad and then restart the iPad. I then re-attach the keyboard, and it works, I can use it. Restarting the iPad with the keyboard still attached does not work for me
I took some rubbing alcohol on a clean lint-free cloth and cleaned those three contacts on the Apple Smart keyboard and the side of the iPad that has the Smart Connection. Worked for me in a jiffy! No more accessory is not supported by this device message!
For folks with problems on Apple’s Smart Keyboard and iPads, try remagnetizing the magnets! To renew a weakened magnet, carefully bring it in contact with a neodymium magnet–just rub it against the magnets on your keyboard’s magnetic strip. Pay particular attention to the area that usually loses its magnetic charge between keys 1 and 2
Sometimes restarting my iPad works. Sometimes detaching the keyboard from the iPad, then reconnecting it a few times also works. But it’s a pain!
I used QTips and a little isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the contacts. Then let it all dry before trying again
These tips worked for me. Give them a try!
Use the other original charging cable for your iPhone iPad
Clean your Apple Accessory. You can use a toothpick or similar tool to carefully insert into your iPhone or iPad’s lightning charging port. Then, clean out all the lint, grease, or debris
Plug your charger in, when you get the error message press and hold your finger on the dismiss button and pull your charger out while still holding. Continue applying pressure and plug your charger back in and see if the accessory works
Turn off the device with the Lightning plug attached, then restart
Connect your iPhone to the accessory and ignore the message. Then, turn on the Airplane mode and turn off your iPhone. Wait for 1-2 minutes and turn it on again with the accessory attached
I have an iphone7 and an iPad both keeps coming up with Accessories is not supported???
Please can you help me, what can I do?
Thank you in anticipation
Jette Roy Finlay-Heath
Please advice:
I have an iPhone 7 Plus & an iPad Pro
On both I Keep getting a notification coming up:
Accesory Not Supported
This accessories is not supported by this device
I keep seeing a message on my phone that says “this accessory not supported by this phone.”
Can someone remotely plug into my phone?
Something is not right?
Thanks for the article. I had a I Pad Mini that said
Accessory not supported and I did the forced reset and it worked. I also cleaned the port for the Lightning connector and the lightening cable and it is working fine now.
Thanks again for the article.
After reading soooooo many forums I realized something and took a try.
If you look at the actual MFI charger and it has 8 lines!
But what is different on other chargers?
On the number four and five you can see it’s dark.
On my other charger I saw that all eight lines had no dark lines.
So on the one that says accessory cannot be supported, I took my nail clipper and use the file to just scrape a little bit of number four and five line that was dark and tested. It worked!!!!!!!
Don’t know why but I knew why is it different? Something about that I think maybe encoded??? Not sure but it worked hahaha
Perhaps it would help if Apple stopped forcing half-developed beta software on its customers and actually took notice.
My iPad Pro has been an endless source of problems, replaced under warranty I am now getting endless ( machine gun pattern) messages that the device is not supported, these lock the system and need clearing.
Quite impossible to get any work done, at all. Have a permanently sore finger from deleting the message.
I cannot just drop everything and travel over to the Genius bar, I actually have a job to do.
I bought into Apple because Windows was slow and top heavy.
Now Apple seems obsessed with new models, new announcements, new Press releases, but the special quality is fading quickly……..
I’m having the same problem with “machine gun” insanely disruptive and annoying “not supported” message……the only thing that changed was allowing a recent update and since then this has been happening. I know it’s not supporting my Jambox. My charger cord and plug are the originals to this iPad Pro purchase. With all the “genius” of Apple, why do they have us install a pain in the a** update?
I have now contacted Apple at the local store, it’s been a while as I have several commitments and need to specify a time, etc.
Firstly, thanks to the staff at the Apple store in Solihull, UK, who were sweet, efficient and very helpful, especially Ellie who is an absolute star.
Secondly, the issue was with the detachable keyboard, Apple is aware of the issue with some of them. They have ordered me a new one, completely free of charge, and really have been very supportive. The statutory guarantee is one year, but Apple goes far beyond this to three years.
Thirdly, I apologize to Apple for my cross and frustrated dig at the software update, which was, of course, not the issue!
I was very irritated when I originally commented but really have been looked after very well. Thanks, folks, am happy, mollified and impressed.
I need to stop this message – meaning, disable such popups from ever occurring.
The Do Not Disturb setting is not being respected, and the phone is nevertheless disturbing with this pop-up, as if this popup were special.
It’s not, of course, it’s a meaningless warning message that serves no purpose. Maybe the HDMI out adapter split second didn’t put out the right voltage, but all you do is dismiss it and keep on going.
It’s no good to have my Zwift race come to an end because I have to get off the bike and go dismiss and unwanted and completely unnecessary “warning” that is just a task to dismiss, and not indicative of any issue, let alone one worth ignoring the Do Not Disturb setting.
Anyhow, the answer is, it cannot be done. Buy a different device, like a PC, because the phone is under Apple’s control.
I am a musician and in 2013 I bought an iPad air at the same time as a Korg PA900 keyboard.
I have put all my music onto the iPad in pdf format and when I select a song it is shown on the iPad and an associated .mid file fires a code to the keyboard and sets up the registration.
This makes for easy continuity on the performances.
This has worked OK for 5 years and sometime in 2018 after a few seconds the message “This accessory is not supported by this iPad” appears.
The only thing that has changed is the operating system upgrades.
Is there a fix or can I go back to the software that worked for me? This is very frustrating and making performances difficult.
Have you checked for any updates for the Korg keyboard?
Oftentimes, when a new iOS version comes out, the manufacturer for those accessories also push out an update for their hardware. So that’s the first place we’d check.
Also, it can’t hurt to contact Korg’s customer service and support team and let them know that you are seeing this message when using their keyboard.
As far as downgrading to an earlier iOS, that’s not often possible since Apple disallows older iOS from downloading onto its devices. And even if you could downgrade to an earlier version, you would lose quite a lot of your data.
Apple usually stops signing older releases of iOS after a few weeks of an iOS update’s release–and that prevents you from downgrading your devices.
It looks like Apple currently supports iOS 12.1.3 and is not signing (or allowing) any downgrades to anything earlier, with the exception of devices that could not update to iOS 11–Apple still signs iOS 10.3.3 for these devices.
Go to this site to check exact information for your iPad Air using the model number.
Thank you for your reply but the problem is not with the keyboard as the message comes up after about a minute just by inserting the lightning cable into the iPad with nothing else connected (it is an mfi approved cable)
If I connect the keyboard the iPad works perfectly with the keyboard for about the same time and then the display appears and it stops working. If I reboot the iPad the same sequence happens.
Have you tried a different MFI cable? Does it also result in the same message? If you haven’t, it worth a try. Try borrowing one, if you don’t have another and see what happens.
I’m really stumped if it’s not the cable or the accessory itself!
I still think it’s worth a conversation with Korg support to see if others report this same problem–and perhaps they have solutions or tips.
My iphone4 speaker does not work unless i use the headset.
Though it plays out voice records recorded on the phone, it rings out when called but, it does not bring out sound when watching videos on it.
I got the services of a repairer who tried to reset it but could not because it requested my apple/icloud details which i did not commit to memory since 2014 that i received the phone from my sister.
How do i go about it because its requesting details for activation
Mrs. Jette Roy Finlay-Heath says
I have an iphone7 and an iPad both keeps coming up with Accessories is not supported???
Please can you help me, what can I do?
Thank you in anticipation
Jette Roy Finlay-Heath
Mrs. Jette Roy Finlay Heath says
Please advice:
I have an iPhone 7 Plus & an iPad Pro
On both I Keep getting a notification coming up:
Accesory Not Supported
This accessories is not supported by this device
Krystal says
This doesn’t work I can’t get in my phone it still says “accessory not supported”
julie MANNING says
this accessory may not be supported showing on apple Ipad no accessories attached. Fully charged . I cannot access Ipad at all.
Rosemarie Rex says
I keep seeing a message on my phone that says “this accessory not supported by this phone.”
Can someone remotely plug into my phone?
Something is not right?
Leon Powers says
Thanks for the article. I had a I Pad Mini that said
Accessory not supported and I did the forced reset and it worked. I also cleaned the port for the Lightning connector and the lightening cable and it is working fine now.
Thanks again for the article.
Mikey deokinandan says
for some reason the issue was with my Apple brand charger but holding the dismiss button and unplugging it worked
RA says
OMG I DID IT!
After reading soooooo many forums I realized something and took a try.
If you look at the actual MFI charger and it has 8 lines!
But what is different on other chargers?
On the number four and five you can see it’s dark.
On my other charger I saw that all eight lines had no dark lines.
So on the one that says accessory cannot be supported, I took my nail clipper and use the file to just scrape a little bit of number four and five line that was dark and tested. It worked!!!!!!!
Don’t know why but I knew why is it different? Something about that I think maybe encoded??? Not sure but it worked hahaha
Dr Rob Bate says
Perhaps it would help if Apple stopped forcing half-developed beta software on its customers and actually took notice.
My iPad Pro has been an endless source of problems, replaced under warranty I am now getting endless ( machine gun pattern) messages that the device is not supported, these lock the system and need clearing.
Quite impossible to get any work done, at all. Have a permanently sore finger from deleting the message.
I cannot just drop everything and travel over to the Genius bar, I actually have a job to do.
I bought into Apple because Windows was slow and top heavy.
Now Apple seems obsessed with new models, new announcements, new Press releases, but the special quality is fading quickly……..
Anne says
I’m having the same problem with “machine gun” insanely disruptive and annoying “not supported” message……the only thing that changed was allowing a recent update and since then this has been happening. I know it’s not supporting my Jambox. My charger cord and plug are the originals to this iPad Pro purchase. With all the “genius” of Apple, why do they have us install a pain in the a** update?
Robert Bate says
UPDATE!
I have now contacted Apple at the local store, it’s been a while as I have several commitments and need to specify a time, etc.
Firstly, thanks to the staff at the Apple store in Solihull, UK, who were sweet, efficient and very helpful, especially Ellie who is an absolute star.
Secondly, the issue was with the detachable keyboard, Apple is aware of the issue with some of them. They have ordered me a new one, completely free of charge, and really have been very supportive. The statutory guarantee is one year, but Apple goes far beyond this to three years.
Thirdly, I apologize to Apple for my cross and frustrated dig at the software update, which was, of course, not the issue!
I was very irritated when I originally commented but really have been looked after very well. Thanks, folks, am happy, mollified and impressed.
Dan says
When I plug my apple ear-phones into my i7, after two-minutes of playing, a box pops up: This accessory is not supported by this iPhone
And the ear-phones stop working.
Frank says
None of Apple’s fixes work. Maybe I should drop the unit off at one of Apple’s stores and leave it with them for a few weeks? A few months?
Robert Dupuy says
I need to stop this message – meaning, disable such popups from ever occurring.
The Do Not Disturb setting is not being respected, and the phone is nevertheless disturbing with this pop-up, as if this popup were special.
It’s not, of course, it’s a meaningless warning message that serves no purpose. Maybe the HDMI out adapter split second didn’t put out the right voltage, but all you do is dismiss it and keep on going.
It’s no good to have my Zwift race come to an end because I have to get off the bike and go dismiss and unwanted and completely unnecessary “warning” that is just a task to dismiss, and not indicative of any issue, let alone one worth ignoring the Do Not Disturb setting.
Anyhow, the answer is, it cannot be done. Buy a different device, like a PC, because the phone is under Apple’s control.
John Startin says
I am a musician and in 2013 I bought an iPad air at the same time as a Korg PA900 keyboard.
I have put all my music onto the iPad in pdf format and when I select a song it is shown on the iPad and an associated .mid file fires a code to the keyboard and sets up the registration.
This makes for easy continuity on the performances.
This has worked OK for 5 years and sometime in 2018 after a few seconds the message “This accessory is not supported by this iPad” appears.
The only thing that has changed is the operating system upgrades.
Is there a fix or can I go back to the software that worked for me? This is very frustrating and making performances difficult.
SK says
Hi John,
Have you checked for any updates for the Korg keyboard?
Oftentimes, when a new iOS version comes out, the manufacturer for those accessories also push out an update for their hardware. So that’s the first place we’d check.
Also, it can’t hurt to contact Korg’s customer service and support team and let them know that you are seeing this message when using their keyboard.
As far as downgrading to an earlier iOS, that’s not often possible since Apple disallows older iOS from downloading onto its devices. And even if you could downgrade to an earlier version, you would lose quite a lot of your data.
Apple usually stops signing older releases of iOS after a few weeks of an iOS update’s release–and that prevents you from downgrading your devices.
It looks like Apple currently supports iOS 12.1.3 and is not signing (or allowing) any downgrades to anything earlier, with the exception of devices that could not update to iOS 11–Apple still signs iOS 10.3.3 for these devices.
Go to this site to check exact information for your iPad Air using the model number.
Good luck and keep us posted if you can!
Liz
John Startin says
Hi Liz
Thank you for your reply but the problem is not with the keyboard as the message comes up after about a minute just by inserting the lightning cable into the iPad with nothing else connected (it is an mfi approved cable)
If I connect the keyboard the iPad works perfectly with the keyboard for about the same time and then the display appears and it stops working. If I reboot the iPad the same sequence happens.
SK says
HI John,
Thanks for clarifying.
Have you tried a different MFI cable? Does it also result in the same message? If you haven’t, it worth a try. Try borrowing one, if you don’t have another and see what happens.
I’m really stumped if it’s not the cable or the accessory itself!
I still think it’s worth a conversation with Korg support to see if others report this same problem–and perhaps they have solutions or tips.
It’s also worth it to reach out to Apple Support directly or better yet, set-up an appointment at an Apple Store with one of their Geniuses and see what they have to say.
We’ll keep looking for additional tips on our end. I wish I had more for you right now!
Liz
Adeyemi Ademosu says
My iphone4 speaker does not work unless i use the headset.
Though it plays out voice records recorded on the phone, it rings out when called but, it does not bring out sound when watching videos on it.
I got the services of a repairer who tried to reset it but could not because it requested my apple/icloud details which i did not commit to memory since 2014 that i received the phone from my sister.
How do i go about it because its requesting details for activation
Kindly advise. Thank you.
SK says
Hi Adeyemi,
It sounds like your iPhone 4 is stuck in what we call headphones mode.
Please take a look at all the tips and reader advice on how to troubleshooting an iPhone Stuck in Headphones Mode via this article.
Sam