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On-screen keyboard disappears when a YubiKey is connected via USB

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John Östholm
Created - Updated

 

Introduction

On devices where the main text-based interaction is using an on-screen keyboard, like modern smartphones and tablets, the on-screen keyboard can sometimes disappear while a YubiKey is connected via USB.

 

Explanation

The Yubico OTP application of the YubiKey operates as a keyboard, and when external keyboards are connected to smartphones and tablets, the expected behavior is that the on-screen keyboard is no longer needed, since the text-based input is expected to be provided via the external keyboard instead.

This can become an issue when you need to provide a PIN to interact with the YubiKey, for instance when signing in with a passkey that requires the FIDO2 PIN to be entered.

 

Solution

There are a few ways to resolve this behavior, depending on the environment.

 

iOS

There are currently no confirmed settings that control the on-screen behavior while an external keyboard is plugged in via USB.  If you are experiencing this behavior on an iOS device, consider the steps under YubiKey.

iPadOS

If the on-screen keyboard disappears upon connecting the YubiKey, it can easily be restored with the following procedure.

    1. Tap the leftmost area of the collapsed on-screen keyboard that is located at the bottom of the screen
    2. Chose the option Show Keyboard from the menu that pops up

Android

On Android, you can change the system setting for how the on-screen keyboard should react while an external keyboard is connected.

    1. Open your device’s Settings 
    2. Go to System and then Keyboard and then Physical keyboard
    3. Under Options, toggle Use on-screen keyboard

YubiKey

Another alternative is to disable the Yubico OTP application on the YubiKey itself, which will effectively stop the YubiKey from being recognized as an external keyboard. For a majority of users, the OTP application is not needed, so this solution should work for most.

    1. Insert the YubiKey into a desktop computer (PC/Mac/Linux)
    2. Open Yubico Authenticator,
    3. Browse to Home and thenToggle Applications
    4. Uncheck Yubico OTP in the USB section
    5. Click Save
info-circle-line-icon.svg Info: Disabling the Yubico OTP application on the YubiKey would also disable the following functions of the YubiKey: Yubico OTP, Static Password, Challenge/Response and other features that are part of the Yubico OTP application. This means, for instance, that the YubiKey would not be able to interact with Yubico Login for Windows, until the Yubico OTP application is enabled again.

Disabling applications on the YubiKey does not delete or change the credentials saved within that application.