Mokibo Folio, after 2 years of waiting +

Hi all,

The Mokibo Folio is a keyboard-trackpad combo that was initially announced on Kick Starter in 2019. I was one of the original backer for the project, thinking that this would be a relatively good bet since this was not the company’s go at this. However, after I got my device following 2 years of delay, it is so much of a disappointment that I just have to make this post to warning everyone against it.

The 2 years wait was much of a problem. That is just the nature of Kick Starter projects, and the company did made adjustments the the design to be compatible with the latest model of the iPad (just have a bigger camera hole).

The problem is with the functionality of the device itself and (to some extend) iPadOS:

(1) The device have a hard time sorting out the electrical noises from the touchpad system. That means the touchpad often stop working or the device start inputing random keys. This would happen whenever the touchpad is enabled, and the device is moved or is placed near magnets (like those in the iPad). For example, here is me docking the iPad 11” Pro on it: “]”; that was not much, so let me try again:

“ ]=!@$^|}65432!] !@£$%^Q)@$^+_\32146
}!@£$)^~|+ ”

There we go. The problem goes away when I disable the touchpad function, but that is hardly a solution. That touchpad will automatically turns on when you turns the device on and off.

(2) Even if the touchpad works, it is still not a pleasant experience. In some apps, i.e. Viber, the spacebar is not registered as a spacebar, but a left-click; which obviously a problem. Multi-touch gesture just does not work at all. And, whenever the folio is on and connected to the iPad it would show this obnoxious highlighted box on the the screen (where you can press Tab to move between UI elements).

I have contacted Mokibo support for this. And to be fair, they responded quickly and sent me a replacement. But, the replacement unit have the exactly same problem.

Firmware updates helped a bit. Turning it from unusable to an annoying BOS, so there is hope for this device. But, there is no guaranty that the all of the usability problems will be sorted out.

So. Once again, this is an absolute: not recommended.

Update 28/07/2023: There is a software update to version “MKB420-A11 Ver.1.26.35” which fixed some of the stability problems. In addition, I found a way to overcome some of the usability challenges. That is: not having the keyboard connect to the device all the time. This can be done by keeping one of the bluetooth slot open, and switch to that one when I don’t want have the keyboard to auto-connect to the iPad when the folio is open.