hoakley Macs, Technology, Updates

Apple has released a firmware update for its Magic Keyboards

Apple has released a firmware update for its Bluetooth Magic Keyboards, although you can’t download it yourself, and it just happens by magic.

According to its security release note, this update should be applied automatically to the following keyboards:

  • Magic Keyboard
  • Magic Keyboard (2021)
  • Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
  • Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
  • Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad

which looks like all of them.

To receive the update, the keyboard needs to be paired with a Mac or device running macOS, iOS, iPadOS or tvOS, versions not specified. The update isn’t available from Software Update, or softwareupdate, and doesn’t register in SilentKnight, LockRattler, or SysHist, but occurs completely silently.

The only way to tell whether your Magic Keyboard has been updated is to check its firmware version via Bluetooth Settings. The simplest method is to hold the Option key while opening the Bluetooth menu: that provides a detailed listing of Bluetooth devices, including firmware versions. Your Magic Keyboard should return a version of 2.0.6 when it has been successfully updated.

Your mileage will vary, but the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad paired with my Mac Studio has already been updated, while that paired with my iMac Pro remains at 1.6.0, which seems to be in a world of its own. Maybe restarting your Mac might help make this magic work?

Oh – the reason for this update is to address a security vulnerability, whereby “an attacker with physical access to the accessory may be able to extract its Bluetooth pairing key and monitor Bluetooth traffic.”

I hope the magic works better for you.

Many thanks to @Chasapple for informing me about this magic.