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Magic Keyboard Test

Test every key on an Apple Magic Keyboard — including F13 to F19 and the number pad's own Clear and = keys.

Simply press any key on your keyboard to test it — if it works it will turn green

0Keys Pressed0Total Keys0%Tested

QWERTY on the US ANSI shape: a wide flat Enter and a full-length left Shift.

Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+N, Alt+Tab and the Windows or Command key are reserved by the browser and the operating system. No web page receives them, so they cannot be tested here or anywhere else in a browser.

At a glance

Key counts and layout facts
DetailValue
Common nameMagic Keyboard, Apple keyboard
Testable keys (with keypad)107 keys
Testable keys (no keypad)76 keys
Number padOn the full-size version
Function rowHalf height, with media glyphs
Extra function keysF13 to F19 on the full-size version
Keypad top-left keyClear, not Num Lock
fn key positionAbove home, not bottom-left

A Magic Keyboard in numbers

Every figure describes the full-size Magic Keyboard this page opens on.

107
Testable keys108 physical keys, of which Fn never reports.
7
Extra function keysF13 through F19, which no Windows board carries.
2
Number pad extrasA Clear key and a dedicated equals key.
1
Untestable keyFn, which sits in the navigation cluster, not the bottom row.

How to test a Magic Keyboard

The full-size Apple board carries keys that no Windows layout has.

  1. Start with the half-height function row

    Apple's external boards use a short top row: esc plus F1 to F12, all sharing one row width evenly. Press each one. If they control brightness and volume instead, hold Fn and the board sends the real F-key code.

  2. Work the main block and both modifier sets

    Number row, three letter rows, then the bottom row with both Control, Option and Command keys. Each side sends its own code.

  3. Finish with F13 to F19 and the pad

    The navigation cluster carries F13, F14 and F15, and the number pad's top row holds F16 through F19. The pad also has a Clear key where Num Lock sits on a PC, and a dedicated equals key that sends NumpadEqual rather than the main Equal code.

What to check on a Magic Keyboard

Five checks aimed at Apple's full-size board.

Everything about this layout

The shape, the trade-offs and what to watch for when testing it.

What the extra keys are

A full-size Magic Keyboard carries F13 through F19 above the numeric keypad, where a Windows board has Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause. macOS leaves most of them unassigned by default, which makes them useful targets for custom shortcuts, and they report cleanly to the browser so this test will light them up.

The numeric keypad differs from a Windows one in two ways. The top-left key is Clear rather than Num Lock, though it reports the same code. And there is a dedicated equals key on the pad, which reports as NumpadEqual rather than as the main row's equals key — a distinction that matters, because sharing the code would light two keys at once.

There is no Menu key, no Insert, no Scroll Lock and no Pause. Those simply do not exist on Apple layouts.

Where fn lives on a Magic Keyboard

This is the detail people get wrong most often. On a MacBook, fn sits at the bottom-left corner of the board. On a standalone full-size Magic Keyboard it does not — it sits in the navigation cluster, directly above the home key, where a Windows board has Insert.

The bottom-left corner of a Magic Keyboard is control. Drawing fn in both places would put two fn keys on one board, which no Apple keyboard has.

As on every other layout, fn cannot be reported by a browser, so it is drawn with a dashed outline and excluded from the totals. A working Magic Keyboard reaches 100% on its 107 reportable keys.

Bluetooth, batteries and dropped keys

Wireless Magic Keyboards introduce a failure mode wired boards do not have: keys that drop intermittently because of a weak Bluetooth link or a low battery, rather than because anything is wrong with the switch.

The pattern is distinctive. Hardware faults affect the same keys every time; connection faults affect whichever key you happened to press when a packet was lost, so the failures move around. If different keys fail on each pass of this test, charge the keyboard and try again before suspecting the hardware.

Connecting over the Lightning or USB-C cable rules the wireless link out entirely, which is the fastest way to be certain.

Testing a Magic Keyboard properly

Work through the top row first: esc, then F1 to F12 with their media glyphs, then F13 to F19 above the keypad. Remember that F1 to F12 send media commands by default and need fn held down to send real function codes.

Then the main block, left to right and top to bottom, finishing with the bottom row of control, option, command, space, command, option. Then the navigation cluster, skipping fn, which will stay greyed out.

Finish with the numeric keypad, including Clear at the top left, the equals key beside it, and the keypad's own Enter at the bottom right. That keypad Enter reports separately from the main Enter, so both need pressing to reach 100%.

Magic Keyboard against the alternatives

Apple's own boards and the Windows layouts nearest to them.

Testable key count and features by layout
LayoutTestable keysFunction rowArrow keysNumber pad
Magic Keyboard (with numpad)107Half heightInverted TYes
Magic Keyboard (no numpad)76Half heightInverted TNo
MacBook (14 / 16 inch)76Full heightInverted TNo
Windows full size104Full heightDedicatedYes

The full-size Magic Keyboard reports 3 more keys than a Windows full-size board, because of F13 to F19 and the pad's extra Clear and equals keys.

Fixing a Magic Keyboard

Three faults common to Apple's external boards.

The keyboard is not detected

On the test:No key lights at all.

  1. Check the charge level in System Settings under Bluetooth.
  2. Connect the charging cable, which forces a wired connection and rules out the radio.
  3. Remove the device from Bluetooth and pair it again.
  4. Test on a second machine to separate the board from the host's Bluetooth stack.
Occasional keys go missing while typing

On the test:Most keys light, but presses are dropped at random.

  1. Connect the cable and repeat the test. No dropped keys on cable means a radio problem.
  2. Move USB 3 devices and hubs away from the receiver, which interfere with 2.4 GHz Bluetooth.
  3. Charge the keyboard fully. Low battery causes dropped packets before it causes a total failure.
The number pad types nothing

On the test:Pad keys light on the board, but no digits appear.

  1. Press Clear, which is Apple's Num Lock, and try again.
  2. Turn off Mouse Keys in Accessibility settings, which claims the pad.
  3. Note the pad reports its codes here regardless of Clear state, so lighting caps mean working hardware.

Frequently asked questions

How many keys does a Magic Keyboard have?
The full-size version with a numeric keypad has 108 physical keys, of which 107 can be reported by a browser. The compact version has 77, of which 76 are reportable. In both cases the unreportable key is fn.
Why is there no Num Lock on the keypad?
Apple labels that key Clear instead, and macOS uses it differently, but it reports the same key code as Num Lock. It will light up in the same position on this test.
What are F13 to F19 for?
macOS leaves most of them unassigned, which makes them ideal for custom shortcuts, macro software or streaming tools. They report normally to the browser, so this test will light them up when pressed.
Where is the fn key on a full-size Magic Keyboard?
In the navigation cluster, directly above the home key — not at the bottom-left corner, which is where MacBooks put it. The bottom-left key on a standalone Magic Keyboard is control.
My keys drop out at random. Is the keyboard failing?
Possibly not. Random keys failing on different passes usually points at the Bluetooth link or a low battery rather than the hardware, because a real fault affects the same key every time. Connect the keyboard by cable and retest to rule the wireless link out.

Every layout below opens with its own board ready to test.

See all keyboard layouts

Test all 107 keys now

The board above is already set to a full-size Magic Keyboard, with F13 to F19 and the pad's Clear and equals keys drawn.

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