How To Disconnect a Bluetooth Keyboard From a Mac

Lee Stanton August 25, 2023

Mac computers are popular among workers in many fields for their sleek design and advanced capabilities. They come with many features that can be extremely helpful in workflows, one of which is the ability to connect a Bluetooth keyboard.

How To Disconnect a Bluetooth Keyboard From a Mac

This feature can be beneficial when traveling or working remotely. However, there may come a time when you no longer need to use the Bluetooth keyboard and want to disconnect it.

Keep reading for a step-by-step guide on how to do so.

Disconnecting Your Bluetooth Keyboard From a Mac

Disconnecting your keyboard is easy enough. Here’s how to go about it:

Open the System Preferences application. You can do this by clicking on the Apple menu in the top-left corner of your screen and then selecting System Preferences.
Click on the Bluetooth icon. This will open up the Bluetooth settings window.
Right-click on the name of the keyboard you want to disconnect from the list of devices on the left side of the window.
Select Disconnect from the list of options that show up. This will remove the keyboard from your Mac’s list of paired devices.
Restart your computer to ensure that the changes take effect.

You can also disconnect a Bluetooth keyboard from your Mac via the toolbar:

Click on the Bluetooth icon and locate the device you wish to disconnect.
Click on the Bluetooth logo next to the keyboard. The logo will change from blue to grey, indicating that the Keyboard is no longer paired.

The third way to remove a Bluetooth keyboard from your Mac is to physically turn off the keyboard. This will break the connection between the two devices and remove the keyboard from the list of available devices.

How to Forget a Bluetooth Keyboard on Mac

When you disconnect a Bluetooth keyboard from your Mac, the keyboard is no longer paired with the computer. This means the keyboard will appear on the list of available devices, but it will be unresponsive. However, the keyboard can still connect to your Mac if it is within range.

To remove a Bluetooth keyboard from your list of available devices, you must forget it. Forgetting a Bluetooth keyboard will delete all of its pairing information from your Mac, making it unable to connect to the computer until it is paired again.

Here are the steps to forget a Bluetooth keyboard on Mac computers:

Open System Preferences.
Next to the keyboard, you should see a small X in a gray circle. Click on it, and then select Remove from the popup that appears.

Alternatively,

Head to your Bluetooth preferences (you can find this in the System Preferences menu).
As happens when disconnecting a device, right-click on the keyboard.
Click on the Remove button.
A popup window will appear, asking you to confirm that you want to remove the device from your computer. Select Remove to confirm and exit the System Preferences application.

Once you do this, the keyboard will no longer be paired with your Mac. It will be removed from the list of available devices.

FAQ

What’s the difference between disconnecting and forgetting a Bluetooth device on a Mac?

When you disconnect a Bluetooth device, it is essentially turned off. This means that the device will no longer be able to communicate with your Mac. However, the device’s memory will still remain on your Mac. The keyboard will still be paired to your Mac and can be reconnected anytime.

When you forget a Bluetooth device, the device is essentially deleted from your Mac. This means all the data associated with the device will be deleted, including the memory of the device.

Disconnecting a Bluetooth Keyboard Is Straightforward

Although it is possible to disconnect a Bluetooth keyboard from a Mac by simply turning the keyboard off, doing so can introduce bugs and cause connectivity problems down the road. You can manually disconnect a Bluetooth keyboard from a Mac using the Keyboard preference pane in System Preferences.

Remember that you’ll need to go through the original syncing process again if you want to reconnect a Bluetooth accessory that was previously removed.

Have you tried any of these methods to disconnect your Bluetooth keyboard? Let us know in the comments below.