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Echo problem when there is an iPad at the table

Updated 5 September 2022

Symptoms of the problem

If you use an iPad, and other people have started complaining about hearing an echo: the problem is probably caused by your iPad. There is a solution. The solution has to be applied to your iPad.

If you have recently started hearing an echo of your own voice: the problem is probably caused by somebody else’s iPad. If it happens all evening, it is probably your partner’s iPad. If it only happens at some tables, it is probably an opponent’s iPad. There is a solution. The solution has to be applied to the iPad. Please ask the iPad user to look at this page, or to contact RealBridge via support@realbridge.online

Which iPads are affected?

This problem occurs when the iPad has iOS 15.4 or iOS 15.5, and the iPad is one of:

  • iPad 7th Generation or earlier
  • iPad Pro 12.9-in 2nd Generation or earlier
  • iPad Pro 10.5-in
  • iPad Pro 9.7-in
  • iPad Air 2 or earlier
  • iPad Mini 4 or earlier

If your iPad is newer than that, your iPad is not causing the echo problem. If you have iOS 15.6 or later, your iPad is not causing the echo problem.

If you don’t know which iPad model or iOS version you have, look in the iPad's Settings: General on the left, About on the right, Model Name on the right and Software Version on the right.

Note: the iPad Pro 11-in does not have the echo problem.

Recommended solution: upgrade to the latest iOS

Apple fixed this problem in iOS 15.6. If you upgrade your iPad to the latest software version, the echo problem will go away.

Alternative solution, using an audio jack

If you can't upgrade to iOS 15.6 (or don't want to), there is a workaround. It may seem strange, but it does work.

You will need a headset that has a standard 3.5mm audio jack (or anything else that has one of these jacks). That is, the type of plug that has a single circular pin, with a few black stripes on it, like this:

It can be headphones, or earbuds, or a hands-free kit for a mobile phone, or a cable. It can even be just the plug, without anything attached to it.

It doesn’t matter how many black stripes it has. It doesn’t matter how good it is. It doesn’t matter if it actually works or not.  All it needs is the plug.

If you don’t have anything with this type of plug, you can buy a headset or cable with a 3.5mm plug very cheaply. If you can’t find one, email support@realbridge.online and we will post one to you.

This is what you have to do:

  • When you are going to play on RealBridge, go to the session as normal and sit at a table.
  • Plug the audio jack into the headphone socket on your iPad. The socket is on the short edge of the iPad, on the same side as the power button (that is, the opposite side to where the power cable goes in).
  • Unplug the audio jack again. You don’t have to keep it plugged in.
  • Use your iPad as normal.
  • If you get disconnected, or if you click the “redial” button (the two curved arrows at the bottom), you will need to repeat the process of plugging in and unplugging the audio plug.

This works because the physical action of plugging in and unplugging the audio jack resets the echo-cancellation on the iPad.

If you can't find your a headphone socket on your iPad, please contact support@realbridge.online for advice.

Technical notes

This was caused by a bug in Apple's software, introduced in iOS 15.4

The problem was reported to Apple on their defect-tracking system: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=239285

Apple fixed the bug, and released the fix in iOS 15.6.

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