Toolbar Glitch When Using External Display and Keyboard on iPad with Obsidian

[koper]

Hey, I tried to use Obsidian on my iPad with an external screen and external keyboard connected.

Unfortunately, the toolbar/actions bar appears randomly when I try to write (see the screenshot). This is a bit distracting when I try to write a longer piece of content.

Steps to reproduce

1. Connect an external monitor to your iPad via USB-C
2. Connect an external keyboard and mouse/trackpad to your iPad
3. Open Obsidian on the external monitor (in full screen or window)
4. Create a note and try to write something using an external keyboard

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y]

Yes, I tried using an empty vault without any plugins.

Expected result

The toolbar should remain pinned to the bottom of the screen, the same as on the iPad built-in screen.

Actual result

The toolbar/actions bar appears randomly in the middle of the height of the screen when I try to write (see the screenshot). Sometimes it is lower, sometimes higher (covering half of the available screen space!).

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
	Operating system: ios 18.0.1 (Apple iPad13,6)
	Obsidian version: 1.7.4 (167)
	API version: v1.7.4
	Login status: not logged in
	Language: en
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 0
	Restricted mode: on
RECOMMENDATIONS:
	none

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Additional information

I was also reporting it on Reddit.

[AtomicMeganerd]

I am also experiencing this same bug on my 11" iPad M4 hooked up to my 4k external monitor. The empty space below the toolbar can take up almost half the window depending how it is resized.

Obsidian 1.7.8 (168)
iPadOS 18.1

I tried with the default theme as well as the Minimal and Primary themes and they are all the same.

[va1984]

Same issue here.
Using a 13” iPad Pro M4 with an Apple Studio Display. All latest updates as of today.

[AtomicMeganerd]

I found a workaround and it may also point to the cause. The floating input bar that iOS spawns is what causes this extra space to form (see the red circled area). I removed all the elements from the toolbar in a vain attempt to fix this, but you can see the blank area that gets created whenever the input bar is present.

There is a workaround however! The workaround is to minimize the input bar from iOS. Then this extra blank space goes away. The toolbar will be aligned to the bottom if you are using it.

Finally, I think this bug occurs on the iPad without the external display, but the blank area is much smaller and is less noticeable.

[koper]

Hey, nice that you’ve found a workaround.

Could you let us know how to minimize this input bar? I searched for it but I did’t found much information about the „input bar” mechanics.

[AtomicMeganerd]

Sure… click on the A in the bar and then click minimize from the menu:

[WhiteNoise]

We will look into this. One question, has this always been like this or is this a recent change?

[AtomicMeganerd]

I’m uncertain when this began as I recently started using an iPad as my primary portable computer. Other than this bug, it is working pretty good standalone or connected to my external display