How to Reconnect Kinesis Freestyle 2 Blue Keyboard to Mac

Kinesis Freestyle 2 Blue keyboard

My problem with my Kinesis was that I couldn’t get the passcode authentication popup for the keyboard connection to pop up.

Quick Summary:

To fix the issue I had, I did the following:

  1. Navigated to the Mac main bluetooth menu settings (“Settings > Bluetooth”)
  2. Disconnected the keyboard with the “X” button
  3. Reconnected the keyboard – and the passcode entry field popped up upon reconnection.

Longer Explanation

I accidentally pressed one of the bluetooth channel buttons on my Kinesis Freestyle 2 Blue Keyboard, and couldn’t get it reconnected to my Mac for several days. I was trying to reconnect using the bluetooth shortcut menu in my computer’s menu bar, but to no avail. I was not being prompted with the passcode to type in for connecting the keyboard.

Finally, I was reading the Kinesis Freestyle 2 Blue manual, and in their flow they said to go into “Settings > Bluetooth” to connect the keyboard. I tried this and saw that a more robust bluetooth menu was opened:

Mac bluetooth menu
Mac’s main bluetooth menu (more robust than navbar bluetooth menu) accessed via settings

To access the Mac’s main bluetooth menu is possible via the “Settings” menu:

Mac settings button
Click on “Settings” button
Mac "Bluetooth" button in "Settings"
Click on the “Bluetooth” button
Mac bluetooth menu
The Mac bluetooth main menu

Once the bluetooth menu was opened, I was able to disconnect the keyboard completely (so that my Mac “forgot” it), with the little “X” button.

Mac bluetooth menu
Bluetooth accessories can be disconnected with the “X” button

After I did this, I was able to follow the instructions to reconnect the keyboard, and I was once again prompted with the passcode input that got my keyboard reconnected. To reconnect the keyboard was a simple process of pressing the “Connect” button on the back of the keyboard, and then pressing “Connect” on the Kinesis item in the bluetooth menu:

Mac bluetooth menu
Press “Connect” next to the Kinesis keyboard text/icon
Mac bluetooth menu - Kinesis code input
Type in code on keyboard to connect
Mac bluetooth connection popup
“Connected” popup confirmation

Hopefully this helped you to reconnect your Kinesis keyboard with less struggle than I ?

Subscribe to new blog posts