Disable all hardware keyboards on 6P? Trying to use Swiftkey and remote on 6P/Nougat

[PaulQ]

I bought a little Bluetooth remote for my 6P in hopes that I could change tracks in Google Play Music with it. I won't get into all the details, let's just say I wanted to do this without using my phone. I got the little remote and it works perfectly for changing tracks, pausing, playing. The problem is that the 6P sees it as a hardware keyboard.

This causes the Swiftkey keyboard to not appear when needed (e.g. for texting). I have the general keyboard setting to "always show virtual keyboard" on. For some reason, Swiftkey won't appear, just suggested words. The Google keyboard DOES appear.

So, fellow 6P and Nougat users, anyone have any ideas how to get the Swiftkey keyboard to appear? I read that disabling hardware keyboards might work but I've only found rooted options for that.

(or do you have a remote that does this with Nougat and doesn't cause the keyboard problem?)

Thanks!

 

[N4Newbie]

Have you discussed this with Swiftkey tech support? The problem might be theirs and, if brought to their attention, they might fix it quickly.

https://swiftkey.com/en/contact/