IPAD Pocket Edition wont detect or join Realms

When trying to join a realm on an ipad it will not connect. We have tried through multiple different join links, joining a friend thats in the realm. 

Invites do not come through. 

I have checked all Xbox/Microsoft settings are set to "everyone" 

I have gone down forums, web pages, YouTube videos and more to try and solve this to no avail. Its getting rather annoying. 

I even booted that particular account up on my version of PC Bedrock which also did not work. 

It either gets stuck in a loading screen or constantly says "Reaching realms" and does nothing to connect. 

The weird thing is it could connect to a directly hosted server which other friends on XBOX could not do - so we moved to a realm and now the Ipad does not work. 

Im pulling my hair out here - any suggestions?