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Hi, up until yesterday my apple pencil was working just fine. I've so far,
Not sure what else to do except go brave the world outside just to go into an apple store to find out!
Please Help!!!
First - never, ever, fully discharge an Apple Pencil. It’s tiny battery may not recover!
If you have not already done so, you must update to iPadOS 13.6. Should you have an iPad Air3 with iPadOS 13.5.1, it has a bug that interferes with both pairing and operation of the Apple Pencil. iPadOS 13.6 resolves the known problem.
Is your problem system-wide, or just with some Apps? If the problem affects specific Apps only, then the problem is not with the Pencil.
If your problem is system-wide, your Apple Pencil may be displaying symptoms of a dead battery - that will not accept or hold any charge.
Assuming that you do not have any other iPad charging issues - and that the Lightning Port of your iPad is free from debris - whilst the Pencil is plugged-in to the Lightning Port of your iPad, verify that the Pencil is recognised:
Settings > General > About
Scroll to the bottom of the page - and you should find two identical entries for the Pencil (one each for the physical and Bluetooth connections). Finding both entries suggests that the Pencil electronics are good.
Check the Battery Widget for the charge status of the Pencil. Is it 100%? if not, let it charge; if it is fully charged, disconnect from the iPad.
When disconnected from iPad, does the Pencil disappear from the Battery Widget - or it’s indicated state of charge suddenly fall? If either of these are true, then the Pencil battery is likely to be dead.
The tiny internal Li-ion battery is susceptible to permanent/irreversible damage through being left discharged for long periods. Even some “new” pencils can exhibit signs of failure out-of-the-box if they are “old stock”. It is essential that if you have an Apple Pencil that you charge it regularly - whether used or not - so as to protect the battery from deep-discharge. Do not allow a pencil to remain in low-charge state for any period of time - as the internal battery will fail, rendering the Pencil useless.
If the Pencil Battery has failed, the only remedy is to replace the Pencil. If purchased directly from Apple, if the battery has failed and your pencil is within its one-year warranty, you should look to having it replaced at an Apple Store.
Here is one of the better troubleshooting guides for the Apple Pencil that may be helpful in working through common issues:
https://appletoolbox.com/apple-pencil-not-working-heres-our-troubleshooting-guide/
I hope this information proves to be helpful in both diagnosing and resolving the problem.
First - never, ever, fully discharge an Apple Pencil. It’s tiny battery may not recover!
If you have not already done so, you must update to iPadOS 13.6. Should you have an iPad Air3 with iPadOS 13.5.1, it has a bug that interferes with both pairing and operation of the Apple Pencil. iPadOS 13.6 resolves the known problem.
Is your problem system-wide, or just with some Apps? If the problem affects specific Apps only, then the problem is not with the Pencil.
If your problem is system-wide, your Apple Pencil may be displaying symptoms of a dead battery - that will not accept or hold any charge.
Assuming that you do not have any other iPad charging issues - and that the Lightning Port of your iPad is free from debris - whilst the Pencil is plugged-in to the Lightning Port of your iPad, verify that the Pencil is recognised:
Settings > General > About
Scroll to the bottom of the page - and you should find two identical entries for the Pencil (one each for the physical and Bluetooth connections). Finding both entries suggests that the Pencil electronics are good.
Check the Battery Widget for the charge status of the Pencil. Is it 100%? if not, let it charge; if it is fully charged, disconnect from the iPad.
When disconnected from iPad, does the Pencil disappear from the Battery Widget - or it’s indicated state of charge suddenly fall? If either of these are true, then the Pencil battery is likely to be dead.
The tiny internal Li-ion battery is susceptible to permanent/irreversible damage through being left discharged for long periods. Even some “new” pencils can exhibit signs of failure out-of-the-box if they are “old stock”. It is essential that if you have an Apple Pencil that you charge it regularly - whether used or not - so as to protect the battery from deep-discharge. Do not allow a pencil to remain in low-charge state for any period of time - as the internal battery will fail, rendering the Pencil useless.
If the Pencil Battery has failed, the only remedy is to replace the Pencil. If purchased directly from Apple, if the battery has failed and your pencil is within its one-year warranty, you should look to having it replaced at an Apple Store.
Here is one of the better troubleshooting guides for the Apple Pencil that may be helpful in working through common issues:
https://appletoolbox.com/apple-pencil-not-working-heres-our-troubleshooting-guide/
I hope this information proves to be helpful in both diagnosing and resolving the problem.
My pencil (2nd gen) has always been connected to my ipad (3rd gen 12.9 inch ipad pro) because I have a case that keep them together. I just thought that maybe it would reset if I were to do a full charge but battery life is pretty good so I didn't go through with it. Yes I can see the batt of the pencil in the widget and also when connected. It seems to be all throughout the using the pencil and not just some apps because I used to be able to scroll through my ipad using my pencil instead of my finger. As I said, up until yesterday I was able to use the pencil because my son likes to draw when I have to distract him while we are at church then I also use the pencil to write notes when checking assignments. In the settings/general/about there is only 1 entry for my apple pencil which shows numbers for:
Manufacturer
Model number
Serial number
Firmware version
Hardware version
ipad is on iPadOS 13.6
As for warranty I think I may have run out already assuming warranty is not as long as ipad warranty?! Limited warranty on ipad is until Sept 28, 2020. I got the iPad maybe 2 months (bday in Oct) before I got the pencil (Christmas)
More info - thanks.
In absence of model information for both your iPad and Pencil, I had initially assumed an iPad with Lightning Port and a first generation Apple Pencil. Your 2018 iPad Pro with second generation Pencil is similar in fault finding, but there are minor differences...
For the second generation Pencil, you will only see one entry in Settings > About - not two as previously described; the single entry represents the Bluetooth connection - second entry represents the physical connection/interface, this being absent with Pencil2 and your iPad Pro. You can disregard this element.
The Apple Pencil has a one year warranty. If it fails within this period (and you have proof of purchase) and is otherwise undamaged, Apple generally replace the Pencil without quibble. As described, I don’t foresee any difficulties with getting your Pencil replaced.
It’s time for you to visit your Apple Store - or if this is difficult, you might contact Apple Support for assistance. You’ll find the Contact Support link at top-right of this page.
OMG so I was ready to lose hope in my apple pencil looking through hubby’s emails for the receipt! I FOUND IT in my old wallet a printed receipt! However...so you said it has 1yr warranty. It was purchased on Oct 6, 2019 but a little lower down on the receipt it has a “return date” of Oct 20, 2019?! What does that mean? Return for full refund if you changed your mind?
Anywho, IF big IF since my home remedies of switching on/off, recharging & reconnecting don’t seem to want to make my ipad & pencil be friends again, I guess I’ll have to brave the outside world to physically go to our local Apple store, gosh my anxiety & blood pressure is rising just thinking of it.
Thank you for all the advice! I’m usually skeptical of joining forums like this because I see alot of unanswered dilemmas sometimes.
The printed return date refers to the unconditional 14-day return window - during which you can return the item, for any reason, for a full refund.
You’re evidently within the warranty period - so exchange of a failed Pencil, for new, is unlikely to be an issue.
Apple Pencil is Connected but not Working
