Apple Pencil Glitching

My pencil keeps glitching on Notability - drawing random lines and dots, like an electronic fountain pen spill. And it breaks up my writing.


I have the 2020 iPad 12.9 inch, and 2nd gen Apple Pencil


I've tried the following things:

  • getting a new Apple Pencil
  • restarting the iPad
  • reconnecting the Pencil
  • turning off other devices nearby (to try stop interference)
  • holding the metal side of the iPad while writing, to see if it was a grounding issue and also removing the case while writing
  • taking the iPad out the charger while writing


I've noticed it glitches mainly on Notability, however I don't use the other apps enough to be able to tell if its a Notability issue or a general one...


Very annoying! Anyone got any ideas? Side note, the iPad gets kind of warm with Notability - anyone else get this?


Thanks for the help!

iPad Pro 12.9-inch, 3rd Gen, Wi-Fi

Posted on Oct 7, 2020 5:10 AM

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Posted on Feb 7, 2021 6:27 PM

I’ve spoken with apple technical support, they’re aware of the issue, though they didn’t have a ‘fix’ I was told to disable the pencil ‘click’ (to change from pen to eraser) and I haven’t had the issue since, it’s been two weeks now and I was having the issue almost every day before that change and did basically everything else possible before that weird solution. I haven’t turned the pencil click back on to check if it comes back out of fear of it not going away again ;) ;)

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82 replies

Jan 25, 2021 8:17 AM in response to MichelPM

Sir this is not about gloves, or your iPad - which clearly doesn’t have this issue?!


I can write on my iPad without my hand touching it, and the issue still persists - I can even turn palm rejection off and it still happens.

It’s a hardware issue with the iPad (why would it stop happening when I touch the metal casing of the iPad otherwise?)


I don’t think the 2020 iPads even suffer from palm rejection bugs - the posts I’ve seen of that are all 2018 or earlier devices.


You’re offering band aids to amputees at this point.

Feb 7, 2021 10:44 PM in response to dd271

I have this same issue. My old 2013 Ipad worked way better than this one and I am so disappointed. I am in college and when this glitch happens during lectures I spend almost half my classes trying to restart my Ipad and fix the issue. The glitch happens on apple notes, notability, and especially good notes, which I highly rely on. My parents spent so much money on my new iPad for Christmas and i don't have the heart to tell them my crusty old one works better ...

Apr 5, 2021 11:33 AM in response to emely168

Like I stated, Apple engineers cannot seem to pin this issue down, even after all of this time.

It's just nonsense that after such a long time Apple designers. software designers/engineers, hardware engineers cannot find the commonality/ties to tie-in all of these touch screen and Pencil related issues.

Also, all of these issues are only affecting a still growing, but still small ( in terms of total iPads sold to users over the past 3 years, or so ) percentage of affected units having these issues.

I am just as annoyed that after all of this time, not even a series of clues to the causes of this issue have ever been discovered by Apple.

Taking off cases, in addition to certain thickness glass screen protectors is not a solution .

This is Apple putting a “band-aid” over the issues.

Most every tablet user uses protective cases to protective their expensive tablet purchase.

Telling or advising the user to remove their tablet cases is just a dumb and stupid answer/solution.

Apple needs to solve this.

These two issues are what has kept me from purchasing new higher end iPad models for fear of getting these unfixable issue/s

I am still using two 2015/2016, 12.9 inch screen iPad Pro models that are NOT exhibiting ANY of these issues.

You can no longer get a replacement device or battery replacement for these older iPad models, any longer, even though Apppe still supoorts these 2015/2016 models.

Since my iPad Pro is long out of warranty and I have little confidence in Apple's more expensive and larger screen iPad models, right now, I am planning of getting a third party battery replacement done by a known reliable and competent third party Apple mobile device repair center that is another State close to where my State is, when these iPad Pro models start having battery issues, as these older iPad Pro mode;s have been running flawlessly for me for all of these years!

A third party battery replacement will be a whole lot cheaper than a new higher end iPad that may, or may not, have some sort of major ,bulit-in issue/s, and I know these older iPad Pro models will, most probably, be getting iPadOS 15 in the Fall of 2021.


May 1, 2021 1:50 AM in response to meganfromthe hills

Its so sad that you invest a lot of money and your device is broken. It gets me mad everyday when random lines occur and you can't write for a few minutes!

That's totally ruin my learning because you are in a fight with the iPad to delete and write again and then miss all your lecture.


I have tons of videos when it happen to me because I have this bug every minute. Even in "Notes" iOS app and not only in Notability.

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Apple Pencil Glitching

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