Stylus for iPad Air 2 A1566
Can anyone recommend a good stylus for this iPad Air 2?
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Can anyone recommend a good stylus for this iPad Air 2?
The ONLY third party, smart Bluetooth stylus that I can, honestly, recommend that actually works well with any older iPad, that is NOT compatible with any Pencils, is the Adonit smart Bluetooth stylus.
https://www.adonit.net/jot/pixel/
This smart, Bluetooth stylus works across a wide range of iOS devices.
The Bluetooth connection is stable and its Bluetooth pressure sensing technology is very smooth, natural feeling and has consistent line drawing ability.
Plus it's a quality made, aluminum stylus with two programmable buttons.
I had been using this stylus for well over 3 years now and it is/was really good on my iPad Pro.
This stylus worked wonderfully for me with all compatible apps.
The Adonit Pixel works with iPads all the way back to the 2012, 1st gen iPad Mini and iPad 4th generation!
Has ON/OFF/app shortcut buttons.
Has a nice fine, textured pen tip AND a nice rubber grip.
Magnetically charges on its own magnetic charging adapterand has an auto 15 minute shutdown feature ( to preserve battery life ), charges in a hour, or so.
Has both a small USB charger that that plugs into any USB charging block OR you can purchase an optional charging dock.
I find it only lasts for anywhere between 9-12 hours, but Adonit claims up to 16 hours of continuous use on a single charge cycle.
Made of very high quality aluminum materials.
The Adonit Pixel ONLY works with approx. 24 of the major/popular drawing/sketching/painting apps (the Pixel works with, but currently no longer “officially” supported with Procreate, but it still works and works pretty well in Procreate ), and approx. half dozen of the popular note taking apps, a half dozen writing apps and about a half dozen PDF style/compatible apps.
You WILL have to perform some pairing and setup parameters in each of the Adonit Pixel compatible apps.
You just DO NOT simply turn on Bluetooth on an iDevice and turn on the Adonit stylus and start writing.
The Adonit Pixel stylus is NOT an Pencil in this regard/respect.
You have to initially Bluetooth pair the Adonit Pixel, setup the hand/palm position and in many apps, set up the stylus screen pressure sensitivity for each and every compatible app!
Once you have, initially, done all of this, all Adonit Pixel compatible apps will remember these settings for future use!
Some Adonit Pixel users claimed their stylus doesn’t work, but it does work well IF you properly know how to set up the Adonit Pixel!
If interested, to make sure you get the latest installed stylus firmware, you must order the Adonit Pixel stylus directly from the Adonit website, when possible and available.
This stylus has just become available, once again, after about year of absence from availability from Adonit.
So, get this stylus while it is in stock and while supplies last.
Here’s my “up to date”, comprehensive, but still incomplete, list of Adonit Pixel compatible apps for the iPad/iPad Pro.
MOST apps listed support both screen pressure sensing and palm rejection, unless otherwise noted
Compatible Adonit Pixel apps for drawing
Animation Desk
Amaziograph
Adobe Photoshop Sketch ( palm rejection ONLY, with NO screen pressure sensing/line width variations with older iPad Pro models. Palm and screen pressure sensing/variable line width drawing and writing with all other non-Apple Pencil compatible iPad models.
A great app with a lot of free brushes without having to pay monthly to subscribe )
Adobe Draw
ArtRage
Art Studio Pro ( fully supports the Adonit Pixel and is just as great as Procreate on the iPad )
AutoDesk SketchBook
Colored Pencil
Comic Draw
Concepts
Forge ( drawing/sketching/concept/ideation app )
Interactive SketchBook
Medibang Paint
Procreate
(Adonit Pixel has been supported as an “unsupported stylus”, for some time now, but all Adonit Pixel stylus features still work as they should in Procreate, palm rejection IS improved using special, non-body electrical conducting, lycra-based material drawing glove )
Tayasui Sketches/Sketches Pro ( Full support for the Adonit Pixel )
Tayasui Sketches School ( FREE! )
( this new, free version works with this stylus, but without any palm rejection or pressure sensing, so you need to use a special, non-body electrical conducting drawing glove with the Sketches School version to lay your hand/palm down on the iPad’s screen while writing or drawing )
Vectornator
Zen Brush 2
Compatible Adonit Pixel apps for Notes and Notes with drawing types of apps.
GoodNotes
INKredible
Note Shelf 2
Notes Writer ( palm rejection improved using special, non-electrical conducting, lycra-based material drawing glove )
QuickNotes X Pro ( palm rejection ONLY. No pressure sensing for light/dark or thin/thick lines )
uPad
Zoom Notes
PDF Pen
This is pretty much it for Adonit Pixel compatible note-taking apps.
This stylus works with other non-compatible apps, too, but without any palm rejection and/or pressure features.
You can use this stylus with other apps but will not be able to lay your palm on the screen, while you write or draw, unless you use special, non-body electrical conducting, lycra-based material drawing glove that works by isolating your hand/palm and allow you to lay your hand/palm on the screen as you draw in these non-compatible Adonit stylus apps.
Something like these found on Amazon.
Many more makers of these types of gloves found on Amazon and in different hand sizes, as well!
Best of Luck to You!
A few Stylus option for your iPad Air 2 A1566 as below:
1) Apple Pencil
2) Adonit Note+
3) Meko Universal Stylus
4) Wacom Bamboo Fineline 3
5) Adonit Pixel
6) Adonit Dash 3
7) Logitech Crayon
8) Adonit Mark
Some of those stylii are just commonplace, find anywhere capacitive stylii you can get anywhere
Commonplace capacitive stylii only mimic a finger touch and have NO screen pressure sensing OR palm/side of hand rejection.
These types of commonplace, capacitive stylii are NOT smart Bluetooth stylii.
The Original Poster is looking for a good stylus similar in functionality to an Apple Pencil.
Apple Pencils do not work with any iPads that were made more than 6 years ago, like the 2014 iPad Air 2.
The Logitech Crayon does not work with iPads that were made more than 6 years, ago, for the same reasons as Apple Pencils do not work.
Adonit Note+ does NOT work with older iPads made before 2018, like the 2014 iPad Air 2.
None of the newer Adonit Note series stylii, that Adonit has recently introduced, do not work with any iPad models before 2018.
The Adonit Note 3 will work, but this stylus has NO screen pressure sensing or palm/hand rejection.
Wacom stylii for iPad and iOS/iPadOS are ALL crawp! Not worth the money they ask. Total crawp!
None of Wacom's iOS/iPadOS stylii work well with iPads. None!
The ONLY good, worth the money, smart Bluetooth stylus for a 2014 iPad Air 2 IS the Adonit Pixel stylus.
THAT is THE ONLY smart, Bluetooth stylus that will work very similarly to the Bluetooth Apple Pencil, that works for all older ( early 2015 and older ) iPad models ).
The smart, Bluetooth Adonit Pixel works on all iPads that go back to the 2012 iPad 3rd and 4th generations, as well as, the 2012 iPad Mini 1st generation.
This is THE ONLY stylus that is worth buying and using with your 2014 iPad Air 2.
The Adonit Pixel IS THE ONE TO GET!
Best of Luck to You!
Having learnt that best Bluetooth stylus for my iPad Air 2 would appear to be the Adonit Pixel, I revisited its capabilities and decided that it was probably overkill for what I need. All I really needed was an alternative to the many different capacitive styli I’ve tried over the years, for which the mesh end always deteriorates, in some cases very quickly. I therefore decided to try an active stylus, which has just arrived from Amazon. At £10 including delivery, I couldn’t really go wrong and the Awavo Active Stylus Pen - which I’m using here - has started very well and I’m impressed. Take care- stay safe. 👍🏻😎👍🏻
Thanks MichelPM
Stylus for iPad Air 2 A1566