Apple Pencil not connecting even if it appears as connected

What to do if your Apple Pencil is not functioning correctly

When your Apple Pencil becomes unresponsive, there are three methods to restore its functionality with your iPad:

1. Recharge the Apple Pencil's battery
2. If your Apple Pencil is not working or seems unresponsive, the likely culprit is a depleted battery. Here's how to recharge it:

• Apple Pencil 1: Connect the Pencil to your iPad.
• Apple Pencil 2: Attach the Pencil to the side of your iPad.

Allow the Apple Pencil to charge for approximately ten minutes, and then attempt to use it to see if it responds with your iPad.

1. Reestablish the connection between your Apple Pencil and iPad
2. If charging the Apple Pencil doesn't resolve the issue, you may need to reestablish its connection with your iPad. This can be done in two ways:

• On your iPad, toggle Bluetooth off and on to reset the connection.
• Ensure that the nib of your Apple Pencil is securely fastened. If you're using a fine-point ballpoint nib like Rock Paper Pencil, ensure it is twisted all the way onto your Apple Pencil.

1. Force re-pair the Apple Pencil with your iPad
2. If the aforementioned methods do not work, you may need to charge the Pencil for at least one hour and then force it to re-pair with your iPad. Here's how:

• Charge the Apple Pencil as per the instructions provided earlier.
• Go to the Bluetooth settings on your iPad and remove the Pencil from the list of My Devices by selecting "Forget This Device."
• Re-pair your Apple Pencil with your iPad by plugging it into the device with Bluetooth enabled and following the pairing dialog that appears.

After successfully re-pairing, test your Apple Pencil to ensure that it is now responsive.

We trust that this guide has been helpful! Once your Apple Pencil is back in action, make sure you have the appropriate accessories to optimize your iPad experience.

[Edited by Moderator]

I had the same problem and tried all of the above points.

Finally solved it when I unscrewed the tip and gently cleaned/scraped the metal tip which was exposed after removing the white plastic tip.

It’s now perfect.

So mine WORKED with one solution. I tried all tutorials from all the sites and absolutely nothing worked.

What I did to make it work was to take care to follow all the steps that apple support already offers (download the latest update, closing and opening the bluetooth, try "ignore the device" and connect it again). After you have made sure that you have tried all these methods, perform a forced reset (press the volume up button once, the volume down button once and then the close button and keep it pressed until it closes and restart the tablet without taking ur finger from the button). While resetting the tablet, keep the apple pencil sticked to the iPad. After resetting, connect the pencil again and leave it attached to the tablet while charging for 6 hours. DONT take it out earlier than that. Both the tablet and the pen need to be charging . Do not move the pen or tablet and it should be working .

Hope it works for you as it did for me .

try unpairing it by going to Settings > Bluetooth, tapping the "i" next to the Apple Pencil, and selecting "Forget This Device." Then reconnect it by attaching the Pencil to your iPad. If the issue persists, try cleaning the Pencil's tip and charging connector.

If none of these steps work, consider resetting your iPad's settings or contacting Apple Support, as it could be a hardware issue..

I think you did a normal restart you have to do a force restart in which you have to quickly press and release the volume up button then the down button and then hold the power button until you see an Apple logo and it will resolve any software glitch that might be affecting the apple pencil connectivity if it didn't help. There is another resource where all the possible solutions are discussed in detail that can help in connecting Apple pencil: How to Fix an Apple Pencil That’s Connected but Not Responding. I hope it helps. Best Regards!

I am not sure why this is not part of the instructions for troubleshooting the Apple Pencil USB-C but I purchased a second hand iPad mini 6 and the Apple Pencil USB-C would not even come up as an option under the Bluetooth as an option. I spent all day working on it and charging it like the directions said. I called Apple Support and the customer rep (Shout Out to Erica!) couldn't help at first and then tried to contact the Apple Pencil team who didn't answer.

Then she said: Plug the USB-C chord into the Apple Pencil and then plug it into the iPad directly and Viola! It appeared. NONE of the directions or even on this site said to do that. So I joined the community just to say this.

P.S. Just go ahead and spend the extra money to get the 2nd Generation because I have both and the USB-C is not worth it at all. I don't even understand why they came out with it.

Have you tried checking the tip? If it’s not screwed on properly/broken it won’t work

Great write up and thorough. I did all that and still is not coming up on the bluetooth settings page. Ipad and Pen charged for a hour while I went out on a errand.

Prior from today, The Ipad and pen sat connected uncharged for a couple of weeks. Ipad still had charge but the pen wouldn't work even though it before both sat. Thank you

My Apple Pencil stopped working all of a sudden. I reconnected it and changed the tip. I already turned my iPad on and off, disconnected and reconnected my Apple Pencil. I let it charge and its still not writing. The double tap feature still works. Please help.

Apple Pencil shows charging status at 100%. And is recognised on the iPad. The pencil does nothing on screen.. no selection, scrolling, writing or drawing .. nothing at all. Even bought a new pencil after reading that a drop may have killed the insides.. the new pencil is the same, wated for it to charge but got nothing out of it.. could it be something or do with the latest iPad update.

I'm having this problem still. The moment I unlock my screen after it locks itself, the pencil stops responding for a long time for anything. If I wait, it will eventually work again. It’s taking progressively longer to start working now. Unpairing doesn't fix it.

I just sit and hope my screen doesn't lock again anytime I walk away from a drawing for a moment.

My Apple Pencil takes a long time to load.

Tried all of the above on IPAD 4th Generation still not working

Alexia_B5,

Thank you for the reply and very thorough instructions. I greatly appreciate you taking the time.

I would like to try this method but I am worried. By doing a hard reset will it completely erase everything that is on my iPad?