Why is my Apple Pencil not charging past 0%?

Perhaps some succinct guidance and explanation will be useful to you…

Here is one of the better troubleshooting guides for Apple Pencil:

https://appletoolbox.com/apple-pencil-not-working-heres-our-troubleshooting-guide/

Be aware that if your Pencil has been set-aside for an extended period, unused and uncharged, the Pencil battery may have been now be damaged through deep discharge. In common with all Li-ion batteries, they must always have some level of charge, requiring periodic recharge when unused to keep the battery healthy.

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, especially 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. Setting aside an unused Pencil, for extended periods, is a recipe for premature death of the Pencil battery.

If the Pencil Battery has failed, the only remedy is to replace the Pencil. If the battery has failed and your pencil is within its one-year warranty, you should look to having it replaced by your retailer or at an Apple Store. Within its warranty period, Apple will usually exchange a dead but otherwise undamaged Pencil without question.

Gentle warming of the Pencil (such as placing on a hot water radiator), prior to attempting charging of the Pencil, can sometimes resurrect a dead Pencil battery.

Your Apple Pencil may be showing signs of a failing or failed battery.

IF your Pencil was left laying around unused for ANY prolonged period of time without being charged up and ready to use, then your Pencil battery may have failed and your Pencil may be dead.

Sorry.

You cannot store and/or NOT use Pencils for any prolonged period of time and NOT keep them charged up to some level.

If your Pencil/s sat around unused or unopened and not kept charged up for more than a few weeks, or so, OR

EVEN LONGER, then the battery in your Pencil may have failed and is dead and you will have to purchase another

brand new Pencil or, if still under warranty, get a free replacement Pencil from Apple.

Sorry.

And it looks like some things about the Pencil have NOT changed in the new version 2 model, either.

Due to the “always on and active/standby” nature of the Pencil and, also, due to its very tiny rechargeable Li-

ion battery ( smaller than the eraser head on a REAL wooden pencil ), the Pencil needs to be constantly charged up to some significant charge level ALL THE TIME, even when not using the Pencil for prolonged periods of time.

The Pencil needs to be kept CONSTANTLY charged to a minimum of 5-10%, OR GREATER, all the time!

If the Pencil battery is allowed to drain down to 0% and allowed to stay in that flat condition for more than a few weeks, or so, OR EVEN LONGER, that very tiny little Li-ion battery is too small to keep at a 0% state for a long period of time and it will fail and the Pencil will be dead and you may have to “pop” for another $99/$129 Pencil, once again!

Apple only has a one-year warranty on any Apple accessory items.

You need to keep your Pencil CONSTANTLY charged up all the time, even if it is only to 10%-15% charge. It must keep some charge level in that tiny Lithium-ion battery at all times!

One last ditch thing you can try is to plug the Pencil's Lightning connector into the iPad.

Then, try a simple hard reset of your iPad by holding down both the Home and sleep/wake buttons simultaneously until your iPad goes to black and restarts with Apple logo, then release the buttons.

OR

Put your Pencil 2 atop the magnetic charging edge of your iPad.

Then, try the new hard reset procedure for the 2018/2020 iPad Pro/iPad Air 4 models without a Home button.

1. Press and release the volume UP button.

2. Then immediately press and release the volume DOWN button.

3. Then, press and hold the Power button at the top. You will see the Slide to Power off button, but keep on holding down the Power button until you see the Apple logo, then let it go.

Once you have performed all the steps, wait for a few seconds and your iPad Pro will boot up completely to the iPad Pro’s Lock screen.

See if the Pencil starts charging then, when it reaches a sufficient charge, like over 15%, or so, or more, disconnect the Pencil and reconnect it to see if it Bluetooth pairs.

If it does pair, try using it.

You can also try gently warming up your entire Pencil for a few minutes wrapped in a damp dry warm/hot face cloth/towel to warm up the entire Pencil for a few attempts/minutes.

Test the Pencil, again.

If still no joy, your Pencil is definitely dead.

If your Apple Pencil is still under its one-year warranty period, you are still entitled to a free replacement Apple Pencil from Apple.

Use the “Get Support” link, at the upper right hand corner of every Apple Support Community Webpage to attempt to schedule an appointment with your nearest Apple Store location and bring in both iPad your defective Pencil.

Apple Store employees will be glad to help/assist you with getting another free, replacement Apple Pencil.

Test this Pencil in the Apple Store before you leave the store to make sure both your iPad and replacement Pencil are working together.

Sorry and Best of Luck to You!

My 2nd Gen pencil went unused for many months, then would connect, showing 0%, but it would not charge. I connected the pencil to my iPad Pro via the magnet, shut off the iPad, and then powered on the iPad. The pencil now charges, and it now works fine.

Just to hopefully help anyone else going down this rabbit hole like I did... I had the same problem – I left the pencil (2nd gen) uncharged for several months and when snapping it to my iPad, it would register the pencil, but say 0%.

I tried everything I could find in every thread on the issue – reseting the bluetooth connection, hard resetting the iPad, etc. Nothing worked.

I read that the small battery in the pencil completely dies beyond recovery when leaving it uncharged for too long. I was feeling mucho dismay and planning a burial of my once-neglected pencil.

And yet WAIT, that once-dead pencil is now working... I'm honestly not sure what did the trick, but the only thing I did between it once staying 0% and it suddenly resurrecting from the deathly graves is the following:

1. I released then snapped it back to my iPad several times over and over for a couple minutes.
2. I then left it snapped onto my iPad with my iPad plugged into a charger overnight
3. The next morning I repeated the snap on and off procedure for a couple more minutes.
4. I came back to it some time later in the day and it had risen from the dead and worked perfectly

Doing a hard reset on the iPad with the Apple Pencil worked for me, it is now charging. Thanks!

volume up button

volume down button

hold down power button until apple logo appears

Voila

The heat trick worked for me too! Literally rolled the pencil on a hot water bottle for less than 3 minutes (with the bottle wrapped in a cloth). The pencil immediately reconnected and showed 100% batter charge. Works fine. So happy.

I got all depressed reading the doom and gloom posts suggesting that the battery must be dead after perhaps 2 years of non-use but after I followed the tip about powering off the iPad the pencil is recharging.

The hard reset of my iPad Pro while the pencil was connected worked like a charm. It began rechanging normally. I thought I was stuck buying a new iPencil due to a long period of no use (1 year). Thanks!

For me it was sufficient to remove the case and charge the Pencil directly against the iPad (I also plugged in the iPad but not sure if that made a difference). It started charging quickly after that.

Literally just found this page via google search. I put the Apple Pencil wrapped in a heating pad for only 5 minutes and it immediately jumped to 1% when i put it back on the iPad. Whew! Great tip, I thought it was dead for sure.

THANK YOU THIS HELPED SO MUCH!!! i wrapped my pen with three paper towels and put it on a flat pan with low heat for about 5-6 mins since i don't have a heating pad and IT WORKED! my pen is finally charging and connecting to my ipad

"Be aware that if your Pencil has been set-aside for an extended period, unused and uncharged, the Pencil battery may have been now be damaged through deep discharge. In common with all Li-ion batteries, they must always have some level of charge, requiring periodic recharge when unused to keep the battery healthy."

Is it part of the official Apple Pencil user guide or care instructions? I got my second pencil died like this and saw no official instruction or warning about this outcome.

Of course it is nice to learn that from Apple discussion board, but this doesn't constitute official instruction I believe.

I first unpaired and clicked on forget this device. Just turning my IPad off and on while the pencil was plugged in worked for me. After turning it on it asked it I want to pair my apple pencil. Cheers.

Mine wasn’t charging past 2% after sitting in my purse for 3 days. Did “forget the device” on Bluetooth and reconnected it, it’s working perfectly again!

The hard reset worked for me too. I had to do the reset on the iPad though while the pencil icon was still on the screen. It didn’t work if I just attached the pencil and hard restarted the iPad.