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Does Apple Pencil have an on/off button?

Does apple pencil have a way to power it on when you need it, and able to power off when not in use to conserve battery life?

Apple Pencil-OTHER

Posted on Dec 1, 2015 8:31 PM

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Posted on Jan 16, 2016 9:43 AM

How do I check the charge level on the Apple Pencil?

15 replies

Jul 16, 2017 5:20 AM in response to jaredkempker16

I had charged my Apple Pencil to 100% and did not use it at all for more than 12 hours. When I checked the charge in the morning the Pencil was showing only 55% charge remaining. That was after not using it. I decided that the way I will create my own on/off switch for the Apple Pencil is to go to the Bluetooth settings on my iPad and click ther info button and click on "forget this device". This is my off switch. Then for my "on switch" I just take off the cap and plug it in to the intending port on the iPad Pro. That's quite a workaround for a simple switch that Apple should have built into the Apple PenciL. And there are several other things Apple should have done for the Pencil. They should have included a clip to use when you keep the penci in your pocked. I solved this by buying the "Chrome Clip for 400 series Bullet Pen" from Amazon. Works perfectly. I also use my magic keyboard rather than the Apple case with keyboard since the magic keyboard works much better. For my case, I bought a Belk 1pad Pro 10.5 Case from Amazon. It is a wonderful case. It has a loop that I can use to slip in the Pencil when I want to keep it with my IPad. The case also can act as a stand to view the screen upright just like the Apple keyboard case. It has pockets for credit cards and ID and a slot for bills. (I never use these). Finally, because I want to make sure that the pen is secure in its case when I put it in there, I decided I wanted a second loop. So I purchased a pack of 8 self-adhesive leather pen holders from Amazon (costs about $8), Each holder has an adhesive backing. I pasted one loop at the end of the case (back of the case) so that the front of the pencil is in one loop and the cap of the pencil is in the second loop. That allows the loop to prevent the cap from accident Ly falling off. And one other thing. When I just need to use a stylus and don't need to use the Apple Pencil and drain its battery, I use my ADONIT DASH 2 stylus that I bought from Amazon. Unlike the Apple Pencil, it has an on/off switch and a pocket clip. Hope these suggestions help.

Dec 13, 2015 7:38 AM in response to Keiron Smith

Keiron Smith wrote:


Yea the battery life isn't that great, no off button but it needs a better battery. I literally watch my percentage go down while my pencil is on the dresser chilling And I'm watching videos on my iPad.

If you turn off BT the pencil will go into sleep mode. Similarly, if the iPad Pro is in sleep mode, so is the pencil. You can charge both the iPad Pro and pencil to 100% and leave them sitting side by side overnight, with the iPad in sleep mode and in the morning the pencil will still be at 99-100% charge. But as long as the iPad is in use and BT is on, and the pencil in range, then yes, the pencil maintains an active pairing.

Jun 2, 2016 9:36 PM in response to jaredkempker16

I don't know why nobody has thought of this, but just simply unpair your pencil.
Go into your Settings, then bluetooth, then click on apple pencil, and Forget this device.

Boom, problem solved. Need to use it again?
Plug it into your pro and take the 5 seconds to re-pair it.

This makes it so you dont have to disable bluetooth to shut it off.


(edit) My bad, just looked again and this was mentioned already.

Sorry for repost

Dec 25, 2015 5:48 AM in response to corkcampbell

If you are not using the pencil just swipe up from the bottom in the iPad and turn off Bluetooth. once the BT connection is cut, the pencil will go into standby mode and the iPad will no longer be connecting as well.


even with the pencil nearby and a Logitech create keyboard drawing power from the iPad pro I can still work for 6-7 hours straight using pages and a freehand notes app, email and safari.

Dec 25, 2015 9:18 AM in response to Michael Black

Thanks, Michael, but that won't work if I want to use a Bluetooth keyboard. Actually, I have Bluetooth off right now for the reason you gave, but I type using a BT keyboard so when I turn BT back on to use the keyboard, the Pencil will start using power again. I'm surprised that there's no way just to turn off the BT pairing with just one device (Pencil) and leave the other devices paired. Of course, I could just use the "forget this device" each time but that seems kind of a hassle. Using the Smart Keyboard from Apple would solve this problem but that keyboard cover doesn't allow one to have the iPad at the position with the rear up a little, like the Smart Cover does, which is a good position to use when using the Pencil. Even if it did, the keyboard would be in the way. I'm saying that based on photos of the keyboard. I have a class at an Apple Store on Sunday and I will check out the demo keyboards and also discuss the Bluetooth issue. However, they may not have an answer because I was told a few days I was their only customer that actually had a Pencil from their store - don't know if that's true, of course. I happened to be their Wednesday when one came in - yes, just one, ha ha.

Jan 16, 2016 10:03 AM in response to Critchey

Critchey wrote:


How do I check the charge level on the Apple Pencil?

Swipe down to bring up the notifications panel. Under the today view go and edit the list of active widgets to include the battery widget. Now you can swipe down to bring up the notifications window, select widgets and see the pencil and other BT connected device's battery level.

Apr 2, 2016 6:14 AM in response to corkcampbell

If you properly read the thread you would see that yes this does work even with a bluetooth keyboard. Here are the steps.


1. Shut off bluetooth - apple pencil goes into standby mode

2. Turn bluetooth back on, apple pencil will not automatically reconnect like your keyboard will.

3. Now you can keep working on your keyboard

4. If you want to use apple pencil, remove cap and stick into lightning port on ipad and it will re-repair with ipad.


5. Repeat as needed, simple on/off of bluetooth.


yes this is a pain, but it is a work around.

Does Apple Pencil have an on/off button?

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