Apple Pencil 2 draining iPad Pro battery

I think people are kind of missing the point here. The iPad Pro has a nearly 37 Wh battery. The Pencil on the other hand has a 0.4 Wh battery.

We know that when disconnected from the iPad Pro, the Pencil battery drops by maybe 5-10% per day. Therefore, if attached to the iPad, why do we see such huge drops in iPad battery life, considering the standby power consumption of the pencil when detached from the iPad is so low?

In my case, the iPad battery drops 10% in 12h with the Pencil attached. This equates to 3-4 Wh of power. The equivalent of 10 full discharge-recharge cycles of the Pencil battery.

Clearly, there is something going badly wrong here. Moreover, if the Pencil really is drawing the equivalent of 10 cycles in a 12h period, this must be crucifying the battery and massively shortening its life.

As for the weird drops to 70% and lower, I too have had this happen, and I believe it is a special mode designed to protect the battery from overcharging when it has spent a lot of time up at ~100%. It’s almost like a hibernation mode for a pencil that hasn’t been used in a while. When my pencil goes into this mode, I do not get iPad battery drain. Perhaps they could make this mode initiate sooner. Either way though, the amount the pencil is drawing when attached is so high that it simply must be a bug or a flaw. The pencil should be drawing only the same amount it would need to compensate for what it loses when deattached from the iPad, which is about 5-10% per 24h period.

I too have submitted a bug report. I just hope they take note.

I literally cannot believe Apple.

On 12.1.4 they pushed the x60 firmware update to the Pencil. This totally fixed the problem.

Upon updating to 12.2, the firmware is still x60. But now the insidious ~10% per 24h drain has returned.

Can anyone else confirm what kind of standby drain they get per 24h? I am pretty much solidly on 10% now.

On 12.1.4 with the new Pencil firmware this drain was only 3-5% per 24h.

Get it together Apple!

Background tasks will always account for some battery usage whilst the iPad is idle - and the background activity will be heavily influenced by your individual setup of Apps, notifications, email configuration (such number of accounts, push/fetch intervals) etc. An attached Apple Pencil will also increase consumption.

On average, 10% battery depletion per day for an idle iPad is likely a reasonable expectation.

I could totally accept this. If detaching the pencil didn’t turn a 10% drain into a 2% drain.

The pencil has a tiny battery. And if detached loses 5-10% of its battery in 24h standby. There is no reason why it should need to draw 8% of the iPad Pro’s battery just to top up that tiny battery by 5-10%.

Hi my apologies....I bought one of these minimal cases which holds the pencil

I’m noticing that if I have my Apple Pencil 2 attached to my iPad Pro for a while without using it, the Pencil starts discharging a little every day—maybe about 5% per day. For a while the iPad will continue topping it off, but then it stops. The Pencil shows as still attached and connected, just not charging. This will drain my iPad’s battery anywhere from 10-20% every 24 hours or so unless I remember to detach/attach the Pencil now and then to start the charge process over again.

I’m not really sure what to do about it. I’ve had the Pencil replaced thinking it was a faulty Pencil. I’m not going into the store again to get the iPad replaced and then run into the same thing. I feel like this is a software issue, as I’ve only been noticing it since 12.1.2.

I’m having the exact same issue. Before I had the Apple Pencil I didnt have the over night drain issue. I’m going to start doing the slide the pencil off the charger at night for now. Hopefully and update can fix this.

I haven’t had the issue for the last couple of iOS updates. I leave the Pencil attached to the iPad whenever it’s not in use and I’m not seeing any extra drain anymore. Appears to have been a software issue in my case.

Submit feedback to Apple, from my above link, so they can be aware and start working on this issue.

Hi not tried this yet but what if you turn the pencil round so the flat side is not in the charging position??

Hello,

I have exactly the same symptoms with the iPad 11 version 12.1.1.

I just had my pencil and my iPad replaced in Apple store (France).

The result is the same, battery loss if the pencil is charging during a standby period of about 10% for 8h standby.

The defect is not recognized by the Apple store (only notes) or Apple care.

Do you think this defect will be corrected?

thank you in advance for your feedback...

[Image Edited by Host to Remove Personal Information]

Apple may not recognise this as a defect.

The Apple Pencil IS supposed to charge up completely from the iPad.

So, it stands to reason it is going to constantly drain the battery of the iPad.

See my solution two posts above yours.

I reported as suggested. I proposed a what I feel is a simple fix. Would require the following:

1. ipad Pro should automatically turn off wireless charging when pencil reaches 100% for a period of time (guessing 30 minutes would be ok).
2. iPad Pro should turn on wireless charging each time pencil is connected.

with those two it should never end up in charging for more than 30 minutes when not needed.

I understand the iPad’s battery draining, after all it is charging the pencil constantly. But a couple of weeks ago, I started noticing that after getting to 100%,, the pencil starts losing charge slowly. I left it untouched for a few days and it will get all the way down unless I dettach it and attach it again. Took it to the Apple store and they said it was very weird and it shouldn’t do that. They restored the settings and said if it keeps on doing that, I should restore from iTunes. of course it is still doing it, but I don’t see what restoring it from iTunes will do. They ordered a replacement pencil, but I’m wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

This is definitely an ongoing issue.

And you are right.

Doesn't make sense for both not to be charged up fully.

Go back a few pages ( page 2, I think ) and look for my Apple iPad feedback link reply post.

In the posting, I have included a link to call/reach Apple directly in Cupertino, California and you can talk with a customer service /technical supoort rep about this issue.

Best of Luck to You!