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Apple Pencil 2 Battery Life

Nanotyrns

Nanotyrns

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 16, 2012
1,443
1,478
Denver
My Pencil 2 arrive yesterday and the iPad Pro today. When I connected it to charge it was near dead. Typically Apple devices arrive with a substantial charge. Also, it has lost 4% just sitting there doing nothing at all on my desk in the past half hour or so.

How is everyone else's faring? Think I got a lemon?
 
Nanotyrns said:
My Pencil 2 arrive yesterday and the iPad Pro today. When I connected it to charge it was near dead. Typically Apple devices arrive with a substantial charge. Also, it has lost 4% just sitting there doing nothing at all on my desk in the past half hour or so.

How is everyone else's faring? Think I got a lemon?
Click to expand...
Nope.. same issue here. I have it laying on my desk after unpairing (Bluetooth wastes too much battery for my liking) and it drains even after being unpaired. Think the battery in this is much smaller or has a draining issue and needs to be fixed. The other pencil is a bit heavier, maybe it had a bigger battery.
 
That’s a good question, i haven’t tried. Maybe i’ll Try now. It’s so easy to just attach it so i’m So not used to not attaching it anymore.
 
Dammit Cubs said:
That’s a good question, i haven’t tried. Maybe i’ll Try now. It’s so easy to just attach it so i’m So not used to not attaching it anymore.
Click to expand...
Ok I guess Apple issued an update. Noticed this yesterday. Today I tried to trigger the update (you leave the pencil idle for 60 seconds but leave Bluetooth on and the pencil idle like around a desk. Says the update will take 10 minutes to complete, I left it sitting for an hour or two. I pulled it off a couple hours ago, and checked the battery at 94 percent. Snapped it back on, and it’s at 93.. Maybe they’ve fixed it ?
 
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I'm headed in to do Give Back on my old iPad Pro so I might just swap it then. Even my 1st gen Pencil holds charge better than that and it's going on 2 years old.
 
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tripleh3lix said:
Ok I guess Apple issued an update. Noticed this yesterday. Today I tried to trigger the update (you leave the pencil idle for 60 seconds but leave Bluetooth on and the pencil idle like around a desk. Says the update will take 10 minutes to complete, I left it sitting for an hour or two. I pulled it off a couple hours ago, and checked the battery at 94 percent. Snapped it back on, and it’s at 93.. Maybe they’ve fixed it ?
Click to expand...

I started the test - i’ll Start the time stamp and give you a drain chart. Lol
 
tripleh3lix said:
Ok I guess Apple issued an update. Noticed this yesterday. Today I tried to trigger the update (you leave the pencil idle for 60 seconds but leave Bluetooth on and the pencil idle like around a desk. Says the update will take 10 minutes to complete, I left it sitting for an hour or two. I pulled it off a couple hours ago, and checked the battery at 94 percent. Snapped it back on, and it’s at 93.. Maybe they’ve fixed it ?
Click to expand...
I saw that too but it's been idle for a while before that. Any way to find out what the updated software version number is?
 
Nanotyrns said:
I'm headed in to do Give Back on my old iPad Pro so I might just swap it then. Even my 1st gen Pencil holds charge better than that and it's going on 2 years old.
Click to expand...
Good idea. If I had an Apple store nearby, I’d do the same tbh. But mine seems fine and is staying consistent. Also, hard reset your iPad at least once and then try my suggestion above first tonight. It’s what I did and so far so good.
Nanotyrns said:
I saw that too but it's been idle for a while before that. Any way to find out what the updated software version number is?
Click to expand...
I can’t tell. I’m not crazy right ? There was an update. Pretty sure I read that right somewhere. Probably here. was gonna link you to it if I could find it
 
tripleh3lix said:
Mine is 0128.0084.0444.0052
Click to expand...
That's what mine is too. Yeah I saw the article earlier about the unresponsiveness. What has me questioning whether or not it's defective is that it arrived at 4%. I feel like that's way low.

I'm gonna head in to the store now and I'll just swap it and see. If it does the same thing we know it's firmware.
 
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Nanotyrns said:
That's what mine is too. Yeah I saw the article earlier about the unresponsiveness. What has me questioning whether or not it's defective is that it arrived at 4%. I feel like that's way low.

I'm gonna head in to the store now and I'll just swap it and see. If it does the same thing we know it's firmware.
Click to expand...
Mine actually arrived around 2-3% as well. My iPad however was 100%.
 
tripleh3lix said:
Mine actually arrived around 2-3% as well. My iPad however was 100%.
Click to expand...
This new one is at 20%. Well, maybe it has an accelerometer and the act of shipping it kept turning it on every 10 minutes. We'll see how this one goes.
 
Nanotyrns said:
This new one is at 20%. Well, maybe it has an accelerometer and the act of shipping it kept turning it on every 10 minutes. We'll see how this one goes.
Click to expand...

Weird, mine came at like 96%, but haven't been able to use much today to see battery life.
 
here are my numbers:
  • 100% 6:34pm
  • 96% 6:58pm
  • 95% 7:30pm
  • 94% (tablet was sleeping and i went out) - 9:20pm
 
Dammit Cubs said:
here are my numbers:
  • 100% 6:34pm
  • 96% 6:58pm
  • 95% 7:30pm
  • 94% (tablet was sleeping and i went out) - 9:20pm
Click to expand...
Yeah mine is actually doing fine during use even thought it lost a few percent just sitting on the desk. I don't think it's updated it's firmware though. Hopefully it will do that on its own overnight.
 
0128.0084.0444.0052

I think I have to most updated firmware. Maybe that’s why it dropped 4% initially
 
Mine seems better on the second day. The pencil went from 100% to 96% when detached and idling for 3 hours. On the first day it dropped that much when detached and idling for ~10 minutes.
 
If you disable Bluetooth for good (not temporarily - for good, in internal iOS settings) and prior to that “forget” / unpair the Pencil, will it waste how much battery in a day?

I am asking this because the old Pencil isn’t broadcasting anything unless pairing occurs, this can be checked with a EMF meter. In comparison the AirPods are said to broadcast all the time unless they are back to their charger case, that’s when they aren’t scanning the environment for a nearby device, to pair or maintain Bluetooth connection.

Still there must be for the old Pencil something that ultimately wastes battery even under these conditions of not in use (this is how the iPad battery works). The question is: with Bluetooth disabled and the Pencil 2 unpaired, can it last for several days? I know my old Pencil can.
 
Despite not using my Apple Pencil 2 at all, for the past 24 hours, the battery level dropped from 96% to 74%. With my first Gen Apple Pencil, the battery level literally lasted for weeks with sporadic use.

Edit: wanted to mention that Bluetooth was disabled on my iPad Pro 11”, but battery power was still depleting on the pencil.
 
Last edited:
laurenr said:
Despite not using my Apple Pencil 2 at all, for the past 24 hours, the battery level dropped from 96% to 74%. With my first Gen Apple Pencil, the battery level literally lasted for weeks with sporadic use.

Edit: wanted to mention that Bluetooth was disabled on my iPad Pro 11”, but battery power was still depleting on the pencil.
Click to expand...
Was it disabled temporarily or permanently? If you disabled BT from Control Center (iOS 11 and later) then it's still activated for the Pencil.

To disable permanently:
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-really-turn-off-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-in-ios-11-1818655697

I wonder if disabling for good would still waste the same with this new Pencil.
 
Perene said:
Was it disabled temporarily or permanently? If you disabled BT from Control Center (iOS 11 and later) then it's still activated for the Pencil.

To disable permanently:
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-really-turn-off-wi-fi-and-bluetooth-in-ios-11-1818655697

I wonder if disabling for good would still waste the same with this new Pencil.
Click to expand...

Nope, made sure it was disabled in Bluetooth settings, and besides that, the Apple Pencil was in a room the other side of a large house.
 
Same firmware and same discharge rates here. Beginning to think that's the way it's going to work. They assume it will always be in contact with the charger when not in use so not an issue.
 
Jimpilot said:
Same firmware and same discharge rates here. Beginning to think that's the way it's going to work. They assume it will always be in contact with the charger when not in use so not an issue.
Click to expand...
My replacement is behaving the same as the original as well. I was worried it was a defective battery but it may just be software, like it's not accurately reporting the charge. It appears not to discharge as fast when in use so I agree it's probably fine.
 
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