Apple Pencil Pro left hand issues

[cobioguy]

Went to the Apple Store to check out the new iPads as I still have a 10.5 inch pro. Played with the new Apple Pencil pro but had difficulty with the barrel squeeze and selecting from the pop ups. After much trouble it seems it does not expect you to be left handed?!?
Tried with my right hand and it worked as it should. When holding in my left hand the far options on the right hand side exited rather than letting me select them.
Any other left handers figure out how to master this or know if there is a left hand setting hidden somewhere to fix the issue ?

 

[wib]

I'm in the same boat as you. I still have the 10.5 (desperately trying to make up my mind which new model to buy) and am left-handed.

I don't own the new iPads or pencils yet, but have been to the shops to try out the new models and pencils so often, that I seem to be able to select things from the far right relatively easily now. In the beginning I couldn't but didn't make a connection to handedness. There may be an official setting, but, as someone who's just temporarily trying the display models, it does seem to be a skill that you pick up over time.

Hopefully someone who actually owns one will be able to give you a definitive answer though.

 

[richpjr]

I am lefthanded and just got my APP yesterday. I am not sure what you are seeing. I am not having any difficulty selecting the far options on the right-hand side of the popup.

 

[Assasin238]

Went to the Apple Store to check out the new iPads as I still have a 10.5 inch pro. Played with the new Apple Pencil pro but had difficulty with the barrel squeeze and selecting from the pop ups. After much trouble it seems it does not expect you to be left handed?!?
Tried with my right hand and it worked as it should. When holding in my left hand the far options on the right hand side exited rather than letting me select them.
Any other left handers figure out how to master this or know if there is a left hand setting hidden somewhere to fix the issue ?

I have the same issue . I recently bought the new iPad Pro and when I open for example notes, squeeze for more tools, and then try to tap on the 3 dots, well it does not work xDD, and the color palette works but hardly to tap. But on the right hand, everything works fine.

 

[NastyMatt]

mmm.. just tried this left handed and it worked fine (same as right handed).

When tapping on the 3 dots does it move slightly larger when hovering? It does for me and selecting it the next menu pops up. Did all this in Notes.

 

[/V\acpower]

Just bought a new iPad Air with Apple Pencil Pro. Left handed : exact same issue.

It's very hard to select tools, like the pointer is actually misaligned. Have to aim way higher than you normally have to to select.

No issue with my right hand.

(Honestly I think the Pencil should have a setting to make left handed the default. If I squeeze when I'm a bit out of range, it often shows the right hand tool.

 

[Neofox]

I am left handed and have zero issues... not sure what we are making differently..
EDIT: after playing with it, the three dots are annoying to get some times

 

[DenniSundaY]

I have the same issue with my iPad mini 7. When testing it in store I had no issues at all but when I got home I thought I went crazy. After finding this issue on Apple's forum I can indeed confirm it depends on how you hold it. That some left-handed people don't experience this is probably because they're holding differently: Try holding the Pencil as horizontal as possible with your left hand and you'll see it's impossible to tap the buttons on the right...

 

[cobioguy]

I have the same issue with my iPad mini 7. When testing it in store I had no issues at all but when I got home I thought I went crazy. After finding this issue on Apple's forum I can indeed confirm it depends on how you hold it. That some left-handed people don't experience this is probably because they're holding differently: Try holding the Pencil as horizontal as possible with your left hand and you'll see it's impossible to tap the buttons on the right...

Have a link to the Apple forum I’d like to chime in on that one for visibility

 

[DenniSundaY]

Have a link to the Apple forum I’d like to chime in on that one for visibility

This is one I found LINK. I wanted to do the same but they've all been closed (you can still "me too" of course). Some people made newer post because of the reason this one was closed but that one also closed down. I'm not sure what the point of a forum is if threads automatically get closed after a few weeks of inactivity :')

Anyway, the reports are almost as old as the Pencil Pro is of course so I hope the have a fix soon. I might ask on Reddit if the iPadOS 18.2 beta fixed it (not running it myself).

 

[jhollington]

Anyway, the reports are almost as old as the Pencil Pro is of course so I hope the have a fix soon. I might ask on Reddit if the iPadOS 18.2 beta fixed it (not running it myself).

Sadly, no. It’s still an issue in the latest iPadOS 18.2 beta released this week.

I’m starting to wonder if Apple has any lefties on its Apple Pencil team… I’ve also often wished the Pencil would magnetically attach to the left side of the iPad too, even if it can’t charge from there. I hold my iPad mini upside down so I can dock the Pencil there when I’m using it intermittently, but that’s kind of awkward… I had to add my thumbprint to the Touch ID sensor 😀

 

[DenniSundaY]

Sadly, no. It’s still an issue in the latest iPadOS 18.2 beta released this week.

I’m starting to wonder if Apple has any lefties on its Apple Pencil team…

Thank you for your response, what a shame but now I know I don't need to keep my hopes up for 18.2 anymore. I wrote feedback about it to Apple and I'm hoping enough people do so as well.

I was wondering the same thing though. If they had tested it with at least one lefty they should've discovered it immediately. But even without lefties in their Pencil team they still have to test their new products/software in some way, one would assume anyway.

 

[jhollington]

Thank you for your response, what a shame but now I know I don't need to keep my hopes up for 18.2 anymore. I wrote feedback about it to Apple and I'm hoping enough people do so as well.

I was wondering the same thing though. If they had tested it with at least one lefty they should've discovered it immediately. But even without lefties in their Pencil team they still have to test their new products/software in some way, one would assume anyway.

Yup, I’ve just done the same. More testing reveals that the undo button and colour picker can be activated if you hit them in precisely the right spot (see attached screenshot). However, it’s pretty finicky, and the spots aren’t intuitive. You need the hover gesture to be able to discover them, which, as I said in my feedback submission, kind of defeats the purpose of having a quick access tool. The three-dot menu isn’t accessible at all.

Maybe us lefties should all email Tim Cook and Apple‘s head of accessibility and tell them that they’re discriminating against left-handed people 😏 (I’m only half joking, because this is a legitimate accessibility issue).

 

[DenniSundaY]

Yup, I’ve just done the same. More testing reveals that the undo button and colour picker can be activated if you hit them in precisely the right spot (see attached screenshot). However, it’s pretty finicky, and the spots aren’t intuitive. You need the hover gesture to be able to discover them, which, as I said in my feedback submission, kind of defeats the purpose of having a quick access tool. The three-dot menu isn’t accessible at all.

Maybe us lefties should all email Tim Cook and Apple‘s head of accessibility and tell them that they’re discriminating against left-handed people 😏 (I’m only half joking, because this is a legitimate accessibility issue).

Thank you! I am able to recreate these sweet spots, however for the undo button it's more at the far right position (at least on my iPad mini). It might differ per iPad model as I'm not sure if this UI element has the same dimensions thus 'hit boxes' for all different screen sizes.

I also have figured out another workaround a while ago: Squeeze the Pencil when you're close to the screen with the pencil pointing left so that the palette lines up on the left (like it would do when using your right hand). The next time when you squeeze the pencil while not close to the screen it will keep the palette in the 'right hand' position and everything is accessible.

This is still far for from ideal as you have to remember to raise your hand and Pencil before squeezing, otherwise it'll line up 'the wrong way' again (our way lol). And it won't pop up where you are/were holding your hand also tremendously defeating the whole purpose of a quick access tool. You almost could say you're better off using the 'legacy palette' (which I'm always struggling with too for some reason).

 

[DenniSundaY]

Addition: I walked in an Apple Store today to do some testing and my assumption different iPad sizes may differ was correct, however I was still surprised about my findings.

On the iPad Pro 13” I found no issues whatsoever, everything works fine. On the 11” there are the known issues discussed here and the same goes for the iPad mini (which is the worst). I didn’t test the iPad Air’s but I assume it’s the same as on thd Pro’s.

 

[jhollington]

Addition: I walked in an Apple Store today to do some testing and my assumption different iPad sizes may differ was correct, however I was still surprised about my findings.

On the iPad Pro 13” I found no issues whatsoever, everything works fine. On the 11” there are the known issues discussed here and the same goes for the iPad mini (which is the worst). I didn’t test the iPad Air’s but I assume it’s the same as on thd Pro’s.

Interesting. I did the same thing last week, but all the iPads exhibited similar problems for me. It was less pronounced on the larger ones, but hitting the right spots was difficult even on the 13-inch iPads.

Anyway, I've submitted feedback to Apple, but I also figured it was worth writing about in the hopes of perhaps drawing more attention to the problem...

I got an Apple Pencil Pro for my new iPad and found a big problem | Digital Trends

The Apple Pencil Pro is a fantastic stylus, but it feels like Apple's designers forgot about left-handed people.

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[DenniSundaY]

Interesting. I did the same thing last week, but all the iPads exhibited similar problems for me. It was less pronounced on the larger ones, but hitting the right spots was difficult even on the 13-inch iPads.

Anyway, I've submitted feedback to Apple, but I also figured it was worth writing about in the hopes of perhaps drawing more attention to the problem...

I got an Apple Pencil Pro for my new iPad and found a big problem | Digital Trends

The Apple Pencil Pro is a fantastic stylus, but it feels like Apple's designers forgot about left-handed people.

www.digitaltrends.com

Thank you so much for this! I am going to read the full article later, but this is exactly what I was hoping for. If a bug or problem (even the smallest one) gets a lot of media attention it usually gets fixed rather quickly (or at least Apple takes the effort to mention that particular problem in the release notes), but for that to happen it still needs to get media attention in the first place. I'm hoping your article will get read and picked up by other big sites, like for example, MacRumors perhaps?

As for our separate test findings: I didn't had much time to test it but initially every button worked every single time I hit it with the Pencil on the 13", however it probably still depends on how you hold the pencil and I fortuitously held it in a good way I suppose. Thank you for sharing that too, I believe your testing was a bit more extensive.

 

[wib]

Interesting. I did the same thing last week, but all the iPads exhibited similar problems for me. It was less pronounced on the larger ones, but hitting the right spots was difficult even on the 13-inch iPads.

Anyway, I've submitted feedback to Apple, but I also figured it was worth writing about in the hopes of perhaps drawing more attention to the problem...

I got an Apple Pencil Pro for my new iPad and found a big problem | Digital Trends

The Apple Pencil Pro is a fantastic stylus, but it feels like Apple's designers forgot about left-handed people.

www.digitaltrends.com

I read it and it's good.

I don't know if you're able to fix it after it goes live, but I noticed a typo in paragraph 2: hand in hans- (hand in hand).

I hope lots of people do read your article and it gets more attention!

 

[jhollington]

I read it and it's good.

I don't know if you're able to fix it after it goes live, but I noticed a typo in paragraph 2: hand in hans- (hand in hand).

Haha, thanks. Not sure how that made it past the copy editors