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Apple Pencil's effect on iPad Pro battery?

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badlydrawnboy

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Oct 20, 2003
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I charged my iPad Pro (11") to 100% last night and left the pencil attached to it. By mid-day, the iPad was down to 85% battery, and I hadn't even touched it. It seems like just having the pencil attached has a significant effect on the iPad's battery life. Has anyone else noticed this?

I wish there was a setting to decide whether the pencil should charge or not. I'm not a heavy pencil user, so most of the time I'd prioritize the iPad's battery over the pencil's. But it seems that by default, the pencil is drawing on the iPad's battery to keep its charge at 100%.
 
The battery is tiny in the pencil in comparison to the battery in the iPad. I would think the current draw is something else other than topping off the battery.
 
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badlydrawnboy said:
I charged my iPad Pro (11") to 100% last night and left the pencil attached to it. By mid-day, the iPad was down to 85% battery, and I hadn't even touched it. It seems like just having the pencil attached has a significant effect on the iPad's battery life. Has anyone else noticed this?

I wish there was a setting to decide whether the pencil should charge or not. I'm not a heavy pencil user, so most of the time I'd prioritize the iPad's battery over the pencil's. But it seems that by default, the pencil is drawing on the iPad's battery to keep its charge at 100%.
Click to expand...

I am seeing a pretty good draw too. Assume it’s from the pencil, though it’s not quite as drastic for me.
 
Maybe the iPad Pro 11's battery isn't as good as my iPad Pro 10.5"? Because with that, if I charge it to full and then just leave it sitting on a table for half a day, the battery will still be pretty close to 100%—not 85% as it has been with the iPad Pro 11".

I guess I can test it by charging the iPad Pro 11" to 100% and not attaching the pencil to it.
 
badlydrawnboy said:
Maybe the iPad Pro 11's battery isn't as good as my iPad Pro 10.5"? Because with that, if I charge it to full and then just leave it sitting on a table for half a day, the battery will still be pretty close to 100%—not 85% as it has been with the iPad Pro 11".

I guess I can test it by charging the iPad Pro 11" to 100% and not attaching the pencil to it.
Click to expand...
If you don’t connect the pencil it won’t constantly try to charge it. So you won’t notice the battery drain. I’ve noticed with the pencil connected to the iPad it’s 10% draw an hour if the iPad is active, it’s about 2% draw an hour if the iPad is asleep.
 
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Yeah. Thing is, it’s way more convenient to leave it connected rather than having to remember to carry it separately. I’m getting more than 2% an hour drain when pencil is connected and iPad asleep. More like 3-4%. Will do some more testing tomorrow. Thanks.
 
The new pencil is probably like the old and has a motion sensor in it, keeping it alive when moved around and connected - it will use pencil battery and if attached to the iPad and moved around, it will draw some power.
 
The pencil doesn’t seem to draw a charge if the magnet is grabbing the bottom of the pencil (vs the middle of it).

At least the “Apple Pencil 100%” thing only appears if it’s centered on the iPad.
 
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have you checked the Battery section withing Settings to see what is using up the battery?
 
When I went to bed last night I left my pencil attached to my iPad and didn’t bother to plug it in. It was at 74% when I went to bed, and when I picked it up this morning it was still sitting at 74%.
 
largefarrva said:
When I went to bed last night I left my pencil attached to my iPad and didn’t bother to plug it in. It was at 74% when I went to bed, and when I picked it up this morning it was still sitting at 74%.
Click to expand...

Okay, must be an issue with my iPad or pencil then. I'll call Apple. I charged my iPad overnight. Will unplug now and leave pencil unattached and see what happens with battery.
 
There is no way this is the Pencil battery causing this.

How long have you had the iPP? There is typically a large amount of downloading going on in the background when you first set up a new iOS device, especially if you have restored from iCloud.
 
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The keynote mentioned how the Pro had battery management for the new Pencil built into it. Given all the magnetic connections I strongly suspect the pencil is fully asleep whilst docked, and will only charge if it less than 100%.

The old pencil had terrible battery because even carrying it around would cause it to wake up and pay attention. The new pencil, when docked, shouldn’t be using any battery at all.
 
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zhenya said:
There is no way this is the Pencil battery causing this.

How long have you had the iPP? There is typically a large amount of downloading going on in the background when you first set up a new iOS device, especially if you have restored from iCloud.
Click to expand...

I received the iPad Monday night and restored from iCloud that night. Could it have still been downloading stuff through Wed? I have a very fast internet connection. Anyhow, I'll see what happens this morning with the iPad charged to full last night and with the pencil disconnected.
 
Rogifan said:
Does that only show apps or would it show connected devices too?
Click to expand...

I think it is only apps but then you will see if there were any apps using a lot of battery around that time instead of the assumption it was the Pencil. Would be good to confirm.
 
badlydrawnboy said:
I received the iPad Monday night and restored from iCloud that night. Could it have still been downloading stuff through Wed? I have a very fast internet connection. Anyhow, I'll see what happens this morning with the iPad charged to full last night and with the pencil disconnected.
Click to expand...

I think it’s possible. My experience is that some data pulled from Apple servers can be exceptionally slow - nothing to do with the speed of your home connection. This is especially true in my experience for downloading large amounts of music or pictures.
 
I charged my 11 yesterday, pencil attached, and set it on my nightstand at bedtime at 95%. I woke up to it at 85%. This is my first cellular iPad, however.
 
H3LL5P4WN said:
I charged my 11 yesterday, pencil attached, and set it on my nightstand at bedtime at 95%. I woke up to it at 85%. This is my first cellular iPad, however.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm relieved to report that it seems that it was the iCloud setup that was draining the iPad battery, rather than the pencil, as many of you suggested. I charged the iPad overnight and then removed the pencil. The iPad stayed at 100% for five hours with no use. Then I attached the pencil. 5 hours later the iPad was still at 100% even with the pencil attached.

I used the iPad and pencil lightly last night, then left the pencil attached and didn't plug the iPad in overnight. This morning the iPad is at 93% and the pencil at 100%. All is well.
 
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The old pencil took only about 10 min to reach full charge via the ipad's lightning port. I would think even it ran continuously it would hardly make a dent in a iPad's battery over the course of 24 hours.
 
badlydrawnboy said:
Well, I'm relieved to report that it seems that it was the iCloud setup that was draining the iPad battery, rather than the pencil, as many of you suggested. I charged the iPad overnight and then removed the pencil. The iPad stayed at 100% for five hours with no use. Then I attached the pencil. 5 hours later the iPad was still at 100% even with the pencil attached.

I used the iPad and pencil lightly last night, then left the pencil attached and didn't plug the iPad in overnight. This morning the iPad is at 93% and the pencil at 100%. All is well.
Click to expand...

Most of my usage seems to be Mail and Photos, which would suggest that while the keep the thumbnail local until needed option is on, my 1tb iPad is likely pulling down my entire photo library while on WiFi, lol.
 
Before I left for work my iPad (12.9 Wifi) was at 99% at 5:30am this morning. It’s 4:20pm right now and it’s at 96% with the pencil attached all day while I was gone. So 11 hours and 3% drop, I don’t think the pencil is having any real effect on the iPad’s battery.
 
For me, the Pencil being attached at all times is causing battery problems. When I leave it off the iPad after charging it up, the iPad loses hardly any charge at all in standby—maybe 1%. With it attached it will lose up to 10% overnight, and the pencil never goes into standby. In fact, I’ve seen the pencil start draining too even while attached.

It seems there’s a software issue where a) the Pencil isn’t going to sleep after being topped off, and b) the iPad in turn keeps thinking it needs to be charging the Pencil. I had my Pencil swapped out for a new one and am still having this issue.
 
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