Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPad Pro Pencil Hover not working unless I tap the screen first?

S

safari70

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
87
30
ON
I have a Pencil 2 from last year and just got a new M2 iPad Pro 12.9, was testing Pencil Hover but it does not work unless i first tap the screen with the tip of the pencil which really defeats the purpose (for e.g. in paint/drawing apps) - And when it works, if i lift the pencil a bit farther away from screen it stops working until i tap the tip on the screen again!

Any one else having the same issue? Could it be caused by the pencil or defective iPad screen? Thanks.
 
C

cupcakes2000

macrumors 601
Apr 13, 2010
4,037
5,429
This seems like it could be a bug, you should offer feedback to Apple on this. I don’t have an m2 iPad so I cannot know - but it sounds like a bit of a severe limitation if it’s not a bug.
 
I

iStorm

macrumors 68020
Sep 18, 2012
2,035
2,442
That doesn't sound normal. Just to rule out user error, how high are you holding the pencil from the screen? The hover feature only works within 12mm, so about 1cm or half an inch.
 
S

safari70

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
87
30
ON
I get it very close to the screen, almost touching, nothing… then I tap once, pull up slightly, and then it works as long as I keep the pencil close enough (12mm)…

As soon as I pull it away a bit more (1cm) then back closer it stops work, as if the connection gets lost. I have to repeat the tap and then it works again.

I’ll pass by the shop tomorrow to try another pencil to rule it out…
 
S

safari70

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
87
30
ON
It’s happening with Apple apps like Notes, Safari, and general UI which all should be supported…
 
Jackbequickly

Jackbequickly

macrumors 68040
Aug 6, 2022
3,185
3,277
You might have a defect as my Apple Pencil works well hovering. On this site if I hover over the “Like” button, the 4-5 selections pop up just like if I were to hold my finger on it. Could be a bad pencil, also. I am using a 12.9 M2 1TB.
 
S

safari70

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 10, 2006
87
30
ON
Thanks for all the replies, we managed to solve it at the Apple pop up store, here’s what we did in case it helps someone with a similar issue:

The first time I set up the iPad, I chose to restore settings/apps/etc from my previous M1 iPad Pro backup from iCloud.

This apparently brought in some incompatible config/settings causing the weird behavior with Hover.

After we did an erase / reset all and then set it up as a “new” iPad without restoring anything from iCloud, Pencil Hover just worked seamlessly!

Maybe had we just reset all settings (without erase all) it would have also worked, not sure, but it’s worth trying…

In any case, I signed into iCloud after testing Hover, synced my settings, reinstalled all apps, and everything works perfectly fine.

So here you go… nothing beats setting up a new iDevice from scratch and restoring settings afterwards.
 
  • Like
Reactions: robydiamond, philliez98, BotchQue and 2 others
tekchic

tekchic

macrumors 68020
Apr 19, 2010
2,056
1,763
Phoenix, AZ
That's wild - thanks for coming back to post your solution! I tend to always set up as new for iPad's, and my hover was fine -- good to know there are some quirks on the restore from backup.
 
O

outlawarth

macrumors 6502a
Mar 20, 2011
555
774
Thanks for sharing. This is yet further validation that setting up Apple devices as new is not a bad idea. I do it at every major iPados/iOS release.
 
D

Diamond Zero

macrumors newbie
Oct 29, 2022
4
2
I have the same problem on my iPad Pro M2. And I even set it up as a new iPad and also upgraded to IOS 16.1 right away. I am now trying to reset my iPad. But also having issues on iTunes on my Windows. Apple should really pay me for wasting my saturday trying to fix their problems :|
 
beach bum

beach bum

macrumors demi-goddess
Oct 6, 2011
8,800
30,967
Philly
That’s so strange. I setup my M2 from an encrypted backup via MBP, and once I paired the pencil—I have two, the hover works perfectly for both. I’m not sure where the disconnect is happening. I have the 11” IPP if that makes a difference.
 
O

Orage42

macrumors newbie
Jun 9, 2010
1
0
safari70 said:
Thanks for all the replies, we managed to solve it at the Apple pop up store, here’s what we did in case it helps someone with a similar issue:

The first time I set up the iPad, I chose to restore settings/apps/etc from my previous M1 iPad Pro backup from iCloud.

This apparently brought in some incompatible config/settings causing the weird behavior with Hover.

After we did an erase / reset all and then set it up as a “new” iPad without restoring anything from iCloud, Pencil Hover just worked seamlessly!

Maybe had we just reset all settings (without erase all) it would have also worked, not sure, but it’s worth trying…

In any case, I signed into iCloud after testing Hover, synced my settings, reinstalled all apps, and everything works perfectly fine.

So here you go… nothing beats setting up a new iDevice from scratch and restoring settings afterwards.
Click to expand...

I had the exact same issue - brand new M2 iPad Pro, restored from an older 9th gen iPad and had the hover issue you described.

Just wanted to add that I did a reset All Settings (no data or media) and it worked like a charm.

Thanks for the tip.
 
D

Diamond Zero

macrumors newbie
Oct 29, 2022
4
2
I have found out what the problem was.

It was simply deactivating Display Zoom.

Unfortunately I use this feature a lot to zoom in but it creates problems for the hover feature.
 
D

Denis1987

macrumors member
Jul 8, 2015
35
11
Can somebody check if hover is working in Microsoft Office app, for example when writing in Power Point. I cannot get hover effect in that app when writing on slides.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom