Remember the Pencil goes to sleep only if it hasn't been moved for a while. And it wakes up immediately when it detects the smallest movement.
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Turning "off" the Apple Pencil?
- Thread starter WilliamG
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Remember the Pencil goes to sleep only if it hasn't been moved for a while. And it wakes up immediately when it detects the smallest movement.
I understand that. I am Putting the IPP to sleep and leaving a fully charged pencil alone for hours. Once I open my IPP, without any movement to the pencil, the battery widget is still there. This was my first concern that the pencil was not going into standby. However, with my 3rd pencil, I am not losing much battery percentage at all, even with the battery widget still present.
Wouldn't plugging it in for 30 seconds erase any drain that the device had experienced since last use?
iOS will always be aware of the pencil and vice versa - the battery widget doesn't have any coordination with that because the connection is persistent (as long as BT is enabled!). Even if the pencil goes to sleep, it can be awakened on the iOS end to get stats (like battery percentages) and the pencil can nudge a sleeping iPad to send it information, too. Bluetooth low energy, along with the technical modularity, allow incredible battery efficiency so it easily allows for such latent communication.
Really, there are probably just more variables involved with the battery widget disappearing than other people notice. Range, length of sleep, orientation of Pencil, iOS being crappy.
In the long run, I wouldn't worry too much about it though I'd try to identify when the Widget disappears and the factors surrounding it because I'd be curious
On my iPad the battery widget disappears after a while when I don't use the Pencil and the iPad.
If I wake up the iPad (but don't move the Pencil) and open the Notification Center, the widget is missing.
Keeping the Notification Center opened, I then pick up the Pencil and shake it slowly. On the screen the widget appears automagically.
I just purchased an iPad Pro and pencil this past week. Love the combo. At first I thought it was just me experiencing rapid discharge of the pencil. Mine is still under the return policy time limit, so I'm toying with swapping it out for a different one.
I charged it to 100% last night. It sat idle (unplugged) overnight. In the morning, I clipped it to my iPad case and put it in my work bag. 1/2 hour drive to work (may have been active due to vehicle motion), then it sat under my desk all day without use, 1/2 hour drive home and voila 52%. Pretty disappointing.
I'm not overly concerned with the charging time as it's very fast. I just don't want to be left hanging when the pencil craps out when I'm in a pinch.
What do you folks think? Swap it for a new one?
I charged it to 100% last night. It sat idle (unplugged) overnight. In the morning, I clipped it to my iPad case and put it in my work bag. 1/2 hour drive to work (may have been active due to vehicle motion), then it sat under my desk all day without use, 1/2 hour drive home and voila 52%. Pretty disappointing.
I'm not overly concerned with the charging time as it's very fast. I just don't want to be left hanging when the pencil craps out when I'm in a pinch.
What do you folks think? Swap it for a new one?
Moving the pencil even if it's not paired will cause it to wake up. The more it moves, the more it will be awake. You could try another pencil and it might be better but I'm not sure you'll see "better" results.
I had my pencil inactive for 4 days (started at 100%), never moved once. When I plugged it in to pair it back up I was expecting to see something in the 5-20% but it still had 90%.
I always toggle BT off when not using it so it un-pairs and won't cause more drain if it wakes up from movement and communicates to the iPad while in transit.
I would try that if you weren't toggling BT off on the iPad. Takes all but 2 seconds to pair again, which to me is worth doing if it means longer standby life.
In 9.3 you no longer need to pair again. Just turn BT back on and it auto re-connects to the Pencil.
In 9.3 you no longer need to pair again. Just turn BT back on and it auto re-connects to the Pencil.
I'm not sure that's true. I've seen you mention that a couple times before (or could have been someone else) and I've always have had to re-pair if BT was turned off in every build of 9.3 beta.
In 9.3 you no longer need to pair again. Just turn BT back on and it auto re-connects to the Pencil.
I'm on the latest 9.3 beta and I had to pair again after I turned BT off.
I thought you could just plug it into the iPad for a few minutes if you run out of battery.
Yes that was me. At least in 9.3 beta 4 (If I recall correctly), I know for sure I turned off BT numerous times, and was surprised to see my Pencil reconnect when I turned BT back on. It's definitely no longer working in the latest beta, though. Sorry for the confusion!
I just purchased my Apple Pencil and started noticing the same issue of the battery draining while absolutely no use of the pencil occurred. My first reaction was that of despair...I was so excited to finally purchase this awesome accessory and when I noticed the battery drain at such an accelerated rate without use, my first reaction was I must have got a dud Apple Pencil. On a hunch, I tried turning off Blutooth and then turning it back on without reconnecting the Pencil and the hunch paid off. It maintains a full charge until I reconnect to use it. In retrospect, it makes sense that the continuous sending and receiving of data via Bluetooth would quickly drain even the best of batteries. There could probably stand to be a few improvements in the power management of the Apple Pencil, but until then I'm totally fine with the few extra steps. It's such an amazing accessory for the iPad Pro that it would take much more than this minor issue to cause me to abandon such a wonderful piece of hardware.
Off topic...but I had to just throw in how UNBELIEVABLY PERFECT the palm rejection is when using the Pencil. I've drawn, painted, written notes, signed documents...you name it and I ALWAYS rest the entire "outer heel" of my hand on the screen when writing...to date (I've had it for a month) NOT A SINGLE SPECK of stray marks from palm contact have occurred. Anyway, I'm glad to know that I'm not alone on the battery issue and I'm glad to see that the solution I went with is in tune with others having this problem.
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It ABSOLUTELY drains and very quickly. I can charge my Pencil to 100% and in 3 hours of sitting still not being used (while connected via Bluetooth) its down to 65%. If I turn off Bluetooth (effectively disconnecting the Pencil) and then back on without reconnecting my Pencil it stays at 100% for an entire day
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Mine does not do that and yours should not be doing that either. My pencil remains connected to my iPad Pro all day and only loses about 5%. There is either something wrong with your pencil, or you are moving the pencil around constantly causing it to never go into standby.
I suppose it's possible if the Pencil goes on standby when stationary it would behave as yours does, but what degree of "stationary" are we talking about here? I carry my iPad pro along with my Pencil with me everywhere...does the simple movement of me carrying it cause it to leave standby mode? I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just really want a solution to this problem because it's VERY annoying to pick up the Pencil after it has been charged to capacity and find that it has dropped down to 65% charge with no contact with the screen at all.
BTW I do appreciate your feedback...like I said I just want a solution and it makes perfect sense that my Pencil should behave exactly as yours.
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Yes - my pencil also drains very rapidly while not doing anything! It's either a bad pencil or just bad power management. I don't use it at all but have it connected via bluetooth. It goes from 82% down to 71% less than 1/2hr while the pencil is magnetically stuck on one of the speakers in landscape orientation.
I'm not the only one!
You know, just carry one portable small charger for cell phone and connect it to Apple pencil through lightning cable. There are lot of pocket size portable chargers in market. It charges cell phone through lightning cable, then it will do same on Apple Pencil, and since Apple Pencil charges pretty quick, you don't have trouble.
Trust me, you are not being argumentative. Many here on MacRumors tend to immediately revert to "a**hole" mode if they don't agree with something. Thanks for being civil.
I know for sure that if the pencil is being moved around, and the iPad Pro is being used (not in standby), the pencil will maintain a constant connection thus draining power. There is still some question whether or not the pencil comes out of standby when being moved even though the iPad Pro is in standby. In my experience, as soon as I bring the iPad Pro out of standby, it immediately connects with the pencil.
Basically, you can guarantee that if you are using the iPad Pro, the pencil is probably connected so the earlier advice about turning off Bluetooth is sound advice. Personally I just plug the pencil into the iPad for a few minutes if needed to make sure I have enough battery life for my next meeting. I will say that if my iPad Pro and Pencil are sitting idle for hours, I might lose about 1 or 2% of battery life on the pencil.
FWIW, and I just tested this with 9.3.1 on a 9.7" iPad Pro, you turn off the pencil as described by turning off Bluetooth but you do NOT need to reconnect it to the iPad port to wake it.
As previously mentioned the pencil and iPad are already paired and stay paired.
The pencil just needs a tiny kick of power to wake it and it can be woken by connecting it to the Lightning cable via the little adapter if you would prefer to do this than connect it to the iPad port.
As previously mentioned the pencil and iPad are already paired and stay paired.
The pencil just needs a tiny kick of power to wake it and it can be woken by connecting it to the Lightning cable via the little adapter if you would prefer to do this than connect it to the iPad port.
To be honest I find quite combersome to reconnect it every time I need it. By the way I did not take with me the lightning adapter which probably I would loose anyways... There is no better way to manage it?
Waiting for the Apple Pencil 2 much needed improvements
#1. Smart Pressure sensors on the fingers like a magic mouse (aka Magic Pencil)
#2. Multi colored insternal LED's create multi colors
#3. new higher resolution and sensitivity sensors
#4. Replaceable tips for different texture and hardness
#5. Inductive Charging Apple deliberately made Pairing and Charging the Apple pencil look ridiculous in order to Wow everyone with the Apple Pencil 2 and wireless charging and Wireless pairing no need to inert ever again.
(FYI also going to document maybe patent these ideas in case Apple has not already)