Apple Pencil stopped working since updating to iPadOS

I noticed something "weird" going on, when I connected the Pencil (gen 1) to my iPad Air 2, and that behaviour plus your success story inspired me to try something even weirder this morning. This time I looked a bit "deeper", and... and...? And it solved the problem of my pencil getting connected and active on my iPad Pro 10.5, but not working. At all!

Here's the procedure, that was working for me (it's weird; really, really, REALLY weird - it's akin to the "Newtonian Apple" falling from the sky :-):

• Turn flight mode on. If WiFi and/or Bluetooth are still on, turn them off specifically. Check, that flight mode turns on and off both WiFi and Bluetooth, when toggled.
• When Bluetooth has been off, the pen is no longer connected. That’s a huge plus, since it can hold a decent charge for weeks in the charged, but "not connected" state (previously, when I was finished using the pen, I usually just executed a quick toggle off/on on Bluetooth, and the pen would keep it's remaining charge for a small eternity).
• Turn off flight mode. Settings are like this on my iPad Pro 10.5 512GB:

("Ikke tilsluttet" means "Not connected")

• On my iPhone 8 Plus (256GB) I ensure, that WiFi and Bluetooth are synchronized with flight mode (all either off or on at the same time).
• I select flight mode off, and the Bluetooth screen displays as shown here:

("Andre enheder" equals "Other devices")

• Now insert the Apple Pencil into the iPhone. After "a few seconds" to "some time", the screen will look like this:

• Notice, that the iPad is suddenly visible under “Other devices”. The iPad Screen now looks like this:

• Note the presence of the iPhone in the device list, and that the Apple Pencil has now been connected to the iPad! The latter is not that weird; the real weird thing is, that I was forced to connect the pen to the iPhone in order to make it actually work on the iPad after entering the “connected” state in Bluetooth on the iPad.
• The Apple Pencil now works, as it should. Test by opening a web page in Safari, and swipe the pen into the page from the lower left or lower right to initiate the screen dump process.
• Repeat above process, if and when necessary.

I told you, this was weird, but it works for me.

Most of the time, the pen can be reconnected to the iPad and it will work as expected. If not, repeat above process.

It’s weird, but - as mentioned before - it works for me!

Have fun...

Hello,

Try resetting iPad's settings in Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Be certain you do not select Erase All Content and Settings as this will erase all of your information. It is a good idea to perform a backup of your iPad prior to resetting its settings.

Have the same problem using ipadOS 13.1.2. Pencil (1. Gen) connects fine to my iPad Pro 10.5, and is fully charged. Restart and whatnot, “forget” and repairing works and all suggested remedies (Bluetooth on/off, “forget” and re-pairing, restart, flight-mode on/off etc.) has no influence.

the iPad Pro shows pencil is fully charged and paired, but it is impossible to draw anything (not even in apps, that previously worked), and all pen control has vanished completely. I can’t remember, whether iOS 12 had a pen setting entry, but it’s not displayed in settings now.

Sadly, I have no other pen enabled iPad. Just for the heck of it, I tried following your advice, but connected to an old iPad Air 2 instead. Didn’t help, but worth a try.

I get the impression, that the newly introduced Bluetooth access permission system somehow gets in the way.

it doesn’t help, that iPadOS can hide pop up menu’s (I.e, touch confirmations being invisible, but if you touch the home button as if the dialog box was visible, touch works anyway - sigh - a huge security problem in the making ;-). There might have been other invisible pop up dialogboxes, besides the visible one asking for pairing.

This new iPadOS is not what I was prepared for. It’s developing into a weird monster, although version 13.1.2 is less of a “frequent dier”, then earlier versions ;-)

The Problem with Apples “everything just works” approach is, that there are no tools to I.e. reset Bluetooth alone (as a test). It’s either the “big hammer” approach or a lot of wasted time fiddling with peripheral settings, that really has no significant effect on anything.

Sigh!

My Apple Pencil also stopped working after the iOS 13 update and hasn’t been working for weeks. A trip to the local Apple store and we tried new pencil and also a new pencil on a iPad Pro at Apple store and neither worked. So we knew it was an issue with iOS. Just downloaded the latest 13.2 update hoping this would fix the problem. Sadly it doesn’t. I even tried the crazy method the other person tried and it also doesn’t work. I am very frustrated as I can’t use my pencil and I need it for work. I’ve called Apple support more than a week ago. This is beyond frustrating. Apple PLEASE GET THIS FIXED!

I’m in the same boat - I live in rural Australia and it is 5hr drive to the nearest Apple store - I spent 90mins on the phone to Apple and eventually was told it was a faulty pencil so - new one sent to me (on returning my old one) And new pencil has same issue - this seems like a iOS issue but why it should affect some and not all is beyond me.

i have tried resetting all settings and even reset the iPad to start again but nothing has worked.

Apple - please fix this issue!

As of the new year the issue is still there. Unfortunately I have no other iPad to try the fix. I bought a new pencil even thinking it might be that-it wasn’t. I returned it.

Please, Apple!!!! This needs to get fixed!!!!!!! It’s ridiculous to spend $2000 on an iPad and all the accessories just to have it not work because of an issue YOU did with an iOS update.

I also have the same issue and after 2 lengthy sessions on the phone to Apple Support and the situation be escalated to engineers, I’m now on my 4th case manager and having to take the iPad and the second pencil into an Apple Store 400km away (I live in rural South Australia). Apparently, it will have to be sent for “repair”.

Had same issue (see prev reply) - went to Apple Store today - it’s an iPad issue - Pencil would not connect or charge with my iPad but did with theirs. A new iPad ordered - is covered as under guarantee still. Staff were awesome. So pleased this issue is nearing its end! I would suggest getting into an Apple Store to resolve this. Hope you find a solution too!

im gonna be honest.....None of this made any sense at all....

Awesome man. Thank you so much , you made my day after two days of trying hard every solution. Work des for after lots of trials. I was able to see my pencil 2 working again on my iPad Pro