The Apple Pencil as a wireless protocol has proved helpful for many iPad users. It has made note-taking, drawing, and other things fun and more effortless.
When you’re the type that constantly uses your Apple Pencil, you tend to notice little things others wouldn’t.
One such thing is the battery capacity of the Apple Pencil relative to your iPad.
You usually charge your Apple Pencil with your iPad but notice the battery drains faster than it should.
Typically, the Apple Pencil isn’t supposed to drain your iPad battery. It is because the Apple Pencils are designed to get charged by the iPad without affecting the battery adversely. However, there are rare cases of bugs in the system that cause the Apple Pencil to drain an iPad battery.
If you’ve been worried about the effects of charging your Apple Pencil with your iPad, then you’re in the right place.
In this article, we’ll explain the basics of your Apple Pencil as it affects your iPad. In addition, we’ll tackle other Apple Pencil battery-related issues.
Does the Apple Pencil Drain Your iPad Battery?
Fortunately, the Apple Pencil doesn’t drain your iPad battery. The Apple Pencil is designed to be compatible with the iPad and shouldn’t affect it wrongly.
The typical way of charging your Apple Pencil is keeping it on your iPad; because the top of the iPad has a designated position for charging your Apple Pencil.
The pencil battery is small and doesn’t require too much power or time to get charged.
Charging your Apple Pencil should take an average of about 30 minutes.
Therefore, your Apple Pencil shouldn’t drain the iPad battery in such a short time because Apple designed it to charge the Pencil.
In addition, the Pencil doesn’t require much power to affect your iPad adversely.
Unfortunately, some reports of bugs in the Apple Pencil software can drain your iPad battery.
However, software bugs are familiar with devices such as your Apple Pencil.
The software bugs were reportedly a problem in the first-generation Apple Pencils.
Therefore, Apple, on its own, has made efforts to fortify the pencils against bugs after reports came in.
Even if your Pencil is bug infected, it won’t drain the iPad battery to a low percentage.
So the battery drain shouldn’t be noticeable because it’d be at a minimal rate.
Additionally, if your iPad battery gets old, it has a different quality than initially. Therefore, a weakened iPad battery could be why you think the Pencil drains it.
Also, your continued use of the Apple Pencil and iPad could mislead you into thinking you have a battery drain problem.
The Apple Pencil should last about 12 hours, but constant use depletes its battery quality.
With a battery that goes low faster than it should, it’d need to use the iPad to get charged constantly.
This could make it seem like the Pencil drains your iPad battery.
Despite all the reasons mentioned above, it doesn’t mean that every Apple Pencil you buy will affect your iPad battery.
You just got unlucky to experience an iPad battery drain from your Apple Pencil.
Therefore, you can confidently get an Apple Pencil and enjoy the experience it provides without fear of it affecting your iPad battery.
How Do I Stop My Apple Pencil From Draining My iPad Battery?
The immediate solution to stop your Apple Pencil from draining your iPad battery is to determine what’s causing the drain.
Once you can successfully identify the exact reason for the battery drain, stopping it becomes easy.
You must be asking yourself how you’ll be able to identify the exact cause of the battery drain. Fortunately, we’re here to help you with that.
You can suspect a bug infestation using a first-generation Apple Pencil. The first gen Apple Pencils were the ones that had complaints of software bugs.
If you’ve had the Pencil for a long time, an old, weakened battery would be the problem; the same goes for your iPad battery.
You can tell a weakened battery by how long you can use it compared to when you first bought it.
In addition, if it takes longer to get charged, you probably have a bad battery on your hands.
The table shows common reasons and solutions for Apple pencil draining your iPad battery.
| Reasons | Solutions |
|---|---|
| Software bugs | Contact Apple support for assistance. |
| Old Apple Pencil battery | Get a new Apple Pencil. |
| Faulty iPad battery | Change your iPad battery. |
Apart from the reasons and solutions mentioned above, there are other precautions to take to prevent battery drain from your Apple Pencil.
You can adhere to the tips below to stop your apple pencil from draining your iPad battery.
- Charge your Apple Pencil at moments when you can monitor and unplug it when it’s full.
- If you’re experiencing a battery drain from the Apple Pencil, avoid leaving it to charge overnight.
- If you have an iPad pro and it’s getting drained by your Apple Pencil, avoid placing it in the slot. Once the Pencil isn’t in its space, it can’t charge and won’t drain the battery.
- You can charge your Apple Pencil of the first generation with a lightning cable instead of the iPad directly.
- This way, the iPad battery faces no contact with your Apple Pencil.
- Disconnect your Apple Pencil from the iPad via Bluetooth or switch off your Bluetooth.
Although this option doesn’t help sometimes, it comes in handy.
- Place it reasonably far from the iPad when you’re not using your Apple Pencil.
- Keep your Apple Pencil from going below 10%.
- When you use your Pencil for a long time and fail to charge the battery when necessary, it’ll affect the battery lifespan and start taking a toll on your iPad battery.
The above steps should help prevent the Apple Pencil from draining your iPad battery.
Furthermore, it’ll also help preserve the battery life of your Apple Pencil.
Does the Apple Pencil Lose Battery When Not In Use?
Unfortunately, your Apple Pencil loses its battery even when not in use. The Apple Pencil wasn’t equipped with an on/off switch.
Therefore it’s always active and loses battery when not in use.
In the technical sense, as long as you don’t switch off your device, its systems are active, which explains why the Apple Pencil battery keeps draining.
Apple designed the Apple Pencil to be always active and ready for use immediately after you pick it up.
However, this has caused the side effect of the battery drain when not in use.
However, the battery doesn’t drain at a high rate; it’ll just use minimal energy when not in use.
Moreover, the Apple Pencil has a li-ion solid battery, and its loss of power is minimal except it’s left for days.
Cases where the battery is low but not in use, and you don’t charge it, are inappropriate.
For example, if your Apple Pencil is down to 10% and you drop it, that will affect the battery.
It is because the Pencil will keep losing battery, and it could go off at such a low level.
Leaving your battery uncharged at 10% is not advisable, and dropping it to zero is terrible for your Pencil.
If your Pencil reaches zero and you leave it for a long, it may completely damage the battery.
No matter the percentage of your pencil battery, you must use or charge it. In addition, you must use or charge it before leaving it for days.
Furthermore, once you pair your Apple Pencil to your iPad, even when not in use, the connection causes a loss of battery.
So it helps to disconnect or switch off your Bluetooth to avoid faster waste of power when it’s not in use.
Can You Overcharge Apple Pencils?
No! The Apple Pencil can’t get overcharged; this is one of the many advantages of the Pencil. Apple designed its Pencil so that it stops charging when it’s at 100%.
The Pencil automatically starts charging when it gets to 95%. In this manner, no situation of an overcharge will occur.
Apart from the fact that the Pencil will drain your iPad battery if left charging overnight, there’s no harmful effect on the battery.
Due to the constantly active nature of the Apple Pencil, it’s advisable always to keep it charging. Especially those of you that use your Apple Pencil frequently.
FAQs
#1. Can Apple Pencils Be Turned Off?
No, you can’t turn it off because it has no switch.
#2. Can I Keep My Apple Pencil Always Charged?
Yes, charging your Apple Pencil is always okay when you’re not using it.
#3. Is There Any Difference In the Battery Life of Apple Pencil 1 and 2?
There’s no difference; both use the same time to charge up and last for 12 hours when in use.
In summary,
- The Apple Pencil won’t drain your iPad battery, except if there’s a fault with either device.
- Avoid leaving your Apple Pencil for days without using it; it’ll still lose battery.
If you have questions or experience malfunctions with your Apple Pencil, reach out to Apple support.