Apple Pencil Review - Review 2022

When nosotros first reviewed the Apple Pencil in 2022, it was a quantum: the best Bluetooth stylus we'd e'er seen—designed exclusively for the iPad Pro. More than than ii years afterward, the Pencil ($99; $89 for schools) at present works with the $329 sixth-generation iPad, merely it hasn't changed. The stylus is however keen for artists and professionals doing serious work on their iPads. Merely it has some quirks that have gotten less charming with time. It's nonetheless the best stylus for the iPad and iPad Pro, and remains our Editors' Choice, merely we'd like to see a design upgrade.

Pattern, Pairing, and Charging

The Pencil ($99.00 at Amazon) measures half-dozen.875 inches long and weighs a mere 0.64-ounce. It's a smooth, white, plastic cylinder with a matte gray plastic tip and a removable rear cap with a Lightning jack under information technology. The tip screws off in instance information technology needs to be replaced, revealing a small-scale metal post.

The Pencil is round, but fortunately, because information technology's weighted, information technology doesn't roll quite as easily as it looks similar it should. That said, it rolls a lot more than easily than we'd like. When we had a 6th-grader employ the Pencil, she knocked it off the table and information technology rolled abroad into an awkward location under a desk. An gorging capacitive stylus user, she also complained that the Pencil was likewise long for her small hand.

In the box you get the Pencil itself, an adapter that lets you charge it from a standard Lightning cable (instead of directly through your iPad), and a replacement tip.

Pairing is effortless: But plug the Pencil briefly into your iPad's Lightning port, and it's paired. Information technology has to exist paired to work; information technology isn't a standard capacitive stylus.

The Pencil itself has no battery-life indicators; you'll find that data on your iPad'southward screen. To charge the Pencil, you remove the dorsum cap and stick it into the Lightning port on the bottom of your iPad. This creates a very bad-mannered scene, with the Pencil sticking out of the iPad at a right angle. Fortunately, you can besides use the included adapter to charge it with a standard Lightning cable. There is, however, nowhere to shop the cap from the back of the Pencil while it's charging, which makes it too piece of cake to lose.

Apple says you can get 15 minutes of use with 30 seconds of accuse, and 12 hours of utilise out of a total charge. In testing, a 5-minute charge took me to nigh 25 pct. I got to a full charge in about 25 minutes.

Apple Pencil Charger

Performance

Every bit a bonafide Apple accompaniment, the Pencil'due south broad compatibility is 1 of its great strengths. Pretty much every major creative and note-taking app for the iPad works with the Pencil at present, including Apple tree's suite of iWork apps. Dissimilar with third-political party styli, you don't have to set the apps or dig into settings menus, either: It simply works.

The matte tip has a trivial bit of drag over the iPad's screen, but not much. In an platonic world, you'd have different tips with different amounts of drag. I also wish the dorsum terminate of the Pencil worked as an eraser, the way the FiftyThree Pencil does. The Pencil isn't just force per unit area sensitive, it'southward likewise tilt sensitive, so you can make wide strokes the manner yous would with an actual pencil. That worked very well in the sketch app Procreate.

In Procreate, Evernote, and Sketches, the Apple Pencil proved to be more accurate than the FiftyThree Pencil, most notably in making more precise, detailed edits and changes. It also feels much meliorate counterbalanced and more comfortable to hold than the Microsoft Surface Pen.

While the Pencil is a no-brainer for artists, it'south besides worth ownership if you intend to take notes on your iPad. In both Evernote and OneNote, the Pencil let me accept extremely small, detailed notes with perfect palm rejection (which is of import on this large a surface), and its rest meant that my hand didn't go tired.

Nina, created by Leontine Greenberg with iPad Pro

Credit: Leontine Greenberg

Conclusions

The Apple Pencil is still the nigh precise, authentic tablet stylus bachelor, and an invaluable aid for artists and note-takers working with either the sixth-gen iPad or an iPad Pro. But I can't help only feel that Apple has lost some oppportunities by not updating information technology in more than than 2 years. A rubber loop connecting the dorsum cap to the Pencil; a female, rather than male person Lightning jack for charging; and maybe even an eraser function would be pocket-sized physical changes that would definitely better the Pencil'south usability.

The upcoming Logitech Crayon ($49) could be the answer here. It uses the aforementioned Pencil technology and same fine tip, but it's wider and flatter, so it'due south less probable to curlicue. Information technology too has a less lose-able cap and a female person charging jack. I can't meet any reward the Pencil has over the Crayon, really, which may exist why Apple is restricting the Crayon to school purchases only (though you can look for 1 on eBay when it's bachelor).

For at present, though, if your iPad is stylus-compatible and you can beget it, the Pencil is the best stylus to go. Zip else actually matches it. If y'all don't have the cash, try to become concur of a Crayon, or await at the $29.99 Adonit Jot Pro, a non-powered just very accurate and comfy stylus.

Best Business organisation Picks

The Best CRM Software for 2022
The Best Business concern VoIP Providers for 2022
The Best Video Conferencing Software for 2022
The Best Expense Tracking Software for 2022
More than Business concern Reviews
More from Apple

Business Product Comparisons

Microsoft Teams vs. RingCentral Office: What'due south the Best Tool for Business organization Communication?
RingCentral vs. Ooma: Top VoIPs Do Battle

Farther Reading

How to Alter Your Groundwork in Microsoft Teams
Zoom: Did Nosotros Say 300 Million Daily Users? JK!
Hangouts vs. Meet: What'due south the Difference Between Google's Video Conferencing Apps?
$30 QuickBooks Preparation Classes Take You From Beginner to Bookkeeper
Written report: Amazon Bought Thermal Cameras From Blacklisted Chinese Company