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Modern tablets give people another type of notebook with which they can write or draw shapes in digital form. Apple’s iPad is one such line of tablets, and the company decided to develop different accessories that could make some tasks with these devices a bit easier. One such idea comes to us in the form of the Apple Pencil.
There are two generations of this device, and both of them are simple stylus objects that Apple has designed to be as compatible with their own iPad products as possible. The Apple Pencil uses Bluetooth technology to sync up with the iPad of your choice, and this wireless protocol allows it to draw on the surface of the tablet’s screen using battery power.
Some people who are interested in purchasing an Apple Pencil wonder about its propensity to drain its battery. We will cover some of the broader notions in this topic today. As we do, we’ll dig into just how the battery in the Pencil works, and we can talk about what might affect it.
We can inform users about their options for turning the stylus off entirely, and we will discuss how much the battery might discharge by itself when you are not using it. Furthermore, we will attempt to troubleshoot some problems that might relate to quick battery for the Apple Pencil, and we will try to find solutions that can help you conserve that energy.
Table of Contents
Can Apple Pencil Be Turned Off?
No, you cannot power down your Apple Pencil. Apple did not design the pencil itself with any kind of on/off switch, and it remains in an active state when you are not using it. We will get deeper into the specifics of the Apple Pencil’s power use and battery drain in later sections of this article.
For now, it is worth putting some focus on what happens with Apple’s stylus when it is in a constantly active state like this. The battery is relatively small, but the developers at Apple designed the Pencil in such a way that it is supposed to use very little energy when you are not drawing with it.
While this might seem inconvenient to some users, Apple wanted to create a drawing accessory that could pair well with the design of its own iPad. Furthermore, they wanted the stylus to be a device that could be always ready to go for any user as soon as they pick it up.
In order to account for this, the designers of the Apple Pencil made sure that it can stay active as long as the battery has some charge to it. This sort of design element is useful, but it does come with at least one caveat. Although you do not necessarily need to keep the Apple Pencil charged up to its full extent all the time, it is best to make sure that the battery always has some charge.
You may be able to give it some charge again to use it from a fully depleted state. However, it is important that you not let the Pencil sit with no charge at all for more than a day or two. If the Apple Pencil remains without any kind of charge for too long, its battery may lose its ability to take on a charge at all.
Should this scenario happen, it is possible that you could brick the accessory with no way to help it recover its battery to a more useful state. For the best results, you might consider charging up your Apple Pencil at least once per day. This is particularly true if you happen to use the stylus for at least several hours per week.
Does the Apple Pencil’s Battery Drain When Not in Use?
Yes, the Apple Pencil should experience at least some battery drain even in those times when you are not using it. Because of its always-on nature, the stylus is discharging at least a tiny bit of power all the time. However, it should discharge much less power than when you are drawing with it.
The battery for this device is quite small, and the stylus will drain some of it consistently. Although the exact percentage of the charge it needs to use when it is stationary is not high, you should try not to let it spend too many hours without getting some kind of charge again.
Why Is My Apple Pencil Losing Charge So Quickly?
The Apple Pencil uses a small battery, so it may not hold a charge as long as other devices that you might own. With it being in an active state all the time, this battery drain is also quite constant. Depending on the level at which the battery is when you stop using the Apple Pencil, it may discharge a significant amount of energy within half a day or so.
We cannot give exact specifications for how quickly the battery is supposed to discharge its energy under normal circumstances. However, we can say that it should take many hours for you to notice this kind of discharge.
If it seems like your Apple Pencil is discharging so much that you might need to charge it at least every couple of hours, you may be dealing with a problem that represents a fault in the battery or stylus. Although the Pencil might seem to discharge relatively quickly, it should not do so at such a fast rate. Should you find this to be the case for your Apple device, it is best to take it in for an examination by a qualified professional.
Consumers have some expectations with regard to battery life in their devices, and this is particularly true if they are new units. To that end, an extremely low battery charge should be something the Apple warranty will cover for a replacement.
Your Apple Pencil might lose its charge faster if it is always in Bluetooth pairing mode. Even though you are not using the stylus all the time, it is something that can connect to your iPad whenever the two units are within a short distance of one another. In a sense, having Bluetooth on puts the stylus in a more active state than unpairing it and leaving the battery to discharge itself normally.
How Do I Save Battery on Apple Pencil?
There are a few things you might be able to do in order to save some of the battery life on your Apple Pencil. We will provide a list of some of the most common tips you can try below.
1. In most cases, your Apple Pencil should go to sleep once you put it down or stop using it for some time. Just like when you put a laptop to sleep, this does not turn off the device completely.
Rather, it puts the Apple Pencil in a state of low power that should consume less energy than when the device is active. If you are concerned about battery usage and life, just let the stylus rest for long enough to enter this low-power state. You may wish to keep it away from the iPad during these times.
2. Similarly, you can turn off the Bluetooth connectivity that you use to pair the Apple Pencil with your iPad. Although anything that pairs using Bluetooth communications protocols should not need to use any large amounts of power to do so, shutting off this feature when you don’t need it should help the stylus conserve yet more energy.
You can always reactivate Bluetooth when you want to use the Apple Pencil. Your iPad should be able to remember and find the accessory the next time you turn on Bluetooth.
3. Keeping the stylus away from the iPad and allowing it to go to sleep might be the only workaround for people who use Bluetooth on their iPads with other devices or accessories. Turning off Bluetooth from the settings might save battery power on the Apple Pencil, but it can be impractical for those who use more devices with these communications protocols.
Is It Okay To Keep the Apple Pencil Always Charged?
Yes, it should be fine to keep the Apple Pencil charging when you are not using it. As with many modern devices, the developers at Apple designed the stylus not to overcharge once its battery reaches its full capacity. While it may discharge a bit when you dock it, the charger will restore the battery to full strength quickly.
Additionally, this is a good thing to do for the Apple Pencil in particular. Its nature of being always active and having a small battery that can die if it depletes fully for too long both mean that keeping it charged can help you mitigate some risks.
Conclusion
Tablets are great for some hands-on applications that you can work on when you are out and about and need an easy graphical user interface option. While you can do some drawing or tracing with your finger, the finer point of a pencil-like stylus is much better for precise applications.
The design of the Apple Pencil can fill this void, and it is always ready to go when you need it. For the best results, you should keep the stylus at some level of charge at all times, and allowing it to sleep can help it conserve some energy for later.
