Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Pro What happens if you try to connect 1st gen Pencil to 2018 iPad Pro?
- Thread starter kasakka
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I bought the pencil in summer of 2018. It's a bluetooth device. I see nothing analogous to set of old car keys or a hand crank for a model T. I certainly wouldn't have thought it would be made obsolete 3 months later.
But then again I never would've thought Tim Cook would waste Apple shareholder money to make Jerry Iovine and Dr. Dre Billionaires by buying their crappy headphone company. I mean why buy Pandora or Spotify or media content like Amazon when you can buy a consumer electronics company that makes headphones like Apple makes headphones. It certainly wasn't for the supply chain or distribution that Apple already has. Maybe Tim thought the super hip urban name BEATS was really really cool.
Apple was so far ahead of everyone else when the torch was passed to Tim, that baring some breakthrough by another tech company, I will undoubtedly buy the new iPad pro despite my irritation and Apple will continue to generate billions resting on its laurels and huge profit margins. It's a good thing too for Tim, otherwise he might've given Jeff Immelt a run for his money.
But then again I never would've thought Tim Cook would waste Apple shareholder money to make Jerry Iovine and Dr. Dre Billionaires by buying their crappy headphone company. I mean why buy Pandora or Spotify or media content like Amazon when you can buy a consumer electronics company that makes headphones like Apple makes headphones. It certainly wasn't for the supply chain or distribution that Apple already has. Maybe Tim thought the super hip urban name BEATS was really really cool.
Apple was so far ahead of everyone else when the torch was passed to Tim, that baring some breakthrough by another tech company, I will undoubtedly buy the new iPad pro despite my irritation and Apple will continue to generate billions resting on its laurels and huge profit margins. It's a good thing too for Tim, otherwise he might've given Jeff Immelt a run for his money.
The kick in the pants to me is the fact that Apple talked up the ability to charge an iPhone via a USB-C to Lightning adapter connected to a new IPP. If that can be done, couldn’t charging a gen 1 pencil via an adapter be done too? Having an inexpensive adapter for connecting a gen 1 pencil would have made the transition to a new IPP a little bit easier for gen 1 pencil users, marginal improvements in pencil performance or not.
It may in fact be possible to charge the pencil that way -- I'm not sure. But the problem is that because you can't pair it, it can't be used with the new iPads.
Yup, I fully understand that it currently cannot be paired that way, and thus why I made the post. To me if the iPhone can be charged via adapter then a pencil can and by extension it should be feasible to initiate pairing that way too.
For me the issue is that I have bought a 2017 iPad Pro and I bought the 1st gen Pencil with the expectation that if I upgrade my iPad in the future I can keep using that same Pencil. Instead Apple just make it impossible to pair it with the 2018 model just because they want me to buy their more expensive new model. It's very anti-consumer IMO.
Why?
I sold my old Pencil when I sold my old iPad Pro. I sold the old case and other accessories too.
You now know the accessories like AC adapters, USB cables, cases, bags, keyboards, Pencils are all incompatible. Can you not factor that in when you make your next purchase decision?
I can understand cases being incompatible due to different form factors. There is no technical reason why the Pencil is incompatible other than requiring a USB-C to Lightning adapter to charge and pair. It's also a fairly new Apple peripheral so expecting it to be compatible for more than a few years is not unreasonable.
I have made my purchase decision which is to not buy the 2018 iPad Pro due to its high price and incompatibility with my current but that doesn't mean I am not interested in knowing why the 1st gen Pencil can't work with the new unit.
I understand wanting it to work. I also get that you can save USD$110 by buying a Lighting to USB-C cable instead of an Apple Pencil (2nd generation). I just can’t imagine myself in a situation where keeping the 110 dollars and using the old Pencil would ever be preferable to spending the money and getting all the advantages of the new Pencil.
You did say that the higher price (in general) of the new iPad Pros and peripherals has put you off. I can’t make an argument around prices, they’re too subjective. As personal recommendation: I really thought my one-and-a-half-year-old 10.5-inch iPad and Pencil would be my last tablet for several years, that was the plan, but Apple made so many good decisions with the new hardware… I was convinced. I really love the 12.9-inch, it’s been wonderful to use.
The thing is part of your evaluation is influenced by the fact that you sell your devices. Not all of us do that. Some of us gift devices to others and would rather not have to purchase additional peripherals we would otherwise keep for ourselves.
I use both my 2015 & 2018 129" IPP with pencils. I have to say I really like the newer pencil so much better. Especially since I don't have to worry if it is charged. But it would be nice if I could use them or both of my IPP's. I keep grabbing the wrong one & think its dead. LOL
Not all of us can afford to gift devices or keep old things around depreciating in drawers. You’re arguing for an even higher level of expense then buying a new accessory.
However, if it went to family—which it almost did—they would also get the Pencil and be encouraged to get some use out of it. The other scenario is if you just wanted to be the two iPad Pro guy. All power to ya I guess, but why not go full Myke Hurly (and expense) and have two equivelent devices? Transitioning between a Face ID and Touch ID iPad on the regular sounds tiresome.
Sorry didn’t see you there Momof9…haha.
So how is it switching between the two (BIOMETRIC)ID devices? That pencil issue sounds like enough of a head scratcher! You are a trooper.
Not arguing for it, merely saying that there is a group that would benefit from being able to retain the use of the original pencil. The number of people who resell their devices to finance future ones may be large - most likely it’s the majority but it’s not 100%. All some of us are arguing is that the generational advancement between pencils is not so great as to have made the original completely irrelevant for use on the latest iPad Pro, Apple merely made it so by choice.
Totally, and that choice can come off as callous or lazy but I can sometimes see it their way. Think of the actual experience! My 1st gen Apple Pencil would often go into it’s hibernation mode and wouldn’t wake up without pairing.
I would have to pop off the cap, connect it to iPad lighting connector (hopefully not in use), remove it after a moment, and put the cap back on. Now it can be annoying but it is realively quick all things considered, and better than not having it.
Now with your desired arrangement: Cap off, female lighting adapter on, lighting to USB-C adapter on, connect to iPad USB-C connector, remove after moment, disconnect USB-C, disconnect lighting cable, disconnect lighting adapter, cap on. Woah.
Apple doesn’t want you to have that poor experience every time the Pencil is left for a few hours. And for the fraction of users that might want it, it wasn’t worth their time to develop a better solution. Their solution is just the new Pencil. Prior iPad/ Pro buyers > who bought Pencils > who want new iPads > who don’t want new Pencil.
Last edited:
I don’t think anyone can argue that Apple couldn’t have easily made the 1st gen Pencil pairable with the 2018 iPP via the existing adapter and minimal coding effort. So the only reasons I can think that they chose not to do so is either because they wanted to force sales or because they genuinely wanted people to experience the new better pencil+iPad Pro combination. In my view of Apple, I would guess it was both reasons.
I find it interesting that many of those who are extolling the virtues of Pencil #2 now (and telling those who complain about it that their complaints are invalid), chided those who complained about the "difficulty" of owning Pencil #1 back-in-the-day (and accused them of being melodramatic), now parrot those same complaints about the #1. Amazing what a new generation of an Apple product can do to change one's opinion.
Absolutely true!
In my case, I hated the pencil one and I like pencil two, but I don't think Pencil two is AMAZING. I think it's what the Pencil should have been in the first place, three years late. And the first Pencil should be supported by the iPad Pro 2018. There is no reason why it cannot work. Beside Tim's profit margins, as usual.
It is not bad. Maybe I turned off the touch ID on the old one or it is just working good.
SO I did start with an Air2 (16 gb), which was pretty useless, or only for 1 purpose - school apps for my youngest. Then I got the 2015 iPP and was using a Samsung Note 8 etc. Last year I joined iPhone with the X and I now have a X Max. So I guess I am used to doing everything different.
On the technology of the pencils... So the 1st gen plugs in and charges and connects to bluetooth. The 2nd is thru the magnets to the iPP. From my understanding that is totally different technology. I am GLAD that we don’t have to plug it in to charge the new one. It always seems like I need to charge the ipad and the pencil at the same time. I love being able to leave the new pencil on the ipad overnight and it is charged when I need it.
The new pencil is so much nicer for charging etc.... another thing to think about. With one of the updates, you could actually use the new pencil on the Apple watches - of course they fixed that already LOL. Plus before the new iphones came out - there was the rumor that said that there were too many glitches in the phone to make the pencil work well right now. SO that would mean they can flip a switch and the pencil would work.
I know, many do not want to have a stylus with their iphone. Well I AM a former NOTE user - I used the pencil all the time. So after the exploding Note 7’s, I had 2 of them, I ended up with a Pixel. I liked it, but huge bezels. I really liked how google updated it monthly and was quick to fix problems. So when the Note 8’s came out - I got one. I liked it somewhat, but did not. It was too big, to awkward. But I also did not like bloatware etc on it - I really liked pure Android.
My dad has had iphones for years. I did not like that you could not customize them. I was really into everything - themed icons etc. But I was at a point that I no longer want to do that anymore. I also was looking at Smart watches last fall. After trying a whole bunch of them, I ended up with the Apple Watch S3. Then about a month later, I finally decided to get the iPhone. I used one of my dad’s old phones to set it up - but wanted more of the options that my own phone would have. So my hubby got my Note 8. But with the Pixel and now both iPhones I use thew Bamboo stylus. Can’t wait until Apple gets the pencil working with the iPhone!!!
Yep this decision infuriated me. Returning the 11pro tomorrow after a month of trying to justify keeping it. I’ll keep the 10.5 and gen1 pencil until next iPad and see then. Overall the pencil thing just made me really mad for some reason, I knew it would take a few lines of code in software and it could be done.
Functionality and performance is identical between the two pencils. They even use the same tips. The charging process never bothered me. And using a skin on the gen 1 pencil makes it better and more comfortable than the tinier gen2.
It’s the principle of it I think that got to me. And I hate that stupid exposed edge on the iPad because of the charging mechanism. A real weak spot if you drop the iPad.
Functionality and performance is identical between the two pencils. They even use the same tips. The charging process never bothered me. And using a skin on the gen 1 pencil makes it better and more comfortable than the tinier gen2.
It’s the principle of it I think that got to me. And I hate that stupid exposed edge on the iPad because of the charging mechanism. A real weak spot if you drop the iPad.
There is literally nothing wrong with your 2017 iPad. It's still a beast of a machine and will continue to be for many more years to come. If the new pencil is a barrier to entry, keep using your 2017 iPad.
I know. The pricing, not being able to use a Lightning cable to charge all my mobile devices, the reported bending issues and the lack of compatibility with the 1st gen Pencil were the reasons why I decided to not get the 2018 model even if as a device it's really nice to hold. I will keep the older one for a year or two more and see where the iPad Pro is at that point. Now its main issue is software so I want to see if iOS 13 or 14 improves that situation.
This has to be the most ridiculous comment I’ve heard in a while. I think many of you should get off of Cook’s johnson. I’m not sure how more people aren’t pissed with some of these tactics from Apple. The old pencil worked as intended and there really should be no reason it couldn’t with the new iPad. Just another marketing ploy.