You can't pair the first Apple Pencil with a USB-C iPad Pro

AppleInsider

Apple's new adapter is only intended to connect a first-generation Apple Pencil to the new iPad, it can't be used to let the older Pencil work with iPad Pro models designed to have the second-generation one.

The required new first-generation Apple Pencil adapter

It's currently delayed by weeks, but the new USB-C to Apple Pencil Adapter is an accessory required to use the first-generation Apple Pencil with the new 10.9-inch iPad. The adapter is included for free with new purchases of the $99 first-generation Apple Pencil, or separately for $9.

This means that in theory, an existing first-gen Apple Pencil owner could skip paying $129 for the second-generation Apple Pencil. Or even a brand-new user with a USB-C iPad Pro could save $30 by buying the first-gen Pencil with its now-bundled adapter.

However, it won't work.

USB-C iPad Pro models are designed to work with the second generation Apple Pencil, and they will not recognize the new adapter when it's plugged in. Monday's reviewers tried, to no avail.

This means that the adapter is, at least for now, exclusively for the new 10.9-inch iPad. That follows Apple releasing the Magic Keyboard Folio, which is similarly unusable by any other iPad.

Read on AppleInsider

djames4242

I’d still spend the money to get the second gen pencil. Double tapping to switch tools and magnetic charging are both worth the upgrade.

Stabitha_Christie

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen. 

DAalseth

Stabitha_Christie said:

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen. 

The reason was always stated as because you couldn’t charge it. Also with the AP1 you had to plug it in to get the iPad to see the pencil, which wasn’t possible with a USB-C iPad. Now it’s clear that even though there is now an adaptor, so you could plug it in, they have actually written a block in the software to prevent it from being recognized at all. That actually is a bit of a d**k move. 

macgui

JP234 said:

 I thought it was a shame that we need batteries to read a book. Now we're living in an age where even a pencil needs a battery.

Grow up. You don't need batteries to read a book unless there's a power failure or maybe you're camping. Nobody is stopping you from reading a paperback or hardcover book or buying a pad of paper and a No. 2 pencil, if that's your fetish.

A Pencil need a battery. A pencil does not. Though you might want to invest in a powered pencil sharpener. You know, for all  that writing you do. Unless your a purist.

Or if you're having trouble telling the difference between a tablet and a book, you  write on a tablet with a Pencil and you write in a  book with a pencil.

HTH.

macgui

DAalseth said:

Stabitha_Christie said:

Errrr... this isn't news. You couldn't ever use the original pencil on any iPad that supports the second gen. 

The reason was always stated as because you couldn’t charge it. Also with the AP1 you had to plug it in to get the iPad to see the pencil, which wasn’t possible with a USB-C iPad. Now it’s clear that even though there is now an adaptor, so you could plug it in, they have actually written a block in the software to prevent it from being recognized at all. That actually is a bit of a d**k move. 

Apple has done this since before the PowerPC days, one example being a ROM block delivered via a firmware update that prevented using 3rd-party CPU upgrades. SOP. Sometimes it might be justified because some hardware just doesn't have the CPU and/or GPU to support the basic OS.

I don't have a USB-C iPad to see if one of the many Lightning  > USB-C adapters will charge the Gen 1 Pencil, even if it won't pair. It may be that Apple block even the first Gen USB-C iPads from using the original Pencil.

Obviously, supporting it would mean a loss  of a lot of functionality provided by the Gen 2 pencil, but not everybody needs all of it. Even without the upgraded Pencil, USB-C iPad offered and offer improved features and spec updates, so why not let someone continue to at least write with the old one.

Well, we know why. It isn't necessarily about "providing the best user experience" etc., etc.

StrangeDays

JP234 said:

 I thought it was a shame that we need batteries to read a book. Now we're living in an age where even a pencil needs a battery.

Nonsense. If you wish to read a non-powered book, do so. But if you wish to bring 100 books with you in very little space, with the ability to look up words, notate, etc, read a powered device. Same with writing -- if you want to make permanent writing to paper, do so. But if you wish to have an infinite number of brushes, colors, undos, etc, use a powered device. 

Not that complicated. Sounds like these tools just aren't something you need or use.

spock1234

OK, someone help me out here. This adapter design seems unnecessarily complicated to me. Given that this adapter has two 'female ports', one lightning and one USB-C, it makes you use a USB-C to -C cable to pair the Pencil with the iPad 10. Why create an adapter that also requires a USB-C cable to be usable?

Wouldn't it make more sense to have an adapter with a female lightning port (for the pencil) and a Male USB-C port (to plug into the iPad)? To charge the Pencil you would plug the adapter into any USB-C charger. To pair the Pencil you would just plug the adapter into the iPad. That would be closest to the simplicity of the original iPad / Pencil combo. 

crowley

JP234 said:

macgui said:

JP234 said:

 I thought it was a shame that we need batteries to read a book. Now we're living in an age where even a pencil needs a battery.

Grow up. You don't need batteries to read a book unless there's a power failure or maybe you're camping. Nobody is stopping you from reading a paperback or hardcover book or buying a pad of paper and a No. 2 pencil, if that's your fetish.

A Pencil need a battery. A pencil does not. Though you might want to invest in a powered pencil sharpener. You know, for all  that writing you do. Unless your a purist.

Or if you're having trouble telling the difference between a tablet and a book, you  write on a tablet with a Pencil and you write in a  book with a pencil.

HTH.

Do you serve cheese with that whine?

If it’s a whine it’s an entirely correct whine that puts your snarky nonsense firmly in place.

P.S. It’s actually not a whine, but everything else I just said is true.