Apple Pencil Pro disconnects after iPadOS 26 update – shows battery but not connected

Just wanted to add that I am having similar experience:

Apple Pencil Pro paired with iPad Pro M5 updated to latest iPadOS 26.0.1

• paired, restored, reset network settings, also installed as a new device (no restore).. talked to Apple Support, basically same steps again..

I will take it today to the Apple Store to see if it pairs with different device, but seeing the thread and replies, it probably is software issue. I'll post an update once I know more.

This has not been fixed. My Apple pencil completely stopped working when I upgraded to the latest version of iPadOS 26.0.1.

The pencil is not detected. I have been through remedial steps with Apple Support but none of them work.

They are sending me a new pencil but I suspect this is a bug in the OS and nothing to do with the hardware.

I downgraded to iOS 18 my Apple Pencil pro can use normally but not cannot used with iOS 26 😥

ipad air m2

with Apple Pencil pro

I have this exact same problem, and it only started happening after my iPad's battery died, but that might be a coincidence.

Since then, I've tried everything that I can think of to get it to stay connected. Resetting the device, the bluetooth / network settings, various combinations of turning bluetooth on / off while resetting, forgetting the pen many times, etc.

I checked my pencil with someone else's iPad, and it works, and my iPad can't connect to any other pencils. It can still connect to other bluetooth devices fine.

I'm hoping that this is just an unfortunate (and annoying) bug in iPadOS 26... but I use my pencil a lot and this problem significantly hampers my workflow, so I'm getting it checked at the apple store later this week unless there's an update or something that fixes this before then.

I'll let you know if the techy people say anything about it or if I can figure out how to fix it.

iPad Model: iPad Air M2

Pencil Model: Apple Pencil Pro

macOS Version: iPadOS 26

My emotional state: :')

I had the same problem on wednesday! i have tried everything from forgetting the pencil to do a network reset

nothing worked. ive let it sit on my ipad for like 24hrs without trying it again and it randomly connected itself yesterday evening. idk what happend but something did happen.

i hope youll get to that point too!!

I have also same experience with you.

When I connect Apple Pencil pro, it will be disconnected after 10 seconds. This penominon is also shown beta version. It doesn’t correct at official version.

iPad model : iPad Air 11(M2)

After updating to the public release of ipad os 26.0 I had a connection issue with my apple pencil pro on my ipad air 2025 m3 13". It connects when I attach and immediately disconnects while on charge and while trying use use. I have rebooted my ipad, I have forgotten the pencil and re-connected. It started working fine until today. I see that there is a new update. I have updated to the newest ipad os 26.0.1 release and no joy! I can't use my apple pencil pro. I can't work. This is preventing me from completing a work order and billing my client so I can pay bills. Ummm.... How do I resolve this quickly. Now I'm researching how to back out of the update to 26 back to 18. This is really a problem for those that count on this equipment to work properly.

Reporting back after about two weeks of my first post, unfortunately the issue persists on iPadOS 26.0.1 after trying:

– Forget the pencil and reconnect

– Restart the device

– Resetting Network Settings: although this seemed to help at first, after a couple of days the issue returned. This temporary fix also deletes all your network passwords and known networks so make sure you have a way to regain access to your networks.

Hopefully this gets resolved soon.

as of Nov 4, I updated my iPad to iOS 26.1, and that did not fix the issue. By the way, I erroneously said I had an Apple Pencil pro but I actually have Apple Pencil 2nd generation.

also after factory resetting my iPad again, when I attach the pencil to my iPad, it has a rotating pencil appearing on the side of the iPad where my pencil will magnetically attach. But still iPad does not recognize it

iPadOS 26.1 update just came out - and has NOT fixed this issue. What in the world Apple? This is maddening. I have literally reverted to using pen/paper for my note taking because this bug has made the iPad unreliable when I need it to be reliable.

Anyone have any legitimate resolve to this besides soft resetting the iPad every few hours (which sometimes works) or wiping the network settings (which didnt' work for me).

All I want for Christmas....is my freaking Apple Pencil Pro to work! 😫

Software update seems to have solved the issue for me.

I am facing the same issue with my Apple Pencil Pro and iPad Pro M4 after the iOS 26 update. I tried forgetting from this device and network reset and multiple restarts, and force-closing my iPad, and now my iPad cannot find my Apple Pencil Pro.

What should I do now? I am not able to connect my Apple Pencil with my iPad.

I'm back again and here I am in the 7 oclock hour and my apple pencil pro is not working with my Ipad m3 Air 13" again. AGAIN! I thought there might be a correlation between my focus setting (which is from 7pm to 9pm daily) on my iphone and ipad but nope, there is not a focus setup on my ipad. This is becoming truly frustrating. I was required to purchase the apple pencil pro when I purchased the newest ipad air m3. Please Apple!!!! Figure this out!! Many of us depend on your equipment to make a living.

when I updated iPadOS 26.0.1 this problem is disappeared. so I knew that this problem is resolved at iPadOS 26.0.1.

But, this problem reopened to yesterday. abruptly, same issue is appeared.

When connect pencil to iPad using Magnetic side. pop-up displayed "connected". and show apple pencil in bluetooth list as "connected". but status is changed from "connected" to "disconnected" after 10s.

I couldn't understand why this problem is shown. it is only assumed software bug. because this error doesn't be shown in iPad OS 18.x.x.

Please, apple developer and QA focuses on this problem.

Model : iPad Air 11(M2)

Pencil : Applie pencil pro

I am having this same issue with a iPad Air M3 and a brand new Apple pencil Pro. I am currently on iPad OS 26.1 and have tried all the remedies multiple times. I do not believe the battery in the pencil is the issue as after leaving it disconnected for a full day it is still at 100% when I do try and connect it back long enough to see the battery level.