Generation 1 Apple Pencil pairs with iPad Pro but does not work

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Level 1

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Generation 1 Apple Pencil pairs with iPad Pro but does not work

Hi, bit deflated at the moment. I've just got a 12.9 ipad pro 2nd gen, ios 17.7.10 to play around with some doodling in procreate. Nothing serious, didn't want to spend a mint. My apple pencil 1st generation arrived today, paired it and absolutely nothing. I've reset the network connections and forgotten the connection to reconnect and just no response to the pencil at all. It shows on the battery widget so I know they're linked and the pencil is fully charged. Have I got a dud, or is it a known issue?

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Original Title: Gen 1 apple pencil pairs but does not work

iPad Pro, iPadOS 17

Posted on Sep 25, 2025 10:20 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,878 points

Sep 25, 2025 1:10 PM in response to Lfidd

The good news is the Apple Pencil isn’t a dud — it’s a compatibility issue. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro 2nd generation (2017 model) doesn’t support the 1st gen Pencil — it only works with the 2nd gen Apple Pencil. That’s why the pencil shows in the battery widget (since it can still charge when connected), but it won’t actually draw or respond in apps like Procreate. Unfortunately, no amount of resetting or re-pairing will fix that, since it’s a hardware limitation.

What they’ll need to do is return or resell the 1st gen Pencil and pick up a 2nd gen Apple Pencil, if you still want to use a Pencil with it.

Ref: Apple Pencil compatibility - Apple Support

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