How to Check the Apple Pencil Battery
Apple’s Pencil is powered by a small built-in battery that must be charged for it to work.
Owners of the second-generation Apple Pencil have it easy. To check the battery, magnetically attach the Apple Pencil to the side of your iPad. A pop-up notification indicating battery status will appear at the top of the iPad’s display once the second-generation Apple Pencil is attached.
The status only appears briefly, though, and doesn’t help owners of the first-generation Apple Pencil. If you want to check the battery on the first generation or check the second generation’s battery while it’s detached, you’ll need to use the Battery widget.
Swipe right from the Home screen to open Today View. Scroll to the bottom of Today View and tap the Edit button. Tap the + button at the top of Today View. A menu with a selection of widgets will appear. Find and tap the Batteries widget. The next menu will give you several options for the widget. Choose the one you’d like to use and then tap Add Widget. The widget will now appear in Today View. You can reference it whenever you want to check your Apple Pencil’s battery.
On iPadOS, widgets that appear at the top of Today View will also appear on the Home Screen when an iPad is used in landscape orientation. You can keep a (nearly) constant eye on your Apple Pencil’s battery by moving the Batteries widget to the top of Today View.
Is There a Battery in the Apple Pencil?
Yes, there is a battery in the Apple Pencil. To be more specific, the Apple Pencil has a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. It’s no different from your phone or laptop, but much smaller.
This is a bit different from the Apple Pencil’s competitors, like the Microsoft Surface Pen. Many have a replaceable, disposable battery, such as a AAAA battery or a watch battery. These disposable batteries last longer than the Apple Pencil’s built-in battery (for several months up to a year), but replacing them can be a hassle.
It’s not possible to replace the Apple Pencil’s battery. The Pencil must be replaced if the battery fails.
