What Apple Pencil and iPad Do I Need? A Compatibility Guide

There are many iPads out there, and only two Apple Pencils. We cannot handle the horror of you buying the wrong Apple Pencil for your iPad. Just imagining the great anticipation as you unpack the pencil, only for it to be destroyed by the fact you can’t use it hurts us. To prevent such agony, we decided to write this short blog to help you prevent buying the wrong Apple Pencil for your iPad.
What iPad Do I Have?
So, how do you know which iPad you have? You can find out in a couple of easy-to-follow steps.
- Turn on your iPad (incredibly useful, cannot overstate the importance of this step)
- Open “Settings”
- Go to “General”
- Go to “About”
Once you have done this you will see Name, Software Version, and Model Name. Focus on “Model Name.” This is how to tell which generation iPad you have. Now that you have found out what model iPad you have, it is time to move on to the next step.
Which Apple Pencil Is Compatible With My iPad?
In order to answer this question we will consult the beautiful table below. It will tell you which generation iPad supports which Apple Pencil.
iPad Generation |
Which Apple Pencil It Supports |
iPad Pro 12,9-inch (2015 / 2017) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad Pro 9,7-inch (2016) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad Pro 10,5-inch (2017) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad (2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad Air 3 (2019) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad Mini 5 (2019) |
Apple Pencil 1 |
iPad Pro 11-inch (2018 / 2020 / 2021) |
Apple Pencil 2 |
iPad Pro 12,9-inch (2018 / 2020 / 2021) |
Apple Pencil 2 |
iPad Air 4 (2020) |
Apple Pencil 2 |
iPad Mini 6 (2021) |
Apple Pencil 2 |
Now you know for sure which generation iPad you have. You also know for sure which generation Apple Pencil is supported by your iPad. We have done our job of preventing the horror of a mismatch. This was very important to us, so thank you for reading this article.
Now go on and create!
P.s., these blogs might be interesting for you as well!:
Apple Pencil and iPad: Which Do I Need?
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