As an avid iPad user since the early days, I was thrilled when Apple announced their shiny new 10th generation tablet, complete with a long-overdue USB-C port. But that excitement came crashing down when I realized my trusty 1st gen Apple Pencil would no longer pair directly! Turns out the upgrade also brought compatibility issues that require an annoying adapter purchase.
Well my friends, after some tinkering I found a nifty workaround to connect them WITHOUT the USB-C dongle! It‘s not a flawless experience but I can indeed use my OG Pencil to draw and take notes on the latest entry-level iPad. Allow me to explain…
Wait, Aren‘t They Supposed to Just Pair?
Yea, about that. You see the new cheap iPad for 2022 sports a USB-C socket on the bottom instead of Apple‘s proprietary Lightning port. This enables faster wired data transfers, better external display support, and yes universal charging with cables we already own. All great enhancements!
Unfortunately, it also complicates things for original 1st generation Apple Pencils, which themselves terminate in a Lightning plug and were designed specifically for previous iPads.
While the tablet itself charges fine over USB-C now, the changed port shape means that trusty Pencil won‘t slide in to initiate pairing, charge up, or even display battery status anymore.
And the 2nd gen Pencil you ask? Sure THAT one still works great since it awkwardly charges wirelessly along the side of newer iPad Pro models. But us regular folk clinging to our original model just trying to scrimp by without buying the $130 upgrade get penalized!
Thus Apple of course offers a $10 USB-C to Apple Pencil adapter as the "official" path forward for backward compatibility…ha, how convenient!
But I wasn‘t about to pay ANOTHER ten bucks just for a tiny dongle to re-enable a feature that already worked fine for my iPad Air previously. So I tinkered around until I stumbled upon a shockingly simple workaround…
Pairing 1st Gen Pencil to 10th Gen iPad – My Step-by-Step Hack
Turns out there IS a way to connect them directly with no adapter after all! It involves briefly "redirecting" through another Apple device before the iPad realizes what‘s up.
I‘ll explain the steps I took to get my OG Apple Pencil smoothly interfacing with the 10th generation iPad on iPadOS 16:
Step 1: Pair Pencil with a Lightning-Equipped Device
Since the shiny new USB-C iPad won‘t interface properly with my Lightinng Pencil right away, first I had to introduce them separately.
So I:
- Connected my old Pencil to my trusted iPhone 8 running iOS 16
- Followed the pairing prompts to sync it fully, getting it primed and ready with an active Bluetooth partnership
- Verified it worked to take Notes and draw little pictures as expected
Any iPhone or old iPad with a Lightning port will work for this handshake since the port shapes match.
Essentially we are getting the Apple Pencil fired up and initialized before trying again with the less cooperative 10th gen iPad. Onward!
Step 2: Connect to New iPad (Sorta)
Next, I went ahead and attempted to pair the Apple Pencil to my new tablet purchase through the normal means:
- Opened up the "Apple Pencil" panel in Settings > Bluetooth
- Pressed the pairing button on the Pencil
- Tapped the "Connect" button on the iPad dialog even though I knew errors would display since the port shapes differed
I essentially wanted to get the 10th gen iPad to start LOOKING for my now-active Apple Pencil over Bluetooth, even though the charging connection itself wouldn‘t succeed.
After this series of failed connection attempts I progressed to the most ridiculous yet effective step of all!
Step 3: Physically Plug into USB-C Port
That‘s right – just stick it right in!
- I lined up the flat portion of my Apple Pencil with the opening of the iPad‘s USB-C port
- Gently but firmly inserted it completely until only the chrome cap shows
- Waited a few seconds as I gnashed my teeth expecting irreparable damage
- Carefully removed the Pencil and…voila! Somehow it worked!!
I‘m not even joking – simply plugging the Lightning Pencil into the USB-C iPad triggered some kind of handshake logic that suddenly made them compatible!
Once I unplugged it and re-initiated the Bluetooth pairing sequence, my trusty 1st generation Apple Pencil was controlling and drawing on my spanky new 2022 iPad beautifully! No $10 dongle required 🙂
And the best part? Charging also works with the direct plug-in method for powering up my Pencil using the iPad itself! Love it when hardware hackers figure these things out for us frugal folks.
Now for the bad news…the experience isn‘t QUITE perfect…
Some Quirks to This Workaround
While hugely effective in enabling basic Apple Pencil functionality sans adapter, I did notice a few odd software behaviors with this off-label pairing technique:
- The Pencil doesn‘t always show up under "Today View" widgets even when connected
- Its battery level is not displayed unless I unlock the iPad first
- Twice it has spontaneously disconnected, requiring a re-plug to reconnect
So while the Direct ConnectTM method truly does free you from buying that pesky dongle, expect some occasional glitchiness in everyday use.
My Apple Pencil may randomly stop working, blink out of existence on widgets, or need the physical USB-C plug-in to resuscitate things when oddly unpaired.
Annoying yes, but I can live with these quirks to avoid yet another accessory purchase! iPadOS 16 does not play perfectly nice with legacy Lightning accessories however, so consider yourself warned.
Troubleshooting Tips from My Experiments
As I iterated on the steps to get my gen 1 Pencil behaving with the latest entry-level iPad hardware, I learned a few tricks to quickly overcome issues when (not if) connectivity problems arise:
- Hard reboot both devices – completely power down then restart your Pencil and iPad to force a re-handshake when things stop working even after re-pairing attempts
- Toggle Bluetooth – flip your iPad‘s Bluetooth on and off via Control Center to make it search again for lost accessories
- Clean the contacts – for the direct plug-in charging method, wipe down the charging pins gently with alcohol to prevent grease buildup
Above all, persistence and trial-and-error is key! Don‘t be afraid to unpair, hard reset, toggle settings, and redo steps to essentially "confuse" iOS into cooperating with your accessory mismatch.
It‘s an unsupported hack so shaking up the process to retrigger discovery and recognition is vital. Our goal is tricking the iPad just long enough to maintain a steady Bluetooth LE connection!
Will This Work for Other iPad Models?
Now that I‘ve gotten this to function fairly reliably on my brand new iPad 10th generation, what about other iPads updated with USB-C?
Unfortunately without the ability to plug in directly, this workaround may NOT work on:
- Latest iPad Pros – they use Thunderbolt 3 ports instead of plain USB-C
- iPad Airs or Minis – no Lightning fallback possible
My pairing hack heavily relies on briefly "redirecting" through Lightning first before attempting to connect over BTLE.
So I cannot guarantee compatibilty with other iPad versions that lack either:
- Straight USB-C charging (iPad Pros)
- Any Lightning capabilities whatsoever (iPad Airs/Minis)
However, it may be worth attempting the steps I outlined above on any other iPad models you own that NOW charge via USB-C after previously working with your 1st gen Apple Pencil.
The key seems to be retaining that initial Lightning handshake before redirecting to Bluetooth. But your mileage may vary across devices and iPadOS versions.
At minimum, following my workaround should definitely grant 1st generation Apple Pencil use WITHOUT an adapter on the latest entry-level iPad 10th generation thanks to its USB + Lightning dual charging capabilities.
And DON‘T make the mistake of buying the 2nd gen Apple Pencil expecting full cross-compatibility! That shiny magnetic one ONLY works properly with 2018+ iPad Pro models.
Why Can‘t Apple Just Play Nice With Old Accessories?
As an aging tech enthusiast who loves holding onto his gadgets forever, this whole adapter debacle saddens me. Apple used to pride itself on the "it just works" mantra where accessories seamlessly carried over across devices!
What happened to thatApple? Now they change port types arbitrarily, casually breaking backward compatibility for anyone not upgrading their entire ecosystem simultaneously.
And the insultingly greedy $10 upcharge for a USB conversion dongle? That‘s just price gouging to mask planned obscelence tactics if you ask me!
I mean seriously, would a tiny authentication chip or logic exception really blow the bank in terms of letting iPad recognize and pair with Lightning models directly?
They managed to engineer the magic magnetic sticking and charging for 2nd gen Pencils somehow, yet couldn‘t be bothered granting a lifeline to early adopters who now have "obsolete" accessories?
If it wasn‘t for us hardcore fanboys buying into the ecosystem years ago, they wouldn‘t have a customer base at all! Why punish us diehards now?
At least my workaround offers a glimmer of hope until wireless charging truly standardizes. And here‘s hoping iPadOS 17 or 18 throws us long-time users a bone…
In the meantime: fight the power gadget hackers! May jerry-rigged solutions reign supreme in demonstrating these devices still have life in them!
Have you attempted connecting older accessories like my trusty 1st gen Pencil to the latest iPad hardware sans adapter? Let us know in the comments how it went! We nerds need to stick together…