Apple Pencil gets impressive updates with iPadOS

The best stylus for any tablet

The second generation Apple Pencil is without a doubt the best stylus for any tablet in the market right now. When Apple introduced this second generation Pencil with these new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros it had a low 20ms latency, but with iPadOS, that latency has been slashed to just 9ms.

According to Apple, the Pencil feels more natural, and is now using even more advanced prediction algorithms and optimizations to reduce that latency.

To the naked eye, you won't really notice a huge difference. What you get, and perception of what you get will vary depending on your hardware, so if you're using the latest generation iPad Pro with ProMotion equipped with the second generation Apple Pencil, this will give you the best performance versus an iPad without ProMotion and using the first generation Pencil. All iPads and Apple Pencils will show improvement, though the best results are found in the newest generations.

An improved screenshot tool

With iPadOS you can also now swipe up from the bottom left or right corner of your iPad with Apple Pencil to take a quick screenshot and start marking up documents right away. Additionally, you can select full page if you're taking a screen shot of a website, for example. And, you can annotate, jot down notes, and save this as a PDF directly to the Files app which can then be relayed using the Share Sheet in iPadOS.

Notes & Dark Mode

Apple's dark mode extends across the operating system, and to the Notes app as well. There's now a redesigned tool palette that gives you quick access to tools, color palettes, shapes, object eraser, and a new pixel eraser for removing any part of a stroke.

Most of these features, including the new screenshot functionality, will also be available for first generation Apple Pencil users, as well as those using the Logitech Crayon.

These new improvements are welcomed

All of these new changes in iPadOS will make the iPad Pro a lot more useful come this fall when iPadOS is officially out for the public. With Sidecar in macOS and an iPad as your secondary display, and if you happen to have an iPad with Pencil support, you'll now be able to use your iPad in a lot of pro apps, like Final Cut Pro, Maya, and Adobe Illustrator just to name a few.

If you're curious about Sidecar, and how it works in macOS Catalina, we already gave you a detailed look at how this new feature works, so we won't rehash it here.

The Apple Pencil and Apple Pencil 2 are both available at Amazon for $94.99 and $129 respectively. For the best discounts on iPads, be sure to check out our iPad Price Guide.

Apple will be releasing iOS 13, iPadOS, macOS 10.15 Catalina, watchOS 6, and tvOS 13 later this fall as a free update.