When I see a bunch of people talking about a specific problem on message boards with no clear answers, I feel obligated to write a blog post as a public service so that others may avoid the suffering I experienced in solving it. This is one of those posts (check out all the confusion out there if you run a Google Search for “apple pencil not working iOS 18“).

Immediately after upgrading my iPad (a 2020-era 4th generation iPad Air), my Apple Pencil stopped working. It didn’t work in Good Notes (which I use a lot in my coaching practice and general note-taking), it didn’t work in forScore (which I use to notate musical scores). This was massively frustrating because it is part of my daily workflow. I saw a few mentions of replacing the tip but was doubtful given that I had had this setup for 4+ years and the problems began immediately upon upgrading to iOS 18.

I ordered some tips for $11.99 (an on-sale price — the package includes 4) and replaced mine. The issue immediately went away and the Apple Pencil is working better than ever.

So, if you have this problem, the first thing to do is buy the tips.