So, my previous attempt at keeping my Apple Pencil with my iPad Pro only lasted a few months. The loop became so loose that I lost the Pencil at Stansted Airport and had to buy another one! When I mentioned this on Twitter, Twelve South kindly offered to send me a PencilSnap to review. After a few weeks of testing, here’s my findings.
The results are very positive - the PencilSnap holds the Pencil really tightly and it does indeed ‘snap’ onto the Smart Cover making it a simple and effective solution. It doesn’t prevent the smart cover from getting into either position (something previous solutions did), but can be easily removed when placing the iPad flat.
The one very slight negative is that it holds the Pencil a little too tightly, to the extent that it can take quite a bit of effort to pull it out of the holster. I did think it would loosen with use, but it hasn’t yet. Better that way of course! You could also say that £26 is a little expensive for what it is, but after having to spend £99 on another Pencil it doesn’t sound unreasonable.
When doing the ‘JUST WANG IT!” test in the office, I managed to get the PencilSnap to come off the cover and the Pencil fly out. This was an extreme test though, and this high level of wanging would never be replicated in day to day use.
Like most of Twelve South’s products, it’s the kind of solution that Apple should’ve come up with. If I had one criticism, it’s that it detaches quite easily when stowing your iPad in a bag.