Apple Pencils drawing wonky lines after iPad Pro display replacements

In recent years, Apple has shown a much deeper willingness for users to repair their devices in ways they see fit, either DIY-style or through third-party repairs.

However, the right to repair isn’t without the odd snag. New reports say display replacements on some iPad models performed outside of the Apple network may be upsetting the ability to work with the Apple Pencil stylus.

According to a UK repair shop, users who’ve replaced display on certain iPad Pro models can no longer draw straight lines with their Apple Pencil. Even when it’s a genuine part from a different iPad. That’s a problem.

Ricky Panesar of the UK-based iCorrect repair company told Forbes it’s down to a “serialisation” issue at Apple’s end. Apple likes to pair genuine parts like the screen to the logic board of the device itself. The correct Apple part are able to sync with the logic board via proprietary software. Sometimes, this requires Apple to repair the devices themselves.

Panesar said: “We found with the newer versions of the iPad that when you put a new screen on, even if it’s taken from another iPad, the pencil strokes don’t work perfectly.

“They have a memory chip that sits on the screen that’s programmed to only allow the Pencil functionality to work if the screen is connected to the original logic board.”

We’ve seen this issue manifest before, causing problems for iPhone users’ replacing their batteries and display issues that have prevented Face ID from working. The latest victim is the iPad Pro, with the 12.9-inch (5th/6th gen) models and 11-inch (4th Gen) models.

Apple is slowly getting itself in-line with the right to repair movement, but there are still limitations on what users can achieve without upsetting key functionality. Apple promised to resolve the issues that came up with iPhone screens, lets hope it does likewise here.