Why won’t the Stylus work?

ouraggie

I have an ipad 11th gen and recently purchased a stylus pencil thing from Amazon. It said it was compatible with my model of ipad. However, it doesn’t seem to work. The spongy dibber end does, but the pencil end doesn’t write. The instructions just imply that all you need to do is charge it and switch it on.

I have googled the issue and found various results which say that i need to pair it with my ipad, but the bluetooth on my ipad doesn’t pick up any devices other than my phone . ( i also tried the stylus on my phone, with no success there either).
I went through my ipad settings and found a ref to Apple Pencil. I switched off “ only draw with Apple Pencil”, as it’s not one. 

Before buying the one from Amazon, i was given a different pencil by a friend. It worked on her phone, but again it doesn’t on mine. 

Can anyone help? Thank you.

ProcessMatters

This is almost certainly a compatibility issue rather than a fault with your iPad.

Most “stylus pencils” sold on Amazon are not Apple Pencil and don’t actually pair with iPads at all. The fact that the rubber / spongy end works but the pencil tip doesn’t usually means the “pencil” side relies on hardware features that only work with a genuine Apple Pencil.

iPads don’t support pressure-sensitive or active styluses from third parties in the same way Android devices do. If it doesn’t explicitly say Apple Pencil (1st gen or 2nd gen) and list your exact iPad model, it won’t work as a pencil — only as a basic capacitive stylus.

For an 11th-gen iPad you’ll need the correct Apple Pencil version for that model. Anything else will behave exactly as you’re seeing.

I’d return the Amazon one and double-check which Apple Pencil your specific iPad supports.