Starting with iPadOS 18, which will be widely released later this year, iPad apps can offer custom drawing tools for the Apple Pencil.
For example, in a WWDC 2024 coding video last week, Apple demonstrated how an app could implement a tool that allows for cat paw prints and other animal-related symbols to be added to a drawing. The custom tools support features on the new Apple Pencil Pro, including the squeeze gesture and barrel roll action.
iOS 18 and visionOS 2 also support custom drawing tools in apps, but the iPhone and Vision Pro do not support the Apple Pencil. As always, any drawing tool can also be controlled with your finger and other input methods.
In addition to custom tools, apps across iPadOS 18, iOS 18, and visionOS 2 are able to change the selection of default drawing tools that appear in the system tool picker. Apple said apps are even able to offer multiple tools of the same type for added convenience, such as two colors of pens or two colors of markers.
iPadOS 18, iOS 18, and visionOS 2 are currently in beta.
Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device.
Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by Juli Clover
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be.
The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last.
Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski
The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports.
The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu.
This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...
Isn't it a violation of human rights or something that the iPencil doesn't work on other tablets, and that other tablets can't use the iPencil? Where's the EU when you need them?
I believe the iPad mini's screen area is more like double the screen area of the iPhone 15 Pro Max?
Agree that the physical dimension is double in size. And the screen resolution of the iPPM 15 is higher than that of the current iPad mini. I still think the pencil would work well for notes et al on the phone.
They say this but the support for custom tools is very bare bones. The custom tools get a very generic look in the tool picker with only a basic icon to differentiate them from built-in tools (see the paw print icon on the custom tool in the screen grabs). The custom tool content also has to be rendered in a separate view from the rest of the drawing, so developers do not benefit from Apple's gesture handling or low latency rendering. For this reason developers cannot intermix their custom tool drawing content with the built-in tool drawing content. If you run the sample code the paw prints are always on top of the built-in tool content, even if you go in and try to draw on top of them, which is pretty unacceptable.
I hear a lot of people suggesting that developers "just use pencil kit". But for many applications it's just not flexible enough and continues to not be flexible enough.
