When you think about the Apple Pencil, you’re probably thinking of things like drawing and illustrations. However, while you’re using your iPad with the Apple Pencil for drawing, taking notes, or anything else, you might also need to navigate around things, right? Of course you can use your fingers for that, but it’s far easier to just use the pencil already in your hands. If that sounds like a good idea to you, here’s how to use Apple Pencil to navigate on iPad.
Use Apple Pencil to Open Control Center
One of the most common things that you might want to do while using your iPad with the Apple Pencil is to open Control Center to adjust brightness, volume, or other settings . Here’s how you can open the Control Center with an Apple Pencil:
Simply tap on the “battery” in the top menu-bar on your iPad with the Apple Pencil.
This will open up the Control Center on the iPad and you can easily adjust anything that you need to change. Once done, you can just tap on the blank area around the Control Center to dismiss it once more.
Use Apple Pencil to Open Notification Center
Similarly, if you want to check on your notifications, you can open the Notification Center with your iPad as well.
Just tap on the “date-time” in the top menu-bar on your iPad with the Apple Pencil
This will open up the Notification Center on your iPad and you can check and dismiss notifications here. Once done, you can just swipe up to dismiss the Notification Center.
Use Apple Pencil to Go to Home Screen
Now, the Apple Pencil is capable of opening the Control Center and the Notification Center. However, it is strangely unable to go back to the home screen on your iPad. Whether you try tapping on the home bar, or swiping up using the Apple Pencil, it simply won’t do anything to take you to the home screen of your iPad.
That said, there’s a workaround you can use to be able to head to the Home Screen with the Apple Pencil .
- Open the Shortcuts app on your iPad and tap on the plus icon to create a new shortcut
- Add the action “Go to Home Screen” in the shortcut
- Tap on the back arrow to save your shortcut
- Open the control center and long press on the empty space to enter edit mode
- Tap on “Add a Control”
- Scroll down to “Shortcuts” and tap on the “Shortcut” option
- Tap on “Choose” and select the “Go to Home Screen” shortcut
- Tap anywhere in the blank space to confirm the changes
Now, whenever you need to go to the home screen with your Apple Pencil, you can open the Control Center and tap on the Go to Home Screen shortcut to do so. It’s obviously not as good as having a native method to go home, but it’s a workaround that works really well, and is decently fast as well.
Greetings, tech titans and fellow literary time-travelers! I’m Akshay, your tech-whisperer and Harry Potter’s number one stalker – seriously, don’t ask me how many times I’ve read those books; it’s borderline unhealthy. Working in the tech journalism industry since 2016, I have 7 years of experience covering everything from technology news, to well-researched resource articles. Now the Content Strategist at Beebom, I often pen down op-eds for our website, sharing expert commentary on the latest in technology, AI, and electric cars.
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- Apple and Google have officially confirmed their team-up for the next-gen Siri AI.
- The Cupertino Giant will be using Google’s Gemini for a more personalized Siri model as well as Apple Intelligence features.
- We can expect the next-gen Siri to come out with iOS 26.4, sometime in March or April.
Apple has officially confirmed joining forces with Google to use its Gemini AI model to power the next-generation Siri. It will offer a more personalized experience and will be coming out with the iOS 26.4 update. Apple also plans to leverage Gemini’s capabilities for other Apple Intelligence features as well, later down the line.
The Next-Gen Siri will be powered by Google’s Gemini AI
Apple officially confirmed that it will be partnering with Google in a statement to CNBC . Here’s what it stated, “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models, and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users.”
Later, Google also shared a post on X confirming the tie-up, “Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.”
Image Credit: X/@NewsFromGoogle
Both statements clearly mention that the Cupertino Giant will be using Gemini to power its assistant Siri. This was already rumored, as Apple’s attempts to acquire Perplexity went nowhere. With Gemini, Siri will get a major AI update . It will be able to handle more nuanced conversations and provide better results. Something long-time Apple users have been asking for years.
The next-gen Siri will arrive with the iOS 26.4 update, which will launch sometime in March or April. And it is only going to be available for Apple Intelligence-supported devices .
Something else worth noting is how Google’s statement mentions that Gemini will power Apple Intelligence features. This leads us to believe that Apple could use Gemini’s multi-modal capabilities for its Writings tools , Image Playground , and Message summaries, too.
Elon Musk Not Happy With Apple and Google Tie Up
xAI CEO Elon Musk also responded to Google’s announcement post on X, sharing his thoughts on the matter by saying, “This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that they also have Android and Chrome.” Though we don’t expect either Apple or Google to respond to Elon, we will update the situation as it progresses.
It is worth noting that xAI is the company behind Grok, which is in hot water currently due to its inappropriate image generation fiasco , and has been getting backlash from multiple news outlets, X users, and even government authorities.
With over 4 year of experience under the belt, I cover all facets of consumer tech, from smartphones to other consumer electronics, our favorite social media apps, as well as the growing realm of AI and LLMs. As an Apps and AI writer app Beebom, I provide my expertise in all these areas, weaving stories that help you get familiar with the tech around you. But you will find me playing NYT daily puzzles in my free time.
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