Which iPad, which pencil?
Which iPad is recommended?
Section titled “Which iPad is recommended?”An iPad Air 11″ or 13″ with M4 — or newer. That gives you plenty of performance, enough working area, and the Apple Pencil Pro.
The direction is clear: an iPad with an M chip. Large designs regenerate quickly on one, and the canvas stays fluid at tens of thousands of stitches. Whether it ends up an Air or a Pro, and whether 11 or 13 inches, depends on your budget and on how much area you want while drawing.
Does a used iPad work?
Section titled “Does a used iPad work?”Yes, and well. An iPad Air with M2, second-hand or refurbished, is a sound choice for StitchPencil — the app itself is developed on one.
With used devices the usual advice applies: check that everything really works before you buy. Look over the display for stains and dead pixels, check the battery health, and test that your Apple Pencil pairs and writes cleanly in every corner of the screen.
What about the iPad mini?
Section titled “What about the iPad mini?”Not recommended. At 8.3 inches the screen is too small for this app. Digitizing needs the canvas, the layer list and the inspector at the same time — on the mini that leaves too little of the design itself, and in portrait even less.
It is not the hardware: the mini even takes the Apple Pencil Pro. It is simply the wrong format for drawing embroidery designs.
Which Apple Pencil is recommended?
Section titled “Which Apple Pencil is recommended?”The Apple Pencil Pro. It is the only pressure-sensitive pencil on the iPad Air and iPad Pro — and working with pencil pressure is the nicest way to draw a satin column.
| Pencil | Pressure sensitivity | Hover |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Pencil Pro | yes | yes |
| Apple Pencil (USB‑C) | no | yes |
| Apple Pencil (1st generation) | yes | no |
Hover means the tip floats above the display without touching it, and StitchPencil shows you the name of the preset under the tip before you commit. Squeeze, barrel roll and the Pencil Pro’s haptic feedback are not used by StitchPencil at present.
Is pressure sensitivity required?
Section titled “Is pressure sensitivity required?”No. It is a recommendation, not a requirement — StitchPencil works fully with any Apple Pencil.
Pencil pressure drives the width of the satin column as you draw: the harder you press, the wider the band. Pressure sensitivity is on out of the box for the satin presets and off for the running-stitch presets; tatami never uses it. Without it the column comes out at a uniform width, and you set that afterwards on the slider instead of while you pull. If you work without a pressure-sensitive pencil, simply switch pressure sensitivity off in the preset — then the tool behaves from the start the way it will stitch.
Anyone who mostly imports, moves nodes and adjusts settings will barely miss it. Anyone who draws freehand a lot will notice it immediately.
Will a cheaper stylus do?
Section titled “Will a cheaper stylus do?”For drawing yes, for pressure no — no third-party stylus is pressure-sensitive on iPad.
Something else matters more: by default StitchPencil only lets the thing the iPad reports as a pencil draw, so your resting palm cannot pull lines. The Logitech Crayon qualifies, because it uses Apple’s pencil technology; palm rejection and tilt work. Plain capacitive styluses, on the other hand, report as a finger and only draw once you switch on Draw with finger — at which point your palm draws too. Those are not recommended.
I already have an iPad — is it enough?
Section titled “I already have an iPad — is it enough?”If iPadOS 26 runs on it, you can use StitchPencil. That covers the iPad from the 8th generation, the iPad mini from the 5th, the iPad Air from the 3rd, and the iPad Pro 11″ from the 1st as well as the 12.9″ from the 3rd generation. On older devices without an M chip, regenerating large designs takes longer — drawing stays fluid regardless.
Also check which Apple Pencil your model accepts. That is listed in Apple’s Apple Pencil compatibility overview.