The Apple Pencil Pro hides far more than pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. With squeeze, hover, and motion sensors working together, it unlocks tricks that can change how I draw, write, and even automate my iPad. Here are five insane Apple Pencil Pro moves that stay buried in settings but can save real time once I turn them on.
Squeeze to pop up a custom tool palette
The Apple Pencil Pro adds a dedicated sensor in the barrel so it can feel when I squeeze it and trigger a special palette. Apple describes Apple Pencil Pro as having advanced features like squeeze, barrel roll, and haptic feedback that bring up tools without touching the screen. In practice, that means I can call up brushes, color pickers, or shape tools with one quick press instead of hunting through menus.
Because the squeeze action is configurable, I can assign it to the tools I use most in apps like Procreate or Goodnotes. That cuts down on taps and keeps my focus on the canvas, which matters when I am sketching live in a meeting or on a client call. For artists and note takers, this turns the stylus itself into a floating toolbar that follows my hand.
Use squeeze history to scrub through undo and redo
New on Apple Pencil Pro, Apple’s own WWDC session shows that a squeeze can also control an on-screen slider for undo and redo history. In the video on New Apple Pencil, a squeeze brings up a timeline of strokes so I can scrub back and forth without lifting my hand. Instead of tapping a tiny undo button twenty times, I drag once and land on the exact version I want.
This trick changes how I experiment with layouts or shading. I can push a drawing very far, then glide back to an earlier stage if it does not work, almost like version control for a sketch. For designers working under pressure, that kind of fast history control lowers the risk of trying bold edits, because rolling them back is now a one gesture move.
Turn barrel roll into a precision brush rotation dial
The Apple Pencil Pro has a built in gyroscope so it can sense barrel rotation, which Apple calls barrel roll. Official support pages explain that I can use barrel roll to rotate a brush or pen as I twist the Pencil, just like a real marker on paper. Apps that tap into azimuth and barrel data, such as Procreate’s Brush Studio, can link that rotation to stroke direction.
Once I map this correctly, the Pencil Pro becomes a physical dial for calligraphy nibs, shading pencils, or chisel highlighters. I can shade a sphere by rolling the stylus instead of switching brushes, which feels closer to traditional drawing. For illustrators and lettering artists, this level of control means fewer on screen controls and more natural muscle memory, which can speed up production work.
Preview strokes with hover before you commit
Apple’s marketing for Apple Pencil Pro highlights a hover feature that shows a preview of certain brushes before I touch the glass. Creators have shown that the Pencil Pro can use hover together with barrel roll so I can see the angle and thickness of a stroke in apps like Procreate before I actually draw. One short video even points out that I can see “the shadows of the brush pen” before ink hits the canvas.
This kind of live preview is a big deal for digital painting and hand lettering. I can line up a complex stroke, adjust tilt and rotation in the air, then press down only when it looks right. That reduces the number of test marks and erases on every layer, which keeps files cleaner and saves time for people working on tight deadlines or streaming their process.
Treat squeeze as a system wide shortcut button
The Apple Pencil Pro for the latest iPad Pro can go beyond drawing tools and act as a trigger for Shortcuts. One detailed walkthrough shows how Apple Pencil Pro M4 iPad Pro uses a squeeze to run any automation I assign, such as opening a favorite app or starting a timer. Because the Pencil already lives in my hand, that shortcut is often faster than reaching for the screen.
Once I link squeeze to a Shortcut, I can launch a daily notes page, log a task, or start a screen recording with no extra taps. For students, that might mean squeezing to open Goodnotes on a specific notebook. For working artists, it could trigger a project template or export action. In both cases, the stylus becomes a tiny, context aware remote for the whole tablet.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
