I’ve been spending more time recently with apps for taking notes on the iPad. Specifically, a few that support handwriting. You can use a finger to take notes but a stylus is highly recommended. All these apps employ some sort of wrist or palm protection when making handwritten notes with a stylus. When you write on paper, you typically rest your writing hand on the page. You do the same when you write on the iPad screen using a stylus. This wrist protection feature blocks the iPad from interpreting your resting hand as input and causing stray marks on the screen where your hand touches.<\/p>\n
I quickly discovered my stylus would not work properly. That is, no matter how I configured the wrist or palm protection, I had trouble. Sometimes nothing would appear when I was writing. I moved the stylus across the screen but it remained blank. Other times, only portions of words or phrases would appear. The screen occasionally shuddered or jumped about.<\/p>\n
The problem wasn’t the stylus (I tried three). The apps were popular note taking apps with many positive reviews. The solution was to change two iPad settings. If you experience any of the problems described above while attempting to use a note taking app, check the settings described below. Either one can cause problems when writing on the iPad screen.<\/p>\n