How to make an iPad stylus

Using a stylus on an iPad is a great way to create art, make notes, or even navigate around the interface. There are certainly plenty of styli to choose from, with our favourites currently being the Apple Pencil (so long as you own an iPad Pro) and the Fifty Three Pencil. If your needs are modest then you can actually make your own stylus in a couple of minutes using general household objects. It’s a fun little experiment, especially if you get your kids involved, and we’ll show you how easy it is to unleash the doodler inside yourself.

Related: Apple Pencil review | Best Stylus for iPad | 10 Tips and tricks for using the Apple Pencil

How to make an iPad stylus: What you’ll need

As we said the needs for a DIY stylus are very simple indeed. All you’ll require are an old pen, some tin foil, a cotton bud, scissors, sticky tape, and a small amount of water.

How to make an iPad stylus: Making the stylus

The first step is unscrew the pen, remove the ink from inside, then put it back together.

Now take the cotton bud and cut it about a third of the way down the shaft.

Take the shorter section of the cotton bud and insert it into the gap at the top of the pen where the nib used to be.

Tape the cotton bud to the pen, being sure to leave plenty of the tip exposed.

Wrap the pen in tin foil and squeeze the nib end so that its tightly pressed against the cotton tip.

Tape up the foil to keep it from unravelling.

Dip the cotton tip into some water, but only make it slightly moist rather than wet.

Dry off any excess water, load up a drawing app on the iPad (we’re using Apple Notes), and your stylus is good to go!