Apple Pencil 1st Generation not working with iPad 10th Generation (A16)

Your screenshots clearly confirm that the Pencil is successfully pairing with the iPad. As such its electronics are good. However, the symptoms that you describe strongly suggest that the Pencil Battery is faulty.

The tiny internal Li-ion battery is susceptible to permanent/irreversible damage through being left discharged for long periods. Even some “new” pencils can exhibit signs of failure out-of-the-box if they are “old stock”. 

If the Pencil Battery has failed, the only remedy is to replace the Pencil. If the battery has failed and your pencil is within its one-year warranty, you should look to having it replaced by your retailer or at an Apple Store. If purchased directly from Apple, you have 14-days within which to unconditionally return the item for exchange or refund.

You might try gentle warming of the Pencil (such as placing on a hot water radiator), prior to attempting charging of the Pencil - as this can sometimes resurrect a dead Pencil battery. However, if the Pencil has just been purchased, your best option is to return it to the retailer while it can be demonstrated to have a fault.

iPad 10th Generation packs the A14 Bionic and the iPad 11th Generation packs the A16 Bionic. You must be referring to either of the models but, as shown in the screenshots, ur Apple Pencil is drained out. If this is not the case, perform a force restart

Press and quickly release the volume up button

press and quickly release the volume down button

and keep pressing the top power button until the Apple logo appears, no matter whatever is going on the screen.

then check if your Apple Pencil 1st Generation is pairing or not.

And also check ur Software Update, you should be on iPadOS 26 or 27. Your software UI is showing that u r on iPadOS 18 or 17 or possibly, 16. Update ur iPadOS

[Edited by Moderator]

Sounds like I might be SOL.. It was given to me at work by my boss who had it in his office and never used it, so I don’t have a receipt and I doubt he does at this point. I did speak with an apple specialist who booked me an appointment tomorrow. Since the pencil paired momentarily do you think that would be enough in apples system to register for their one-year warranty?

The one-year limited warranty begins at the time of purchase - not first use/pairing. A warranty claim would also need proof of entitlement - i.e. the original purchase receipt.