PencilBanner applies the Apple Pencil charging pop-up UI from iPadOS to more aspects of iOS

iOS’ native alert system hasn’t changed much in recent years, but one major convenience of jailbreaking is that users can install third-party add-ons to change the look and behavior of almost anything they desire.

PencilBanner by iOS developer Ethan Whited is the latest of such jailbreak tweaks, and it’s name should be a dead giveaway of what it sets out to accomplish.

Simply put, PencilBanner borrows aesthetic inspiration from the alert that typically comes up when connecting an Apple Pencil to an iPad to charge and applies it to various other aspects of the operating system.

Supported alerts include:

  • Launching applications
  • Toggling between Dark and Light mode
  • Toggling Low Power Mode
  • Background media player changes
  • Connecting to a power source
  • Toggling Orientation Lock
  • Switching between AirPods playback modes
  • When battery level drops to a certain percent
  • And more…

Once installed, PencilBanner can be configured by the end user in a myriad of different ways. A dedicated preference pane will be added to the Settings app specifically for this purpose:

Here, users will be able to:

  • Toggle PencilBanner on or off on demand
  • Enable an configure banner actions & apps
  • Customize the Apple Pencil-inspired banners
  • Save changes

Digging deeper, the Selection preference pane offers the following settings:


Things that you can do here include:

  • Display pop-up when connecting to a power source
  • Display pop-up when toggling Low Power Mode on or off
  • Display pop-up when battery level reaches a certain level:
    • Choose a battery level (default 20%)
    • Disable for 10% battery
    • Disable for 20% battery
  • Display pop-up when toggling Do Not Disturb mode on or off
  • Display pop-up when toggling Dark Mode on or off
  • Display pop-up when toggling Orientation Lock on or off on demand
  • Display pop-up when media or video playback begins or changes
    • Select app(s) to apply this setting to
  • Display pop-up when AirPods listening mode changes (transparency or noise cancellation)
  • Display pop-up when launching or suspending apps
    • Select app(s) to apply this setting to

And in the Customization preference pane, users can:

  • Choose a style:
    • Default
    • Blur
    • OLED
  • Wake the screen for banner
  • Adjust the time duration that the banner appears for via a slider
  • Disable animations

Users can tap on the check button at the top right of the primary preference pane to save any changes they make to the settings above.

It’s worth noting that these banners don’t apply to ordinary push notifications such as those afforded by text and email messages. Instead, they’re limited to the actions listed above.

Those who’d like to give the new PencilBanner tweak a try can purchase it for $1.50 from the Havoc repository via their favorite package manager app. The tweak supports jailbroken iOS 14 devices.

Do you plan to upgrade the alert system on your pwned iPhone or iPad? Be sure to let us know in the comments section down below.