Rock Paper Pencil made me like a screen protector for the first time

I have been using iPads in my career as a teacher, composer, and performer for over a decade, and in that time, I have never had a screen protector on my iPad — until now. I’ve tried and rejected several over those years, but Rock Paper Pencil, now in it’s third major revision, has been a constant on my M2 iPad Pro for nearly half a year now, and I don’t have any plans to switch. It has cut down on glare, and made the already-impressive Apple Pencil stylus even more enjoyable to use.

As the iPad enthusiast-in-residence here on the Scoring Notes web site, the podcast, and among both my professional and personal networks, I am often asked for recommendations about accessories that musicians need when they get a new iPad. I always recommend the Apple Pencil, Apple Smart Folio, and rarely anything else. Friends and colleagues are often surprised that I don’t use a screen protector or a case. These are pretty resilient devices, and I haven’t found a need for the added protection. This time, however, it’s different.

Astropad, the company who makes Rock Paper Pencil, has been making iPad software and accessory hardware since at least 2015. Beginning with the launch of its eponymous app (originally called Astropad, now known as Astropad Studio…hmm…), it allowed Mac users, and later, Windows users, to treat the iPad as a secondary display and drawing tablet, similar to the Wacom Cintiq, a dedicated drawing tablet that you’ve probably seen while watching a “making of” featurette on your favorite Pixar film.

Since that initial launch, the folks at Astropad have continued to develop tools focused on creative professionals who do their work on iPad — “iPad pros”, if you will. Rock Paper Pencil v3.0 (RPPv3) is targeted at digital artists, but those of us who use iPads in music can get a lot out it as well.

Setup

Setting up RPPv3 is a breeze. Unlike many other screen protectors, only the edges adhere to the device. That makes it very easy to apply, remove, and multiple times, which is a great benefit in the case of institutionally managed devices, when RPPv3 may need to be moved from one iPad to another.

Clear instructions are provided (before applying the protector, be sure to thoroughly clean the screen using a gentle 70-75% ethyl alcohol pad, and allow it to fully dry).

In the earliest versions of Rock Paper Pencil, it was held in place by the iPad’s built-in magnet array, but I found that this wasn’t as secure as I would like. It often slid around and didn’t adhere evenly on all sides. Version 3 (like version 2 before it) uses Astropad’s “NanoCling” static electricity technology, which is much more secure and still doesn’t leave any kind of residue when removed. And because it only adheres to the edges, rather than the whole screen, I’ve never encountered any trapped air bubbles underneath.

Once it’s in place, the protector blends in seamlessly with the iPad’s appearance.

In addition to the screen protector, RPPv3 comes with two Apple Pencil tips, which simply screw on just like the original tips.

Appearance

The screen protector has a matte finish, which prevents glare and creates extra friction when writing on the surface of the device. I tested RPPv3 on my M2 iPad Pro alongside my fiancé’s identical iPad without a screen protector, and the differences are very clear. RPPv3 reduces reflections significantly in both indoor and outdoor lighting. The viewing angle is affected with the screen protector, so viewing the screen from off to the side is a bit more difficult (with the photo here being a rather extreme example).

As with many matte-finish display coatings, there is a slight loss of clarity to the image. It’s not enough that a score would get noticeably blurry in performance, but cinephiles will likely want to remove the screen protector before watching their favorite Ari Aster film.

Writing

Rock Paper Pencil’s ability to reduce the the glare on a sunny day or under bright stage lighting is along worth it to many musicians. But it’s the feel of writing on RPPv3 that sets it apart from other matte screen protectors.

The iPad, with its polished glass display, feels very different to write on than a sheet of paper. The surface is hard and smooth, so the Pencil slides much more freely than on paper. This can make it challenging to write both quickly and neatly, especially for those of us who are used to writing on nice crisp sheets of manuscript paper with our favorite writing implements.

While I wouldn’t say that writing using the screen protector and Pencil-tip combo from RPPv3 feels like writing on paper, it is certainly much closer than writing on glass. Additionally, the provided tips present a bit smaller tip, which allows the user to be a bit more precise in their writing. It may just be a placebo effect, but I do feel as though I was able to write more precisely using RPPv3 than on the naked glass of the iPad Pro.

The tip also has the benefit of being more resilient than Apple’s plastic tip, which is important, since the added friction of the matte screen covering could easily grind down a plastic tip much more quickly.

Conclusion

Rock Paper Pencil v3.0 is far from the only screen cover that claims to reduce glare, or even to provide a Paperlike™ writing experience or PenTips™ to change the feel of the Pencil itself. The things that set Rock Paper Pencil apart are the combination of all those things, along with the reusability of the screen protector and the added durability of the pencil tip.

At $44.99 (USD), it’s not exactly dirt-cheap, but for many users who spend a lot of time on their iPads and want a better experience, it could very well be worth the expense. If you are regularly writing or annotating documents with Apple Pencil and iPad, and if you have been trying to avoid screen glare in performance, Rock Paper Pencil is worthy of your consideration.

Rock Paper Pencil is available at Amazon and elsewhere. If you click this affiliate link or other links to Amazon in this post, and purchase it (or anything else) from Amazon, Scoring Notes will receive a small commission, at no cost to you, which helps support this site.