Digital pen
A digital pen is a writing tool that captures your handwriting or brush strokes and turns them into digital data you can use on screens. It works with graphics tablets, tablet computers, smartphones, or digital notebooks, and your writing appears on the display after it’s digitized.
There are several kinds of digital pens. Active pens, like N-trig’s DuoSense Pen, have electronics in the pen. Their signals are picked up by the device’s digitizer and tell the computer where the pen is, how hard you press, and when you press its buttons. Active Electrostatic (AES) pens are battery-powered and actively communicate with the touchscreen for very precise input.
Other types include:
- Position-based pens, which detect the tip’s location as you write (used with Wacom devices and Penabled technology).
- Electromagnetic Resonance (EMR) pens, which resonate with the tablet’s digitizer.
- Accelerometer-based pens, which sense movement and contact with the writing surface.
- Camera-based pens, which use special paper to detect where the pen touches (examples include NeoLAB and Anoto).
- Trackball pens, which have a sensor on the pen’s trackball to detect movement.
A smart pen is like a digital pen but adds features such as voice recording or a built-in scanner; they’re usually larger and more feature-rich.
Digital pens generally have internal electronics, touch sensitivity, input buttons, memory to store handwriting, and the ability to transmit data to devices. Smartphone pens have become popular for notes, drawing, or digital art, because a good pen makes writing on a small screen easier and more precise.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:55 (CET).