Astropad’s latest is a combo iPad screen protector/Apple Pencil Tip

One thing you can definitely say about Astropad: they didn’t let a good old fashioned Sherlocking keep them down. Over the years, new Apple features have scorched the earth of many a startup, and while the introduction of Sidecar for macOS certainly knocked the company for a loop, they learned an important lesson about diversifying.

Initially, that meant leveraging the Luna Display technology on a variety of different platforms, while adding some innovative use cases, like teleprompter functionality. More recently, Astropad has gotten into the iPad accessories game – no lasting hard feelings against Apple here, I guess. In June, the firm released Darkboard, a $120 drawing pad for the Apple tablet.

Today it adds Rock, Paper, Pencil to the list. A combo iPad screen protector and Apple pencil tip seems like an odd pairing, but it makes sense. Putting a layer between your screen and stylus doesn’t always have the best result. Astropad is also claiming the two offerings “create the most realistic pen-on-paper feeling for iPad.” That’s courtesy of a micro textured matte finish on the screen protector and a metal ballpoint-style tip on the stylus.

The tip screws onto the Pencil like Apple’s proprietary model, while the screen protector snaps on magnetically. The latter bit means it’s not a permanent addition. You can remove, stash it in the included storage sleeve and reuse it when it’s time to draw again.

The package isn’t cheap, at $40 — though there’s a limited time discount that will get you in for $32.