Hi Michael, great question! Yes, you can customize your Selection delay. If you head to the Settings menu and scroll down the left column to where it says Gestures, you’ll find one called “Long Press Delay” with a bar beneath it. This scale allows you to choose how many seconds (between 0 and .2) it takes for Selection to set in. Slide it left toward 0 and it will be nearly instantaneous. Slide it right and you’ll be able to hold for longer before it activates. You can find the happy medium for you.

That said, the Apple Pencil is not ideal for selecting, the signal it has on touching the screen is almost jittery, and nearly all of our designers prefer to use their finger to select while using Apple Pencil to draw. No matter what, you can select with your finger, but you can make selection quicker by customizing your finger action to Selection mode (possible with Apple Pencil stylus only). On the right half of the Settings screen, you’ll find your Apple Pencil settings displayed. If you set “Finger Action” to “Lasso with Finger”, you’ll find you can draw with your stylus and select with your finger independently, without worrying about the stylus tip triggering things you don’t mean to.

Hope that helps!

Best,
Erica