MacBook Pro Touch Bar Not Working: Why & How Can You Fix This?

Mac touch bar fails? This guide helps you solve it easily! Your MacBook Pro touch bar fails or cannot be displayed? Don't worry, this article will explore in-depth various causes and solutions for touch bar failure.

What is the Mac touch bar?

The touch bar is an interactive input device on some MacBook Pro models, located above the keyboard (the function key position of some laptops). It is a display that changes depending on the application you are using or what you are doing.

Not all MacBook Pros come with a touch bar, it was launched in 2016 and discontinued in 2022. If you see function keys at the top of the keyboard, your MacBook doesn't have a touch bar. But if you see a slender black touch screen, that's your touch bar.

The right side of the touch bar is the control bar, which contains key system functions such as brightness, volume adjustment and Siri activation. Other content on the touch bar will vary depending on the application you open and your actions. For example, if you are typing, you will see text suggestions.

Why does your touch bar not work?

MacBook Pro touch bar failures may show different symptoms, such as flashing, disappearing, or displaying icons but not responding to touch; sometimes it works fine, but does not work while using certain applications.

It is crucial to find out the cause before trying to fix the problem. This helps find solutions and avoid happening again in the future. Touch bar failures may be caused by a variety of reasons:

• macOS needs to be updated
• MacOS or a single application fails, causing problems with the touch bar
• Insufficient memory or disk space
• There is physical problems with MacBook, such as water inlet or a cracked touch screen

How to fix the touch bar on MacBook Pro?

The way to fix the MacBook Pro touch bar depends on the specific cause of the problem. If the touch bar is physically corrupted, restarting the MacBook will not help. However, if it's just a simple application failure, restarting can be a quick and easy solution.

Here are some solutions that might help you fix the MacBook Pro touch bar:

1. Restart Mac
2. Update macOS
3. Check the touch bar settings
4. Reset the touch bar
5. Reset SMC/NVRAM/PRAM
6. Restart the control bar
7. Delete the touch bar cache file
8. Force quit or reinstall the problematic program
9. Contact Apple Support for help

The following details each method:

1. Restart Mac

Whatever the problem is, if an exception is found, please restart your Mac. Rebooting can fix many common computer problems as it closes all applications and clears the Mac's active memory (RAM). Therefore, if you need to fix the touch bar on your MacBook Pro, try restarting first.

How to restart your Mac:

1. Go to Apple menu > Restart.
2. Confirm that you want to restartMacBook.

2. Update macOS

Is your MacBook Pro touch bar not working because it uses outdated macOS? It is very important to keep macOS up-to-date, not only for security reasons, but new updates may contain important patches to fix failures and errors.

How to update macOS on MacBook:

1. Go to Apple menu > System settings .
2. Under General , select Software Update.
3. Open automatic update—click Open automatic update of the i symbol next to .
4. Make sure All sliders are turned on to enable automatic updates, and then click to finish .
5. If updates are available, follow the on-screen instructions to install them. If your Mac is already the latest version, a software update will display a message to you.

3. Check the touch bar settings

If the touch bar shows abnormality, you should check its settings.

How to find and check the settings of the touch bar:

1. Go to Apple menu > System settings .
2. Select Keyboard from the left sidebar.
3. Click Customize the control bar .
4. Drag your favorite item to the bottom of the screen into the touch bar.

4. Reset the touch bar

If the MacBook Pro touch bar does not work, it may be a problem with the process of controlling it. You can reset the touch bar by exiting this process – it will automatically restart, which may solve the problem.

You can reset the touch bar through terminal or activity monitor.

4.1 Reset the touch bar through the terminal

1. Open Terminal—You can do this by focusing on searching . Press the keyboard shortcut Command Space, type Terminal, and then press Return.
Paste or type the command
2. and press sudo pkill touchbarserverReturn. If your Mac is running macOS 10.12 Sierra or earlier, you need to enter . You may be asked to enter a pkill Touch Bar Agent password. Enter your password and press Return again. This will close the process.

4.2 Reset the touch bar using the activity monitor

It doesn't matter if you're not sure how to use the terminal. There is also a way to reset the touchbar - Activity Monitor on MacBooks.

Open
1. Activity Monitor—You can do this by Focusing Search. Simply press the keyboard shortcut Command Space, type Activity Monitor, and press Return.
In the search bar, type
2. TouchBarServer. If your Mac is running macOS 10.12 Sierra or earlier, you need to search for Touch Bar Agent.
Select the process and click the
3. X icon to stop it. You may be asked to confirm whether you want to exit the process. This will close the TouchBarServer process.

5. Reset SMC/NVRAM/PRAM

I have mentioned RAM, which is a memory that will be reset when you restart your Mac. However, your Mac has some other types of memory that won't reset when you shut down your computer. Resetting these memory may fix the touch bar on your MacBook Pro.

How to reset PRAM or NVRAM:

1. Switch off the Mac.
2. Press the Power button and immediately hold Command Option P R.
3. Press and hold this key combination until you hear the startup sound twice or see the Apple logo.
4. After hearing the sound or seeing the logo twice, release the button and your Mac will boot.

If your Mac is equipped with an Intel processor, the System Management Controller (SMC) manages some hardware processes. Resetting it may resolve the Touch Bar issue.

How to reset SMC:

1. Switch off the Mac.
2. Press and hold the Power button for 10 seconds.
3. Restart the Mac and see if the problem is resolved.
4. If the MacBook Pro touch bar still fails to work after performing the above steps, please turn off the computer again.
5. Press and hold Shift Option Control for seven seconds.
6. Continue to hold down these keys and press the PowerButton simultaneously for another seven seconds.
7. Release the button and restart the Mac.

6. Restart the control bar

Your MacBook Pro touch bar does not show the control bar, or the control bar does not work properly? If so, you can restart the control bar individually without restarting the rest of the touch bar. To do this, you need to use a terminal.

How to restart the control bar on the MacBook Pro touch bar:

1. Open Terminal.
2. Paste or type the command killall ControlStrip and press Return.

7. Delete the touch bar cache file

Sometimes, the cache file can be corrupted, which can cause problems. I'll explain how to delete the touchbar cache file.

1. Open Filesor and select Go to > Go to folder.
2. Paste or type ~/Library/Preferences/* and press Enter. Delete the file apple.touchbar.agent.plist.
3. Go to Go to > Go to folder , paste or type ~/Library/Caches/* where you can find the cached file. Find and delete files related to the touch bar.

8. Forced exit or reinstall the problematic program

Your MacBook Pro touch bar won't work in some applications only? If this is the case, the problem may not be in the touch bar, but in the application. So, instead of fixing the touch bar on your MacBook Pro, you need to fix the program that is causing the problem. You can resolve the issue by force quitting and restarting the application.

How to force exit the application on your Mac:

1. Press keyboard shortcut Command Option Escape. Select the application you want to close and press to force exit .
2. Reopen the application.

If the problem persists, you may need to uninstall and reinstall the application.

9. Contact Apple Support for help

If you tried all the ways to fix the touch bar on your MacBook Pro, but it still doesn't work, you may need the help of a professional. If you live near the Apple Store, you can send your MacBook for repairs, or visit Apple's support website for phone support.

Conclusion

The MacBook Pro Touch Bar is a very useful tool, but like all technology, it sometimes stops working. The solutions in this article should help with recovery, but at some point you may need additional support.

If you have trouble fixing the touch bar on your MacBook Pro or encountering other technical issues, please contact Apple Support or other professional technical support services.

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