Your MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar is an intuitive tool useful for gaming and dedicated productivity sessions. You may not use this every single day, and Apple has withdrawn it from 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models lately. However, if your MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar glitches, then don’t worry. Instead, learn how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pros.
The Touch Bar might fail to work or keep flickering. On the other hand, the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro has disappeared, and you can’t make it appear again. This guide can show you how to deal with regular and complicated Touch Bar issues for your MacBook Pro. Let’s get started.
Why is My MacBook Pro Touch Bar Glitching or Not Working?
Before you move on to solutions regarding how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pros, you should investigate why it has happened in the first place. After all, a clear reason can tell you what’s wrong. Once you withdraw the reason, chances are that the problem will be solved.
Reportedly, issues associated with MacBook Pro Touch Bar are more likely to happen due to software glitches. However, MacBook repair experts have lodged the following reasons for an erroneous Touch Bar on any MacBook Pro:
- Outdated macOS
- Misconfigured settings
- Application bugs
- Active resource-intensive software
- Low disk space
- A recently replaced keyboard
- MacBook Pro overheating
- Connection to a secondary display
- Hardware problems
- Spilt water on MacBook Pro
These situations can lead to the following MacBook Pro Touch Bar issues, such as:
- Touch Bar doesn’t change with applications.
- The Touch Bar won’t light up.
- Your MacBook Pro Touch Bar will fail to respond.
- It won’t show app-specific functions.
- The Touch Bar keeps freezing now and then.
- It won’t show volume controls.
So, problems with the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro can be versatile. However, the following solutions will help you learn how to fix a frozen Touch Bar on MacBook Pro and more.
Ways to Fix MacBook Pro Touch Bar Not Working
Surprisingly, a few silly mistakes can keep your MacBook Pro Touch Bar disappearing. On the other hand, they might restrict the Touch Bar from operating efficiently. Here’s how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pro and restore all its potential quickly:
1. Inspect Your MacBook Pro Settings
Perhaps, settings related to the Touch Bar are not appropriate. Therefore, the Touch Bar won’t show up on your MacBook Pro. Follow the instructions below to ensure that the Touch Bar is visible:
- Navigate to System Settings on your MacBook Pro.
- Next, hit the Keyboard option.
- After that, have a look at the Touch Bar section.
- Click the drop-down menu named App Settings there.
- Note that the option called ‘Show Contol Strip’ must be selected.
2. Force Quit MacBook Applications
Is the Touch Bar visible, but it hardly responds to your command? Then, the Touch Bar has turned unresponsive, and a particular app is more likely to be responsible here. You can try to force quit all the background applications one by one to see if the Touch Bar starts working.
Additionally, you can spot the problematic application in the process. Here’s how to fix the frozen Touch Bar on MacBook Pro:
- Press the Command, Option, and Esc keys simultaneously. This will make the Force Quit Dialogue box appear on your Mac screen.
- Net, you must choose the application you think is messing with the Touch Bar functionality.
- Then, click on the Force Quit option.
Now, check if the Touch Bar starts responding after forced quitting a particular application. Otherwise, continue trying the following solutions.
3. Restart the MacBook Pro
Is the MacBook Pro Touch Bar not working still now? Minor software glitches can lead to Touch Bar complications. And, a quick restart can possibly eradicate all software hiccups. So, let’s try restarting the MacBook Pro and see if it can restore your Touch Bar and its specific functions, such as the volume slider doesn’t appear, etc.
Here’s how you can restart your MacBook Pro:
- Hover over the Apple icon or menu from your MacBook Pro’s desktop screen.
- Click on it and select the Restart option.
- Next, a dialogue box will pop up on the screen. Hit the Restart button from the dialogue box to verify the process.
A fresh restart may help you if the Touch Bar stops functioning properly. Additionally, you can force a restart if your MacBook is frozen. Just hold the Power button until your Mac turns off. After a while, you can turn it on and inspect if the Touch Bar is OK.
4. Update the Operating System on Your MacBook Pro
Outdated versions of your macOS might trigger particular parts of the device. Reportedly, macOS updates can fix those bugs. Hence, updating your macOS to its latest version can be the answer to how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pros. Follow the guidelines below for a successful macOS update:
- Open the Apple menu from the upper-left corner of your MacBook Pro.
- Then, hit the About This Mac option from the menu.
- You will notice a pop up and it contains details about your MacBook Pro and its macOS version. Click the Software Update option.
- Now, your Mac will start scanning the system and looking for available updates for that specific macOS version.
- You can see an Update Now button if there’s an update available for the macOS version. Therefore, click the Update Now button.
Updating your macOS version can take a few minutes to complete. Now, wait for a while and restart your Mac if it prompts so. This will start installing the macOS update. Examine if the Touch Bar starts working after installing the latest macOS update.
5. Reset Your MacBook Pro Touch Bar
How do I get my Touch Bar back to normal on my MacBook Pro? A process named Touch BarServer controls both the control strip and Touch Bar. And, your problem with the Touch Bar can be resolved by resetting the Touch BarServer. You can do this through the Terminal and Activity Monitor.
Either of these can help you get rid of the Touch Bar glitching. Let’s see how you can reset the Touch Bar using the Terminal on your MacBook Pro:
- Navigate to Applications, followed by Utilities.
- Then, open a Terminal window.
- Type in the command: sudo pkill Touch BarServer. Next, complete the action by hitting the Return key.
- Your MacBook might ask for the admin password thereafter. Provide it, and then press the Return key.
- Exit the Terminal window.
Alternatively, you can use the Activity Monitor to restart the Touch BarServer process. Check out how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pro through the Activity Monitor:
- Start by browsing the Applications and hit the Utility Monitor. Next, you have to double-click on the Activity Monitor option, and the application will open up.
- Now, look for Touch BarServer using the Search bar.
- Once the process appears, click the X option to disable it.
Then, you can quit the Activity Monitor. The Touch BarServer process will resume itself. If your MacBook Pro has macOS 10.12 Sierra or a previous version, then the same process is labelled as Touch Bar Agent. So, keep that in mind while applying any of these methods.
For example, your Terminal command will change to ‘pkill Touch Bar Agent’. Or, you need to search for Touch Bar Agent while using Activity Monitor to restart the process.
6. Modify Touch Bar Display Settings
Adjusting the display settings of the Touch Bar can eliminate the problem you are facing right now. Hence, check out how you can make changes in the Touch Bar display settings on macOS Monterey or previous versions:
- Hover over System Preferences after clicking the Apple menu. Next, click the Keyboard option.
- Choose ‘App Controls with Control Strip’ or ‘App Controls’ under the dropdown menu labelled as ‘Touch Bar shows’.
- The Touch Bar will face difficulty changing with applications if the menu is set to ‘Expanded Control Strop’ and not ‘App Controls’.
- In addition, go back to System Preferences and follow the path of Accessibility → Keyboard → Hardware. Here, disable the option that says, ‘Enable slow keys’. Otherwise, the volume slider on the Touch Bar might not work.
If your MacBook Pro runs on macOS Ventura, then here’s how to fix flashing Touch Bar on MacBook Pro:
- Hit the Apple icon from the top left section of the screen.
- Afterwards, click on System Settings.
- Now, look for Touch Bar via the Search option.
- Opt for ‘Customise Touch Bar or Control Strip’.
- Finally, choose ‘App Controls’ from the dropdown menu of ‘Touch Bar Shows’.
7. Remove the Touch Bar Cache
The Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro can get corrupted due to temporary cache files. Clearing the respective cache can assist you regarding how to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pro. Here’s how to delete it:
- Hit the Go menu after opening Finder. Then, choose Go to Folder.
- Now, input the following path: ~Library/Preferences/.
- Locate the file that reads apple.touchbar.agent.plist and erase it.
- Additionally, follow the path: ~Library/Caches/.
- Delete everything from that folder and restart your MacBook Pro.
Additional Workarounds
How to fix Touch Bar on MacBook Pro if these solutions don’t work? Well, you can try resetting your MacBook’s SMC and NVRAM and see where it goes. However, you can try the easiest solution, and that is contacting MacBook Repair India. They offer the best MacBook repair at economical rates.
