Mac Book Pro 2019, Touch Bar started flickering and won't stop.

Found this on reddit and couldn't believe it. Absolutely software issue.

Get a phone on max brightness or a flashlight. Then, shine it at yourlaptop camera/lightsensor. The touch bar will get brighter and stop flickering within 5 seconds. The, pull the light away. The touchbar dims and starts flickering.

This happened with a 2020 Macbook Pro of mine. I took it to Apple and the tech reset all kinds of things, SMC, NVRAM, thought my battery needed to be replaced and seemed surprised it was in great shape.He did things for an hour and then told me I need to have the whole thing bottom of my Macbook replace for $1000. I was livid! I just bought this a few years ago! I couldn't afford the "repair", so they told me to buy a back up...and a back up for the back up. Sure enough, my macbook died soon after. The flickering touch bar makes the 2020 macbook a LEMON and Apple needs to recall it. I noticed they are not including it going foreward. We should be reimbursed. Apple products are not cheap and in this financial day and age, I already have friends who are choosing other less expensive products from other companies because of my experience. Shame on you Apple for not recalling this obvious failure.

Maybe it doesn't happen to everyone. You are lucky. I was not and I am not the only one.

The flickering light is like a strong strobe light that lit up my whole room. I worry that this problem may cause a seizure in some poor person. Not everyone in a movie theatre has seizures, but they often put warnings before shows now to avoid litigation because someone had a seizure.

Apple should figure this out and provide a PERMANENT fix or warn people with seizure disorders before this happens.

No one should have to hold a flashlight on a $2000 new laptop for it to stop flickering. Come on Apple...

1. I turned off the light sensor after reading this post (Turn off Automatically adjust Brightness in display: Click on the main Apple menu and choose System Settings.
2. Select Displays.
3. Turn off Automatically adjust Brightness.
4. Quit System Settings.
5. )

the flickering stopped. Restarted, some flicker during start up then fine, no flicker, touchbar worked normally.

Started up today and the flicker was back. Currently not flickering but touchbar is blacked out, so, useless.

Apple? are you there?

I am in this exact situation with 2020 MBP. I suspect it's a bigger problem and should be part of a recall.

F****ck you apple!!!!

I have had this same problem for about half a year, I can say from living with it that the problem only gets worse; flickering more often, and crashes are way more common.

it has gotten to a point now that my Mac, after waking it up, has to crash 4-10 times before it is able to stay on (with the flickering)

Apple can't fix own bug over 2 years

Same problem, a 2020 M1 macbook costing $2000.

Could it be the light sensor/software is the problem?

Touchbar flickers like a strobe light since it was bought as seen here https://youtu.be/vAN8O4f2R3Y?si=0apE4ES1VtnH_ZFU.

The whole system crashed after 2 years had to reinstall the OS.

Will be reluctsnt to buy any new apple products.

I am deeply disappointed by the persistent "flashing Touch Bar" issue that emerged on my 2020 MacBook Pro following the Sanoma update. Despite exhausting all possible troubleshooting steps, including those recommended by Apple, the problem remains unresolved. As a longstanding user of Apple products since their inception, I have never encountered such a debilitating issue without a proper fix or recall. This lack of resolution is not only frustrating but also undermines the trust I've placed in Apple's commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.

It is imperative for Apple to address this issue promptly, as failure to do so risks alienating loyal customers like myself. Without a satisfactory resolution, I am compelled to reconsider my allegiance to the Apple ecosystem. The integrity of the brand and the loyalty of its customers are at stake, and I urge Apple to take immediate action to rectify this troubling situation.

Same issues here for me with the suggestion to just buy another one. Not impressed as this is my first mac after making the switch from a windows PC. I bit the expensive price tag because they’re known for lasting a long time. Now my mac book is constantly restarting unexpectedly and flickering touch bar issues. Very disappointed that Apple refuses to issue a covered fix for their faulty technology. I am now less likely to purchase another macbook.

1. Turning off automatic brightness does not turn off the light sensor
2. Even if it did, there are some other scenarios, when touchbar dims, which is the cause of the problem for mem such as 60 seconds of inactivity.
3. When the touchbar is blacked out, this means that the OS lost connection to it as you even cannot start the settings, where you configure the control strip. In addition, if you kill the ControlStrip process when it is blacked out, it won't start back. A solution to this scenario I found is turning off the Mac, resetting the SMC by holding the power button for 10 seconds, and starting the Mac again.
4. I am currently using the script from https://medium.com/macoclock/macbook-touchbar-flicker-fix-bafa754aae13, so the only cases when I get the flickering issue is the sleep mode.

Maybe this will help you and help someone else to use this to find a better solution.

same here it’s a 2020 pro and flashes super bright white light and sometimes rainbow barcode looking things

I have the exact same problem with my 2019 MacBook Pro. I am a pro user using my machine for work everyday. This issue is so annoying and very common with these machines. There should have been a product recall with these laptops as there is an obvious problem.

I have some improvement after turning off Touch Bar zoom.

Saw this on here

"Sonoma upgrade turned the Touch Bar zoom on, which impacts ability to interact with it. To turn it off (or see if it's turned on) go to Settings > Accessibility > Zoom > Touch Bar zoom "

The flicker stops when I touch the touch bar...

People are reporting a touch bar flicker after upgrading to Sonoma.