Magic Trackpad 2 Becoming Harder to Press

Hi Whiggs1313,

As you've noted that there are not moving parts related to clicking on the Magic Trackpad and you're able to replicate this behavior across multiple Macs and confirm new devices don't exhibit this, it may be worth testing in safe mode first using Use safe mode on your Mac and then see about having one of the units inspected by a service provider listed at Find Locations. It may be a situation as simple as the internal battery of the trackpad is losing the ability to retain a charge after a time and impacting performance which a physical assessment might be able to confirm or identify, or there could be dust or other debris collecting inside altering the function.

Regards.

I too have this issue. We know the Trackpad internal mechanism behaves somewhat like a non-linear spring and physically deflects in accordance with the force applied by your touch ... this motion can be seen by looking on any of the 4 sides when a changing touch force is applied with the unit turned off (unpowered and not communicating with computer).

If this force/motion relationship has changed with use over time (as is the case) the reason is almost certainly physical and ... independent of electronics and/or software.

Obvious possibilities (there are likely others) are, a buildup of debris or internal component distortion of some kind impairing the motion, age related 'stiffness increase' of the spring mechanism itself (Apple needs to tell us) ... or as occurred in my old MacBook pro ... the battery with age physically expanded and (being situated underneath the trackpad) impaired/damaged/altered the the effective stiffness of 'spring' mechanism. The new battery permitted continued use without further degradation, but the damage was done and a heavier touch became permanently necessary. John.

Hi,

I have an update on the matter.

I have confirmed that this apparently stiffness is due to battery swelling that have made the bottom of the device not entirely flat, so table contact isn’t uniform on all 4 corners.

When applying pressure in the middle or upper (close to the back) part of the trackpad, the force first have to push the bottom of the device to touch the table, only after which the click is registered.

I keep my trackpads constantly connected to a Lightning cable (practically a wired connection) so the battery constantly charges. Perhaps that is what causes the swelling.