msomers

Q: Force Touch Trackpad input while typing

Apple claims that OS X ignores trackpad input while typing and has removed the option to enable this. However, I just purchased a 2015 15" Retina MacBook Pro with the Force Touch trackpad and it regularly takes input while typing and the cursor jumps all over the place - I've even watched the cursor move slowly across the screen as I type.

 

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there any way to fix it?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Jul 26, 2015 9:07 AM

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Q: Force Touch Trackpad input while typing

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  • by Shabidoo,

    Shabidoo Shabidoo Feb 24, 2016 9:58 PM in response to msomers
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 24, 2016 9:58 PM in response to msomers

    So, since I posted earlier today I called Apple tech support as well. They also acknowledged the issue to me and said the engineers are aware of the problem and working on it. In the the mean time, I created a keyboard shortcut through Automatic to toggle tap to click on and off, so  I can easily switch if I'm going to do extended typing. I had no clue how to do this, do here's an abbreviated tutorial if you want to try the same thing.

    1) Open Automator

    2) Select create service.

    3) set the input pull down at the top to no input

    4) Search for application in the search field

    5) drag over " launch application " and then set to "system preferences"

    6) hit the arrow at the top to carry out that step.

    7) press record

    8) in the open system preferences window click track pad and then the tap to click check box.

    9) hit stop on the record pop up.

    10) In the Automator window slide the action speed to 10x

    11) Drag over "quit application" and then set to "system preferences"

    12) save it as whatever you want. I chose "Toggle_TTC".

    13) Close Automator, open system preferences/keyboard/shortcuts/services

    14) Your new service will be saved under general, click it and add an unused keyboard shortcut.

    15) Voila--Easily toggle the feature on and off.

  • by Phasma Nemo,

    Phasma Nemo Phasma Nemo Feb 24, 2016 10:29 PM in response to Shabidoo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 24, 2016 10:29 PM in response to Shabidoo

    How could they release this? It's not like 1 out of 10 of new machines has an issue. THEY ALL DO!!! DIdnt they try typing on it? I can expect this from Dell, but from Apple.... /sigh

     

    Let's hope it's a simple firmware fix.

  • by niugnep,

    niugnep niugnep Feb 26, 2016 1:23 PM in response to Phasma Nemo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 26, 2016 1:23 PM in response to Phasma Nemo

    I hope so too. I was just typing a short message to my wife on Facebook and it happened again. Only, there are so many hotkeys inside of the Facebook webpage that if you type a sentence in the main window, you might like a couple things, share a post, and all sorts of other stuff. Talk about frustrating... I couldn't even get through this paragraph without it happening again!

     

    Would be nice to see someone from Apple respond to this thread with something reassuring. I'd love to know they're at least looking into it and put a fix into a future patch or something. Kind of hampers the use of a laptop if the mouse and keyboard don't work properly.

  • by George Qualley,

    George Qualley George Qualley Feb 27, 2016 8:35 AM in response to msomers
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Feb 27, 2016 8:35 AM in response to msomers

    Same issue here. I'm soooo wishing that my 2012 rMBP wouldn't have died because this is sooooooo annoying. In fact, it happened again as I was trying to type in my login info to post this comment. I'd gladly give up Force Touch (which I hardly ever use) for a trackpad that functions properly...

  • by backspaces,

    backspaces backspaces Mar 13, 2016 12:37 PM in response to George Qualley
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 13, 2016 12:37 PM in response to George Qualley

    Ditto. Recent rMBP w/ no option to turn off trackpad while typing. I don't use the tap to click option. The problem for me is that my palms brush the trackpad while typing. I think this may be the case for a large percent of laptop users.

     

    When on a table, I take my hands off the computer while typing and the problem goes away so I'm quite sure the palm brushing the trackpad while typing is the issue.

     

    This really is nuts, apple should fix it.

  • by edurfee,

    edurfee edurfee Mar 28, 2016 9:53 AM in response to backspaces
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 28, 2016 9:53 AM in response to backspaces

    I'm also experiencing this same problem. It's so frustrating to be typing, especially when you're in a groove and to suddenly have the mouse trigger another application window or click somewhere else in the document and type over something else. Turning off touch to click isn't a great solution as that's one of the things the MBP touchpad excels at.

     

    I don't even understand why this is an issue either - I just upgraded from a 2013 MBP Retina 13" and it never had this problem. My suspicion is it has something to do with force touch which quite frankly is a useless feature. Let's fix the basics before we start adding new, unwanted features shall we Apple?

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 Mar 31, 2016 9:00 AM in response to msomers
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 31, 2016 9:00 AM in response to msomers

    I hope some of you guys are willing to try this and tell me what happens.

     

    It's clear to me that the problem originates in the Force Touch trackpad, since all of us on this thread have Macs with that feature. So about three days ago I went to System Preferences>Trackpad and unchecked Force Click and haptic feedback. Two things happened. First, my cursor has not skipped at all since then. Of course, I have been trying to train my hands not to brush the trackpad so as to prevent that from happening, but it was still happening occasionally. Now it is not, though it has only been three days.  Second - I can still force click. I still get haptic feedback. I check over and over, but that box is unchecked, my cursor is behaving normally, and I can still use force click.

     

    Can anyone confirm that this works for them, too?  I hope it's not just a temporary thing....

  • by benburn,

    benburn benburn Apr 1, 2016 3:47 PM in response to dobes918
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 1, 2016 3:47 PM in response to dobes918

    I really hope this resolves you issue.  I need to get a new Mac and I'm trying to decide between the force and regular trackpad (refurb). I've waffled a bit because Apple can't tell me what version of OSX a machine will have on it, and that's critical for one stupid piece of hardware I use.

     

    Pretty sad how bad things have gotten. 

  • by Angharaz,

    Angharaz Angharaz Apr 7, 2016 4:22 AM in response to backspaces
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 7, 2016 4:22 AM in response to backspaces

    Yep, I'm getting the same problem here. Using my 2015 rMBP 13". It's extremely annoying. I'd be typing on Facebook, YouTube, or anywhere, and the typing would stop because I've accidentally clicked out of the search or text box. It's just that the joint of my thumb sort of hits the top left corner of the trackpad. Apple should completely lock the entire trackpad whilst typing, and not just the majority of the trackpad.

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 Apr 7, 2016 5:18 AM in response to Angharaz
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
    Notebooks
    Apr 7, 2016 5:18 AM in response to Angharaz

    Amen.

  • by niugnep,

    niugnep niugnep Apr 14, 2016 9:16 PM in response to dobes918
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 14, 2016 9:16 PM in response to dobes918

    dobes918 wrote:

     

    I hope some of you guys are willing to try this and tell me what happens.

     

    It's clear to me that the problem originates in the Force Touch trackpad, since all of us on this thread have Macs with that feature. So about three days ago I went to System Preferences>Trackpad and unchecked Force Click and haptic feedback. Two things happened. First, my cursor has not skipped at all since then. Of course, I have been trying to train my hands not to brush the trackpad so as to prevent that from happening, but it was still happening occasionally. Now it is not, though it has only been three days.  Second - I can still force click. I still get haptic feedback. I check over and over, but that box is unchecked, my cursor is behaving normally, and I can still use force click.

     

    Can anyone confirm that this works for them, too?  I hope it's not just a temporary thing....

     

    Unfortunately, this doesn't solve anything for me. I've had it disabled for a while now. Still experiencing the same issues. :-(

  • by allovertheplace,

    allovertheplace allovertheplace Apr 17, 2016 7:43 PM in response to Shabidoo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 17, 2016 7:43 PM in response to Shabidoo

    I permanently disabled "tap to click" because I could not get automator to work with these instructions. At any rate, having to remember to toggle "tap to click" on and off will probably annoy me even more than the jumping cursor. I noticed the problem within a few days of purchasing the MBPro back in APril 2015. I am absolutely kicking myself for not takingthe machine back immediately. If I wanted to put up with an endless stream of annoyances, I would have purchased something other than apple. Anyway, live and learn, my very last purchase for sure....

  • by Mike.Glish,

    Mike.Glish Mike.Glish Apr 24, 2016 7:45 AM in response to allovertheplace
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 24, 2016 7:45 AM in response to allovertheplace

    I have what I think could be a decent solution to this problem.  Like many on this thread, I have tried a lot of things.  I arm-twisted my local Apple Store in to replacing the trackpad (which seemed to help) and I wound up getting a replacement at work.  But the new MBP has the same issue – so I'm 100% convinced that this is a design flaw. 

     

    Apple built a trackpad that was supposed to have many levels of functionality based on how hard you press and how many fingers are used in the gesture.  But they forgot about the simple ergonomics of how people hold their hands when they type.  Like when Steve Jobs "solved" AntennaGate by telling everyone to hold the iPhone differently, it seems that Apple Support is telling us to type differently.  Hopefully they'll wake up and fix this soon...

     

    In the meantime, I have installed BetterTouchTool.  What I haven't seen in any of the entries in this thread is someone who has said they got good results.  I feel I have gotten good results.  It's early days but here's what I did:  Click on Advanced (left side of menu bar) and on Trackpad (right side).  About halfway down you'll see "Disable trackpad gestures after hitting a keyboard key to prevent accidental gestures while typing".  I clicked the boxes next to "Reenable gestures..." and "Thumb recognition..."  I pushed the slider to .076 (just a guess) to set the timer.

     

    So far it seems to help.  I sent an email to the developer asking for advice on this problem and didn't hear back.  The BTT web site is pretty short on advice generally and unfortunately didn't help either.  Ironically, earlier today I ran into the issue again and felt deflated and then I realized that I had rebooted and BTT was not running.  I launched it and the problem has not reoccured since then.  I realized I hadn't set BTT to launch after a reboot.

     

    Hopefully this helps others and continues to work for me...

  • by Angharaz,

    Angharaz Angharaz Apr 25, 2016 1:10 AM in response to Mike.Glish
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 25, 2016 1:10 AM in response to Mike.Glish

    I just downloaded Better Touch Tool to try it out. Apparently it's not for free?

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 Apr 25, 2016 3:26 AM in response to Angharaz
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
    Notebooks
    Apr 25, 2016 3:26 AM in response to Angharaz

    It's not free, but not expensive. I love it -- but it didn't completely stop my jumpy cursor, though it made it better. The only thing that completely stops the problem is unchecking 'tap to click' in System Preferences - but I don't like to do that.

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