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 dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 May 20, 2016 7:51 AM in response to mikkibarry
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
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    May 20, 2016 7:51 AM in response to mikkibarry

    I am also a writer by profession, so I feel your pain.  If the Terminal line didn't work for you (and you are sure you copied it exactly) perhaps you need the double whammy of a hardware fix and the Terminal fix. Before I had my top case replaced, my cursor was insane, skipping two or three times a sentence, sometimes right out of the app I was working in. After the top case was replaced, skips were much less frequent - though still present - and the trackpad was much more responsive to things like click and drag or even to taps. I did note a positive change after the hardware was replaced, but the flying cursor was the worst for me and still happened occasionally. Then, adding the Terminal command solved that problem entirely, at least for the past 2-3 days.

     

    I do see more problems with Apple software recently, though the software is also trying to do much more than it used to. I still love OS X and iOS and wouldn't think of using anything else. My worst hardware problems were with my 2006 white Macbook - the first in the series - which had multiple issues throughout the five years I used it. The difference was in Customer Service, which I agree has gone downhill -- or maybe it's just bad in Toronto, where I am now. I hope that's it, because their speedy and cheerful repairs of my poor 2006 model -- including free repairs AFTER my AppleCare expired -- were what really hooked me on Apple.

  • by malibongwe,

    malibongwe malibongwe May 20, 2016 5:29 PM in response to dobes918
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    May 20, 2016 5:29 PM in response to dobes918

    I have done some more troubleshooting and stared my MacBook 12 inch in safe mode and viola... the cursor stopped jumping around while I type. I kept my cursor on the minimize button just to be sure and it did not one interfere with my typing.  I need to find out what in my startup is possibly causing the problem and report back. I used the machine is safe mode for a while.  What a pleasure to use!

  • by niugnep,

    niugnep niugnep May 21, 2016 5:37 PM in response to mikkibarry
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 21, 2016 5:37 PM in response to mikkibarry

    I can confirm that the terminal command did not change anything on my end either. Still experiencing the issue.

  • by malibongwe,

    malibongwe malibongwe May 23, 2016 12:57 AM in response to malibongwe
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    May 23, 2016 12:57 AM in response to malibongwe

    I am not sure what third party apps may cause the problem but can confirm that in safe mode things work as they should.  As soon as I am back in normal mode my curser is all over the place when I type.  Not a happy customer!

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 May 23, 2016 2:39 AM in response to malibongwe
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
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    May 23, 2016 2:39 AM in response to malibongwe

    Well, the point of Safe Mode is that it lets you know that a third party app - not your hardware or a native Apple app - is responsible for your problem. So if you're an unhappy customer, it ought to be with someone other than Apple at this point!

  • by Mike.Glish,

    Mike.Glish Mike.Glish May 23, 2016 5:35 AM in response to dobes918
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 23, 2016 5:35 AM in response to dobes918

    When I was in high school I was talking with the principal who told me, tongue in cheek, that "This would be a nice school if it wasn't for all those kids."  I suppose today he would say that the MacBook Pro's trackpad was a great trackpad if it wasn't for all those apps.

     

    I've reported on this thread and many others have as well that these problems don't seem to exist on the MacBook Air.  I first ran into them after migrating to the MBP.  I used every app on my MBP that I did on my MBA. The mouse pointer worked just fine on the platform without the fancy new trackpad and it jerks and stops on the platform with the fancy new trackpad.  Hmmm....

     

    It's very plausible that the problem is due to an interaction between the hardware/software of the MBP and MB trackpads and non-Apple apps, but why hasn't Apple either a) figured out the problem and fixed it and/or b) told other app developers how to construct their products to work gracefully with the new trackpad?

     

    This problem has gone on long enough and apparently impacted a lot of people.  I think Apple should take the lead in getting it fixed.

  • by dansmacbook,

    dansmacbook dansmacbook May 25, 2016 7:22 AM in response to Mike.Glish
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 25, 2016 7:22 AM in response to Mike.Glish

    Just wanted to add that this issue affects me as well.  I have had virtually every generation of MBP going back to about 2005.  I have never had this issue.  My nearly identical 15" MBPr from 2013 or 2014 did not suffer from this problem.  It's the force touch trackpad that is to blame and it REALLY stinks.  I paid $3,000 for a laptop because it's the best.  I have LOVED the trackpad on these things for over a decade.  Now they've ruined it.  It's such a pain in the butt having my typing all-of-a-sudden appear in the wrong part of a document or email out of the blue.  Apple needs to fix this.  But I'm not holding my breath...

  • by Phasma Nemo,

    Phasma Nemo Phasma Nemo May 25, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Mike.Glish
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 25, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Mike.Glish

    IIt's not the MacBook Pro issue.

     

    IVe had all pf them since 2008 model. It's the new force touch trackpads. 

  • by malibongwe,

    malibongwe malibongwe May 30, 2016 4:52 AM in response to Phasma Nemo
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    May 30, 2016 4:52 AM in response to Phasma Nemo

    Eureka!  I found the solution! Not really... as a work-a-round, I have put a rubber thimble on my left thumb (I am right handed) and it seems to work to such an extend that I can now type without interruptions.  The question is, why is Apple not fixing this very frustrating issue or at least acknowledge that it exists and why do a person have to struggle so much to use their expensive products the way you became accustomed to?

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 May 30, 2016 5:10 AM in response to malibongwe
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
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    May 30, 2016 5:10 AM in response to malibongwe

    Very creative solution!

  • by dobes918,

    dobes918 dobes918 May 30, 2016 5:11 AM in response to malibongwe
    Level 4 (1,442 points)
    Notebooks
    May 30, 2016 5:11 AM in response to malibongwe

    I wanted to try this, but my graphics go screwy in Safe Mode, blinking every time I type a letter. There's no way I could work in Safe Mode, so I can't try to reproduce your experience.

  • by malibongwe,

    malibongwe malibongwe May 30, 2016 5:55 AM in response to msomers
    Level 1 (8 points)
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    May 30, 2016 5:55 AM in response to msomers

    It was suggested to me by an Apple Genius to boot into Safe Mode as way to troubleshoot to determine what third party app may cause the problem.  I had one possibility which I first disabled at startup and then completely uninstalled.  The problem persist.  Another suggested that I created a new user account and to see whether the problems continues.  Needless to say it did not make any difference.  I am not sure what else to do.  See my thimble trick above

  • by quarkcharmer,

    quarkcharmer quarkcharmer May 31, 2016 3:38 PM in response to Shabidoo
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 31, 2016 3:38 PM in response to Shabidoo

    this  is very neat and would be the best solution so far, (especially as Apple can't find a fix...)  but ...if you run it in Automator it works fine  but running it outside automator  from a shortcut results in "Workflow error"  on my system (El Capitan 10.11.4) and i can't ( don't know how) to uncover what that refers to ? It even works if you close the script in automator and hit the shortcut, i.e. with automator still open. But not outside automator. Curious if you have run it without Automator open?

  • by malibongwe,

    malibongwe malibongwe Jun 10, 2016 4:51 AM in response to msomers
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Notebooks
    Jun 10, 2016 4:51 AM in response to msomers

    I thought that I'd share my latest experience in the hope that I have found a permanent solution to this problem.  What I did was to connect a bluetooth magic mouse to my MacBook 12 inch and used it to do some word-processing for short.  I managed to complete a whole page without encountering the accidental input problem.  I disconnected the mouse completely (deleted it from my bluetooth devices option in System Preferences), opened another document and tried out the some more word-processing.  Two pages of text without a single skip! The accidental input problem seems to have miraculously disappeared! I restarted the computer just to be sure and can confirm that I am still typing away happily without the irritation of the mouse cursor moving all over the place.  Please post your findings if you find this work-a-round useful.

  • by Michael Biel,

    Michael Biel Michael Biel Jun 22, 2016 7:16 PM in response to msomers
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Jun 22, 2016 7:16 PM in response to msomers

    Just got off the phone with apple support.  Their solution was that I should change the position of my hands while I type.  Amazing...

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