Escape button on MBP Touch Bar disappeared - only appears when holding down fn key

I’ve finally found a reasonable workaround for this. I’d been force quitting the Control Strip, to no avail. Turns out you need to force quit the whole Touch Bar itself. This can be done via Activity Monitor, or through the Terminal. See instructions here: http://osxdaily.com/2017/01/11/manually-refresh-touch-bar-mac/

Ctrl+C also exits Vim's edit mode.

Customize the Touch Bar on Mac - Apple Support

How to use the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro - Apple Support

Yes, well don't feel alone. The newer MBP 16" have brought back the physical escape key do to user complaints.

Still in issue in 2020 (OS X Mojave 10.14.6, can't update to Catalina as it breaks too many applications I use), today my Touch Bar disappeared while I was trying to use it and I really need to use the ESC key (using VIm) to save my work, so restarting will just lose my work and isn't a valid "fix".

Also tried killing the TouchBarServer per hthttps://discussions.apple.com/thread/8444910?answerId=33584948022#33584948022

sudo pkill TouchBarServer

Which restarted the service, but my Touch Bar did not come back.

The commands listed on hhttps://medium.com/zenchef-tech-and-product/how-to-kill-and-restart-the-touch-bar-control-strip-on-the-new-macbook-pro-b77e97c11d03 didn't help either:

sudo pkill "Touch Bar agent"
sudo killall "ControlStrip"

Nor did trying to start /System/Library/CoreServices/ControlStrip.app/Contents/MacOS/ControlStrip as either myself or via sudo .

I've been seeing this issue repeatedly for the past month or so. The reliable workaround is to restart the computer, but it's frustrating to have to restart my whole system — sometimes multiple times per day — just to get the escape button back. I have yet to find an actual solution to the problem.

For now, I've resorted to remapping the Caps Lock key to escape, but all my muscle memory still has me trying to tap the escape button.

I've tried kill the TouchBarServer process on Activity Monitor.

Just type cmd+space to open Spotlight Search and type activity to find activity monitor. On search box type touch to find TouchBarServer, click on that and kill clicking on "Stop" button (on top left). Use force quit.

I've tried kill the TouchBarServer process on Activity Monitor.

Just type cmd+space to open Spotlight Search and type activity to find activity monitor. On search box type touch to find TouchBarServer, click on that and kill clicking on "Stop" button (on top left). Use force quit.

A simple restart fixed the issue for me; Model A1990

For me is happening the same, but it does not show even pressing the FN button I needed to remap it to the caps look key.

Anyone knows what is happening?

It's not that I questioned my sanity or anything. Thank you, Apple, for helping me never be too sure of anything. I agree that's an important skill we should keep sharp.

That was so far the only way to make the ESC key to appear on the touchbar. Cheers mate.

Same, was driving me crazy. Simply reboot and everything is back to normal.

It appears as if macOS 10.15.4 may have finally fixed this issue (at least for me)!

It appears as if macOS 10.15.4 may have finally fixed this issue (at least for me)!