You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Touchbar controls appear blank

Since upgrade to Big Sur, touchbar controls for brightness/volume/Siri occasionally appear blank after waking from sleep (see 1st screenshot - blank area on right). Touchbar remains responsive - I can expand the blank area to show more controls, and switching apps shows different controls as expected - but the volume area stays blank. I can fix it by restarting or by editing touchbar contents to drag the default items back in, but the issue recurs after a while.


After restoring default controls, touchbar is normal again - see next screenshot for comparison.


I do not recall seeing this happen while using Catalina or earlier versions of macOS.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 7, 2020 1:48 PM

Reply
1 reply

Dec 12, 2020 3:58 PM in response to dr.nixon

Hello Dr.nixon,


Thanks for being apart of Apple Support Communities. According to your post, the Touch bar on your Mac in Big Sur isn't working as expected. We'll do our best to assist with this.


If this seems to be resolved temporarily when you restart, then we'd reset the PRAM or NVRAM to test it out: Reset NVRAM or PRAM on your Mac


Test it out in safe mode: How to use safe mode on your Mac This page also explains what to do if the issue continues in safe mode and if it works fine. Note: You may need to launch apps in safe mode to see if you can reproduce the issue there.


Should it continue, what happened when you tested in safe mode?


Wishing you the best, cheers!

Touchbar controls appear blank

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.