Rewind, Play/Pause, Fast Forward (F7, F8, F9) buttons not working on built-in keyboard after Big Sur update - Google Chrome NOT Installed

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Rewind, Play/Pause, Fast Forward (F7, F8, F9) buttons not working on built-in keyboard after Big Sur update - Google Chrome NOT Installed

Ever since the latest Big Sur update, my F7, F8, and F9 keys on my 13" MacBook Pro w/ Retina display do nothing. The rest of the function keys such as backlight, volume control, mute/unmute, etc. all work fine. I do not have the "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys" option enabled. I've even tried the F7-F9 keys with that option enabled just for ***** and giggles but to no avail. This is incredibly annoying and the only thing I can find on this subject is a Google Chrome extension issue but I don't even have Google Chrome installed. This is the first time experiencing such an issue and I've had this MacBook since 2015.

MacBook

Posted on Feb 3, 2021 6:25 AM

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Answer 1

Brian_P7

Community Specialist

Feb 6, 2021 10:23 AM in response to adubz33

Hello adubz33,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. It looks like media keys are not working on your Mac after updating to Big Sur, and we'd be happy to look into this with you.

To get started, can you tell us if you experience this behavior within a specific application or multiple?

Also, did you make sure in System Preferences > Keyboard that the box that says “Use F1, F2 etc as regular function keys” is unchecked?

Next, go to: Apple menu > Force Quit, and check if there is an application showing as "Not Responding". If so, force quit this application, and test again.

Please check out this helpful link:

How to force an app to quit on your Mac

We hope this information is useful. Kind regards.

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