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Level 1

16 points

Replace Butterfly mechanism

The butterfly mechanism on one of the keys on my 2017 MacBook Pro 15" with touchbar is broken. There are four small pins (2 on the left, two on the right) and one is now missing. The keycap no longer stays on, making it hard to type.

I have a replacement mechanism, but I the repair shop says this mechanism cannot be swapped out and the entire keyboard has to be replaced, which means I'll be out my Mac for over a week.

Is there any way to replace just the butterfly mechanism of a single key without going through all of this? I can't find any how-tos about this online (they all refer either just to the keycap or are for the earlier generation of keys.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 22, 2021 10:16 AM

Best reply

HWTech

Level 9

55,850 points

Posted on Apr 22, 2021 5:24 PM

No, it is not possible to replace the butterfly mechanism if the buttery mechanism is damaged. It is possible to replace the key cap though. While Apple has a free keyboard repair program it may not apply if the mechanism is damaged.

https://support.apple.com/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-notebooks

FYI, here is the current list of the publicly acknowledged free repair programs for various Apple products (some products have multiple programs):

https://support.apple.com/service-programs

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Replace Butterfly mechanism

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