Trackpad misses first tap after upgrade to Monterey

Yes, 12.1 fixes it, it's in the description of the update as one of the bugs that were fixed.

I think I have the same issue and seem to have located the root cause and a way to make improvements.

Monterey changed the Click sensitivity of my Magic Trackpad making it less sensitive (This can manifest in "missing clicks"). You can almost readjust the sensitivity to what it was prior to Monterey by going into "System Preferences/Trackpad" and adjusting "Click" to a more "Light" setting. Unfortunately the lightest setting is not as light as it used to be. Before Monterey I was using the lightest setting and that worked well for me and my Magic Trackpad. After updating to Monterey the Trackpad Click setting had been changed to "Medium" which did not suit me and my trackpad. I changed the "Click" setting back to my previous "Light" setting and Click performance improved but still not good enough and not the same as pre Monterey.

I'm not impressed by this change to the Trackpad user interface introduced by Monterey.

Note to Apple: At first I thought my Magic Trackpad was malfunctioning. I was so annoyed I almost took it apart to try and fix it. Fortunately I cooled down enough to sensibly associate the problem with Monterey before the trackpad was in pieces. I want Apple to expand the range of click sensitivity back to what it was and maybe even make it larger. Then inform the software analyst/designer and programmer of the fiasco they caused. You could also let the user interface people know that some users prefer very light Click sensitivity when using a Magic Trackpad. I'm not a happy camper you broke something that was working almost perfectly.

Guys, after hours on the phone with Apple support, nothing helped.

I posted above but basically I have the 14 inch m1 pro, 12.0.1 was fine, then upgraded to 12.1 created the problem.

I had just bought the computer a few days before so hadn't done a time machine backup.

In the end I followed instructions on the net because Apple support couldn't help.

I had to connect my old macbook to the new one with a usb-c cable (not any cable, the one from apple), before that I completely wiped my new computer clean. (BTW - reinstalling the OS in recovery mode did not help nor did updating to 12.2 beta, even made it worse and my magic mouse also started acting up)

So after wiping the computer I opened it in DFU mode which requires precisely clicking left option-control + right shift + power for exactly 10 seconds (took 30 tries about to get it right).

Then I on the older computer had already downloaded the ISPW file for 12.0.1 which also took me hours to find.

I flashed that over to my new computer using apple configurator 2 on my old computer connected to my new computer in DFU recovery mode.

12.0.1 is back on my new computer and problem is gone.

Using the pre downloaded ISPW file it took less than 30 minutes.

Now the question is why this happens only to some of us and not the rest.

Is something faulty with the hardware that only surfaces in certain versions of the OS? What could it be.

Here is the article that saved me:

Seems I can't put links here so look for mrmacintosh

restore-macos-firmware-on-an-apple-silicon-mac-boot-to-dfu-mode

You will also need his DB so look for:

macos-12-monterey-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple

To anyone reading this, try resetting your NVRAM. This seems to have resolved the issue for me.

Instructions here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

Hope this helps someone!

12.1 = Fixed for me too

I was having problems with:

• Missed taps
• Highlighting filename text, where click to select file, then click again to highlight name = the 2nd click resulted in the file opening (due to abnormal pause/delays?)
• Selecting text, where it was impossible to select text normally, especially right-to-left

All the above are now ok.

Good news ! 12.1 is out and is supposed to address this issue. Please tell us if that fixed it for you ;)

12.1 seems to have fixed it for me

Many people are experiencing this: Tap-to-click issue on MacOS 12.0.1 - Apple Community

Repetitive motion is as a health issue. Full stop

—this bug in macOS 12.0.1 is basically doubling the workload and is an infuriating bug and hardly acceptable by any standard.

Causes errors in the workflow, having to back track and click again, and can lead to damage of the trackpad when you beat on it out of frustration trying to get it to register your click.

Setting >SystemPreferences>Trackpad>Tap to click to "light" for the tap to click—does no good

Use trackpad and mouse gestures on Mac - Apple Support

Filing a bug report is the best you can do, unless you decide to fall back to a macOS previous to Monterey.

Feedback/bug report: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macos.html

AdamApple69 wrote:

After upgrading to Monterey (12.0.1 (21A559) ), using tap (tap to click is activated in trackpad) the first time does nothing. I always need to tap a second time to click/choose something/get in another tab inside my browser etc.

This happens in every program I tried.

Rebooting the machine ( macbook pro 16", 2019) several times didn't bring anything.

I hope this gets fixed in the first update because it's really annoying.

P.S.: Using macbooks and their OSs for more than a decade, this is the first time I had the slightest problem with their -so far- perfectly working trackpad..

You can ty making changes to your Trackpad preferences

>System Preferences>Trackpad

Change how your trackpad works with Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-the-way-your-trackpad-works-mchlp1226/mac

Change Mouse & Trackpad preferences for accessibility on Mac

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-mouse-trackpad-preferences-unac899/mac

file a bug report— http://www.apple.com/feedback

It’s a bug. Not a feature change. Let ‘em hear from you: apple.com/feedback

I have the Mac Air M1, just one month old and I too have the same issue and I assumed that I have a faulty trackpad but it all started after Monterey upgrade, intermittently it misses taps and it's very frustrating when you are sitting and doing video editing for 4-5 hours.

I also noticed that at the extreme sides, the trackpad doesn't click properly, I checked other Mac Air and the issue seems to be universal.

There have been several people reporting that the tap issues are solved in the coming update to 12.1.

Same here. MBP 15" 2019. Never had this issue before.

Since I installed Monterey my trackpad seems to miss many "Tap to Click" inputs and it's very annoying.

I don't know if the problem is actually caused by this but it seems to not register a tap as a click if the finger moves during tap, even a little.

Maybe the movement threshold is too small now and misinterpreted as false negative.