Trackpad gestures stop working randomly after monterey update

Engaging screensaver with a hot corner then coming back to desktop in a second or two does still fix the issue temporarily for me every time now. It is also happening less often but I have to objective reason as to why... I'm just happy it's very quick and easy to work around and it's happening less often so I can work...

Hi, I have the same issue with MBP 14". Today it happened for me and I just left the laptop and started to search for a solution with my cellphone. Meanwhile, my laptop was on the screen saver and when I just touched the trackpad all the gestures activated again.

I just sent feedback and reported this bug for Monterey version 12.0.1 and I suggest you do the same.

Hi, just saw your post Scott and the answer (for me) is 'yes'. The issue started around late October 2021 for me, almost as soon as I upgraded to Monterey (although interestingly, it was not immediate - it was a few days after the upgrade and it did work on-and-off for a few days before stopping working completely). I even wiped the SSD on my Macbook Pro and reinstalled the operating system from scratch, and it made no difference. For me - it's mostly the haptic feedback on the trackpad that doesn't work (ie there is no 'click' or 'hold for more information'), but randomly the gestures stop working too. Only a computer reboot fixes that... and it's random how long it fixes it for (sometimes hours, sometimes only a couple of minutes).

I run an IT Support company, and use Mac, Windows and Chromebook laptops, and am shocked that this has not been fixed yet by Apple, 3 months later! It's as if they couldn't care less.

So I have a 2 week old MacBook Pro 16" M1 Max running OS 12.2 and suddenly the gestures stopped working and could no longer move between screens or apps, at the time this occurred I was using the Handbrake app. I do not have Rosetta installed and only have a few other apps installed FinalCut and a trial version of ScreenFlow 10. I logged out and back in again and this seemed to handle it and I am currently updating to OS 12.2.1 but I am concerned about this problem as this is a new and very expensive computer to be having this issue especially being in a pretty clean uncluttered state

Same here, 16" Macbook Pro M1 max, clean system install a week ago, now updated to 12.2.1, rosetta not installed, I have added "Little Snitch", "1Password", "iStat Menus", "Firefox", "Final Cut, and "Handbrake" to the system. So far I have only gotten the locked up trackpad gestures while running "handbrake" when Screen Saver activates while it's running and if I then close the screensaver and reactivate it with a hot corner the trackpad then returns to normal operation. Handbrake uses a lot of resources while running and really fires up the processor much more so than other apps I've run so far. I am going to try a running something more intensive with "Final Cut" and see if that recreates the issue. I am including to screen grabs from iStat menus if it helps.

In the "hope Apple fixes this bug soon" catagory... I downloaded 12.3 yesterday. I didn't have the bug before I downloaded the new update. Now, I have the same / similar issue. It only affects my ability to switch between desktops, all other trackpad functions work fine, but the 4 finger move between desktops locks up. I will try force quitting the dock or the killall dock and see if that works.

I was fixing the issue with @Stepen Greenfield's solution, which worked, but not every time it seemed. It does work most times for me though. I finally tried @laugherdoodle's suggestion and re-installed Monterey. Not a full wipe of the disk/restore from back-up (I don't want to take that kind of time unless I HAVE to). Just a re-install of the OS keeping the rest of my machine intact. So far 2 hours of straight working and no lock up of trackpad. Still very early to tell if this is a long term fix but I'm hopeful. I'll post my experience as time goes by and see if this does the trick.

New MacOS is out ! Let's download and see if this solves it.

I have discovered that nothing about this is random. It happens every time a power source is connected to the laptop.

It sounds like you need to rebuild the Spotlight index. Here's the official documentation from Apple:

Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support

I recommend to make an official feedback about this via Feedback Assistant to raise the issue.

I attest to that it is not working either on Monterey 12.4. Apple suggested I downgrade to Big Sur or reinstall Monterey.

On my Macbook Pro 2020 (Intel) it's completely random. A reboot does not always fix it. And it will work one moment, and not the next. It's infuriating! I've even wiped and cleanly-rebuilt it with Monterey, and the problem persists, so I think it's pretty obvious it's a bug in the Monterey operating system. Come on Apple - sort it out!

Purchased new 16" M1 and it's disappointingly buggy. Really not acceptable. Same gesture problem, as noted originally, and the killall Dock command repairs it only temporarily. The real annoyance is how the computer "deselects" windows in any software after 15 - 20 seconds of use. I couldn't type this note on my Apple wireless keyboard without having to click on the window 3 times (after the killall Dock command). This could push me back to a PC if not resolved quickly, Apple. You stuff is supposed to work!!! That's why I pay several times more for it.

I, too, have been having these same exact issues. However, force-quitting the Dock does NOT resolve the issue for me, and in fact makes the situation worse, because I can't even switch to another application (like with CMD+TAB).

FWIW, I also have an M1 Pro 16" MacBook. It SEEMS possibly connected to my invoking Microsoft Remote Desktop, which opens in full-screen mode.

However, not all gestures become inactivated: sometimes, even when the three-finger swipe left/right gesture is broken, I can still use other gestures, like three finger swipe up/down, or the four finger "gather" gesture.