Level 1

31 points

Trackpad pinch to zoom gesture fails occasionally

I have a new M1 Pro MBP, with Monterey 12.0.1 - I use spread/pinch gestures a lot (in Figma design tool), and frequently the gesture isn't recognized.

About 80% of the time it works correctly; about 15% of the time neither finger is detected (I can keep pinching/spreading my fingers as much as I want, and nothing happens to the zoom/cursor).

About 5% of the time one finger is detected, and the cursor moves, but zoom is unchanged.

I can reproduce this in safe mode, across different apps (Safari, Figma, Chrome), and I was also able to repeat it in an Apple store with one of their M1 MacBook Pros, and also when using one of their external Magic Trackpad. So it's highly likely a software bug.

There are several reports of trackpad issues with tap to click:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253316982

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253297056

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253344390

https://piunikaweb.com/2021/11/01/some-macos-12-monterey-users-are-having-issues-with-the-trackpad/

While testing for the pinch/spread gesture bug on my old 2018 MBP (still on Big Sur), I couldn't reproduce the bug, but did get something related.

Occasionally in Safari, I can spread my fingers to zoom in on the page, but when I pinch to zoom out, it immediately switches to thumbnail view of my tabs (the equivalent of pinching from 100% view). When I click back into the page, it's still in the zoomed-in view. Essentially, the pinch gesture skips zooming out the page, and goes straight to zooming out to thumbnails. I can reproduce this in Monterey on the M1 Pro MBP, so it's possibly a bug that still exists. Mentioning it in case it's related.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Nov 10, 2021 3:03 PM

Top-ranking reply

P-Emmanuel

Level 1

13 points

Posted on Jan 2, 2022 2:18 PM

I have the same issue on my Macbook Air M1 + Montery 12.1.

It is not related to a specific software for me, but occurs when I'm using intensively the pinch to zoom.

Sometimes, the pinch to zoom is dead for all the applications. Sometimes it works for some of them and not for the others (eg : it works for Word but not for Preview).

Closing the screen for 1 second so the computer enters sleep mode and re-opening the screen restores the trackpad functionality for all the apps.

This is a poor user experience. Please Apple, fix this issue on the next OS release, as it is a basic functionality that *must* work painlessly.

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45 replies

Dec 28, 2021 4:15 PM in response to cls34

Updated to 12.1 and pinch to zoom problems have gotten worse. Before 12.1, it was finicky. It was hit or miss whether I could pinch to zoom in preview. Now it just doesn't work at all even after closing and opening preview repeatedly. Brand new M1 Max and touchpad doesn't work...unbelievable.

Jan 14, 2022 12:50 AM in response to taqwaihsan

Very angry that all of my iOS devices received an update today, yet MacOS did not. This is not a hard thing to get right apple!!! You are seriously influencing my future updating and device purchases. It is a wide spread problem!! FIX THE TRACK PAD GLITCH!

Jan 14, 2022 1:11 AM in response to cls34

Given the lack of any sort of speedy resolution and what seems to be an apparent and total disregard to owners from Apple, I will allow these devices to run their course, then I will shop serious competitors. Premium devices that lose their functionality after a simple update, ARE NOT WORTH THE PREMIUM!!!

I will be VERY slow to update my computer and apple devices after this awful experience is resolved. I'm simply fed up waiting. They know about this issue and its daily repeated failures. This makes using my $4k+ MacBook Pro unproductive and costly in terms of sheer frustration and dollars lost to inhibited productivity. Unacceptable. I've been patient and so have MANY others!!. This is far too slow. A simple patch for this one issue was all that was needed. No major anything. Just a simple 12.1.1 or for crying out lout, 12.1.0.1. Just fix the blasted track pad! Update to resolve and then work on larger bug fixes later. Shame on Apple!

Jan 14, 2022 1:03 AM in response to cls34

Also, anyone else notice the complete inability to rate macOS Monterey in the Apple App Store? It's sitting there with a 1 review 5 star rating, and no way to review the software. Massively misleading and wildly unethical. This "update" broke key functionality of the Apple Track Pad with no fix and no direction on one coming. It is not a 5 star software. Why is rating and writing a review unavailable?

mav3rric

Level 1

9 points

Jan 20, 2022 9:36 PM in response to Utah Cowboys

I have to agree with this wholeheartedly. I just bought a brand new 14" M1 Pro and have never been so disappointed in a products functionality. This is the first month that I have had it and this issue makes working, web browsing, and general application use a very annoying experience. Imagine watching a movie on a brand new 70inch OLED ultra high contrast immersive display you just spent a great deal of money on, but, there is one catch; for every 30 seconds of content there will be a 2 second pause. It destroys the user experience pretty quickly. I am always rooting for you Apple, but, this is a too big of a blunder for a company that has a trillion dollar market cap.

Jan 21, 2022 10:19 AM in response to cls34

I not only have this issue w/ my brand new M1 Mac, but my computer completely crashes and turns off about 20% of the time when I use pinch zoom. I thought it was just Figma at first, but it's happening with Pixelmator as well.

Birko88

Level 1

8 points

Jan 23, 2022 11:59 AM in response to cls34

I have this problem currently when working in Logic Pro X and it's really frustrating when trying to edit audio and the horizontal zoom function either doesn't work or is delayed to work. This has caused me several problems.

Jan 29, 2022 8:11 PM in response to francoisfran

I can report after limited one day experience post update, that the pinch to zoom has worked much better on my 2019 2.4ghz 32gb, 2TB with 8GB VRAM. I've seen complaints that it wasn't working on all models, but so far so good. Hopefully it doesn't pop back up.

Dec 5, 2021 11:52 PM in response to mingoslkd

I also facing the same issues, can we expect any update soon to fix this issue?

Isaak

Level 1

8 points

Dec 14, 2021 10:34 PM in response to cls34

I have the same issue on a MacBook Pro 16 m1 max after updating to Monterey 12.1

hai123xx

Level 1

8 points

Jan 7, 2022 3:47 PM in response to cls34

Hi,

I have the same issue as well with a MacBook Pro 2019. After updating the software I cannot pinch to zoom in or out of Figma at all.

Dougdmj

Level 1

8 points

Jan 9, 2022 3:16 PM in response to Utah Cowboys

I also get this same issue. Paying this much for a laptop and then not having basic pinch to zoom functionality is not acceptable.

Jan 13, 2022 11:05 PM in response to cls34

I am also having this issue on MacBook Air M1, please fix it Apple.

52pd

Level 1

28 points

Jan 15, 2022 7:09 PM in response to hai123xx

My issue is very same as you (also on 2019 MacBook Pro), but a little bit difference is the pitch to zoom on my MacBook not working only after I opened several photos (local files, not online).

Jan 18, 2022 3:32 AM in response to cls34

Same problem with my iMac 24/16go/512 and Magic Trackpad 2 !

pinching is unavailable once every two days or so, for 1-2 minutes

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Trackpad pinch to zoom gesture fails occasionally