Pinch zoom on MacBook Pro unreliable with macOS Monterey

Agreed, this Dock-killing solution worked for me on a 16" MBP, M1Max, MacOS 12.1. I was going crazy trying to zoom within Preview, with no luck. But killing Dock restored pinch-to-zoom for me. Thank you!

I get this issue too, on 12.3. Easiest workaround is to go to System Prefs > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom tab and uncheck and then re-check the Zoom in and out option. That seems to reset the trackpad's behaviour.

I have this issue too, and I think Apple should have a look at it.

I did found a solution that works for me.

Its going into system preferences>trackpad and then disabling and re-enabling the pinch to zoom.

thanks for this. it's been happening to me for a while, no help from apple. it occurs when i open a new window in chrome. i have to go to preferences, track pad, uncheck the box & then recheck it. very annoying. i can't believe apple can't fix this.

Hi fkadb,

Just stumbled upon this as I'm facing the same- as of this post, we're in April, 2022. I have still not able to find a workaround this. What I use as a hard fix (to get the job done) is "command + (minus)" to zoom out and "command + (plus key)" to zoom in.

Let me know if you've found a permanent fix! (And hope the above fix helps as a fool-proof way!

if you to "systems preference" & then "trackpad" & then "scroll & zoom," you have to click on "zoom in or out" to unselect & then reclick to reselect. it will work for a while until it doesn't & you have to do it again. it happens to me when i open a new window in chrome.

Is there a fix on this issue? If so, can we get this published?

This is actually such a frustrating experience. The issue is consistent enough, you recognize it, and inconsistent enough to be so frustrating it drives one mad >>> I'm in figma in flow state (which is cognitively expensive btw), zooming in and out, and all of a sudden I can't zoom in or out. I literally thought I was losing my mind till i found this forum.. Please for all that is good in user experience, Please address this issue.

I've been having this problem. Sometimes, I pinch to zoom and it doesn't respond until I repeat the gesture a few times. Then it's responsive as usual. Recently, I had pinch-to-zoom simply stop working for about 5 minutes. Then suddenly it began working again!

I am running Better Touch Tool (since Apple still hasn't introduced decent window snapping to OS X). That could be the culprit? I will try disabling it for a while and see if changes anything.

Same Issue on MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) Monterey v12.3

I have this issue since months now. I reinstall MacOS but still there. Most annoying issue ever ! Congrats Apple :) Impossible to work most of the time, I lost hours and hours in my job.

i don't think it has anything to do with better touch tool - i don't have that & i still have had the problem for months & months now as have other. it's an apple OS problem. why apple won't fix it, nobody knows.

This is incredible. I cannot believe so many others are also experiencing the issue, meanwhile Apple turns a blind eye to the problem. 13-inch 2017 MacBook Air on Monterey 12.1, been having this problem since Catalina. In my case, toggling the gesture on and off in the settings doesn't work. I have yet to try killing the Dock process, though. I have noticed that occasionally the problem fixes itself in a few minutes. It is still jarring to have this glitch happen in the middle of my work, and a software patch to this would be appreciated very much.

Apple, please fix.

(UPDATE: Neither killing nor force killing Dock fixes the problem for me.)

I just bought a brand new macbook, picked up from The Apple Store myself (16 inch), and the zoom is so unreliable. I can't work on this thing. I am stuck with it now. I am really bummed my old macbooks trackpad was solid as stone, but it seems Apple let us down this time. Bummer.

I observe the same problem today with my brand new Magic Trackpad 2.

It seems that the pinch movement works more often when a bigger part of my thumb lies down on the trackpad as I do the gesture, but not always.

I got this problem as well on my MacBook Pro M1Pro 16".

It occurs every now and then, and the effect is everywhere.

My solution is to get in to the force quit window and restart Finder.

However, this needs to be addressed by Apple now, the problem is obviously not new.

Before trying anything else, simply lick/wet your fingers then dab off any excess moisture. Now try zooming. For some reason, dry fingertips seem to affect the pinch-to-zoom feature adversely even when other gestures (two fingers to move/scroll the document, etc.) are working fine.