Will the touch bar ever come back?

I enjoyed the touch bar so much. It surely came in handy to pin essential apps and avoid having to physically look for them. I think one of the biggest problem most consumers had was the fact that there were no apps to support the touch bar so it became un-useful and more like a gimmick as time went on. Today, there are advanced features in apps like "Better Touch Tool" that allow you to customize it very well including adding widgets/gestures, which I do with my mac.

It took this long but I believe the touch bar will come back, as more developers are finding ways to make it useful.. and for the fact that its the same with the dynamic island. Atp, the only thing people rave about is the 'stop watch and tracking flights/food' within it, which to me is redundant. I could care less about the dynamic island seeing that there's really nothing "wow" you can do with it. If they can give that a chance, certainly there's hope.

MAC1904 wrote:

I believe Mac users must have the choice of purchasing a new Mac with or without it!

A few people may still want it but Apple is under no obligation to provide it if they don't feel it's good business.

I truly hope Apple will bring the Touch Bar back, on devices having the same look and design of formers MacBook Pro’s, or include it on new MacBook (SE), the same as iPhone SE, featuring the Home Button…

Have you told Apple that?

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These discussions reach many users of Macintosh computers, including senior contributor Volunteers. We can talk about any issue, but Apple does not participate here except to maintain order and make sure unanswered posts are not completely ignored.

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<< most of us who are reading don't particularly care what you decide to buy. >>

I agree, But that is not because we are insensitive, but because Readers here are helpless to change the situation for you. We can make the computer you want appear out of thin air.

Apple "movers and shakers" do not participate HERE, they are too busy reading Product Feedback posts:

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Touch Bar is available on the current 13-in models of MacBook Pro.

I enjoy the Touch Bar and believe it was revolutionary. Having touch capabilities without a mess of finger prints all over your screen used for viewing content. The minimalist design was aesthetically pleasing without the bloat of an archaic computer design from decades ago.

I really hope it comes back to the high-spec models. I type in multiple languages and find it extremely useful and convenient. Hopefully, they make it optional so people can pick what they they prefer.

I own a 16” MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar I purchased in 2020 and I LOVE IT! I’m Extremely Disappointed that Apple decided to not include it on the new 16” Pro Models with the M Processors because of some complaints from individuals that didn’t like it. What about us that do? Why can’t they make two versions? One with, And one without the Touch Bar. I would love to experience the capabilities of Apples new M Processor, But feel that Apple regressed by going back to the old school top keys, Instead of progressing with the innovative technology they created. SHAME ON YOU APPLE! Please bring back the Touch Bar, Or at least bring it back as an option for us that Love It!

kevjazzele wrote:

I own a 16” MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar I purchased in 2020 and I LOVE IT! I’m Extremely Disappointed that Apple decided to not include it on the new 16” Pro Models with the M Processors because of some complaints from individuals that didn’t like it. What about us that do? Why can’t they make two versions? One with, And one without the Touch Bar. I would love to experience the capabilities of Apples new M Processor, But feel that Apple regressed by going back to the old school top keys, Instead of progressing with the innovative technology they created. SHAME ON YOU APPLE! Please bring back the Touch Bar, Or at least bring it back as an option for us that Love It!

Apple doesn't read here in this user-to-user forum for feedback or suggestions. You can, however, let them know your thoughts here:

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Yes, of course Apple should feel deeply ashamed that they can't be all things to all people.

Perhaps a third party manufacturer could make an ultra thin screen strip to fit across the small gap between keyboard and screen connected to the laptop via cable or bluetooth. Maybe an external touchpad with programable overlays, actually I vaguely remember seeing something like that.

IdrisSeabright,

I realize we've probably seen the last of Touch Bar, and that offering feedback to Apple would most likely be futile. I'm well past it, anyway, as I purchased a new 15" M2 MacBook Air earlier this year to replace my 2016 MacBook Pro.

As I always use my MacBooks on my lap, I was simply pointing out that the iPad/Apple Pencil "workaround" for the Touch Bar isn't very practical for those of us who use a laptop primarily on our...lap 😄

Isa1295 wrote:

I wanted to buy a new Mac and give mine to my mother but I won't make the purchase cause I can't live without the Touch Bar. The only way I buy a Mac in the future is if we ever see that Touch Bar again, fingers crossed!

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I have had two MBP 15" with Touch Bars. My 2018 one had issues with it: the segments disappeared one-by-one until only the last one on the right remained readable. So it became useless. Then the whole machine died a few months after a battery replacement in 2022. I got a used 2019 version, and it's still got a working Touch Bar. But I mainly use that machine for streaming video and audio, so I never carry it around in a pack like my first one. My real portable is now a 2021 M1 14" MBP (purchased new this year) and I don't miss the Touch Bar. Having real keys is fine for me.

Because Apple is for "everyone" now and most people are not smart enough to properly optimise their workflow, one of apples greatest products of all time the Magic Mouse, full muli-touch trackpad covered mouse was a precision instrument. Apple even tried to get people to learn to use gestures and at this point most people know the basics, i.e two finger swipe to navigate web pages.

However with a third party app like better touch tool you could do pretty much anything by swiping your fingers, this over a period of years can save you days if not weeks worth of time, make your experience switching tools in photoshop for example quick and seem-less, replacing nearly all keyboard short cuts. To this day, people have no appreciation for how good that product is and even complain about it ergonomics which I never had any issue with.

The touchbar is the same kind of thing, however Apple definitely didnt realise its full potential. Firstly they decided that instead of Up, Down, volume keys there would just be a volume slide and mute button, even though you can customise the toolbar to be like the physical F keys later (Hidden behind a bunch of sub menus for some reason) people dont like this kind of change, when you have decades worth of muscle memory hitting a certain key, this kind of thing really annoys people and its just poor UI/UX design. Secondly the Touch Bar had no haptic feedback, another major fail as after installing a third party app, you realise how much nicer it makes it feel to use. There are also many third party apps that make the touch bar more generally useful like Pok etc, but Apple never tired to make something similar so it just helped extend app functionality only, where it could have done so many cool things, why not have screen saver animation for it, picture in picture type fun, cover view, its literally an OLED display but you never see animation, they should have at least tried to make it fun to help get people to play with it.

So back to the main point, people dont have the patience or knowledge to make use of this kind of technology, im sure the next generation would have been able to find the utility in these kinds of new advances in tech. I really hope Apple see that they really were onto something with the Touch Bar.

Golden Ears wrote:

For the most part, Apple once again, did it wrong. They put the Touch bar kind of far out of the place away from your fingertips and your eyes but they really should’ve done is make it possible to eject the mouse pad and drop in your phone and have the Touch Bar.

or made the mouse bad have phone like touchscreen ability as well as having the touch bar and probably they should’ve put some sort of dials in there as well because sliders don’t replace dials . the addition of tactile usage beyond Kyes was a game changer. It’s just too bad they never implemented it properly.

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