Macbook Air trackpad Click is not working phsyically

I have Macbook air 2020 model. Few days ago I started having the issue where the trackpad (the bottom right and left click) is not working. It has become very hard and seems like something stuck under it. I usually keep the macbook clean and inside a bag and cover so cannot be a dust issue.


Can anyone help on what to do with it? why the clicks are not working. I have also checked my battery life as well and it normal so it cannot be battery swelling. I would appreciate if someone can guide me better.


Macbook Air Retina 2020

OS: Big Sur 11.2.3


Thanks in advance for helping.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Jun 6, 2024 2:43 PM

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Posted on Jun 7, 2024 7:37 PM

FYI, a battery could be swollen even if the battery condition is "Normal". No matter what, this sounds like a hardware failure of some sort. The Trackpad no longer has any physical movement for the clicks. The clicks are being simulated by the Haptic Feedback feature of the Trackpad, so the Trackpad may have failed and needs to be replaced.


Have Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider examine the laptop to confirm the issue and provide you with a repair estimate.



3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 7, 2024 7:37 PM in response to fari_670

FYI, a battery could be swollen even if the battery condition is "Normal". No matter what, this sounds like a hardware failure of some sort. The Trackpad no longer has any physical movement for the clicks. The clicks are being simulated by the Haptic Feedback feature of the Trackpad, so the Trackpad may have failed and needs to be replaced.


Have Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider examine the laptop to confirm the issue and provide you with a repair estimate.



Jun 11, 2024 5:55 PM in response to fari_670

There are no actual macOS virus. There is adware & malware. I'm not aware of any software issues that would affect the Trackpad in the way you have described. It sounds like a hardware issue to me.


You can try booting into Safe Mode to see if the Trackpad issue still exists or into Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R for Intel Macs only), or even the Apple Diagnostics to see if the Trackpad still has the issue. Safe Mode prevents third party software from launching automatically during boot & login, while Internet Recovery Mode is booting from an online macOS installer (not sure about the M-series Macs though since they may be loading from a hidden recovery mode partition on the internal SSD, but it should be safe & unmodified since it is hard to modify it since it is hidden & not easy to access while booted to the internal SSD), and the diagnostics are using just a very basic & simplistic interface.


A Windows virus would not be able to affect a Mac since the operating systems are completely different architectures.


Jun 11, 2024 6:24 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you for your reply. I never knew that normal battery could also be an issue. I will surely get this checked.


Besides, is there any way to try to fix to detect the trackpad issue?


I also wanted to confirm is it possible a virus could damage the Haptic Feedback of Trackpad? Few colleagues of mine used USBs from their windows devices to transfer some data. I am worried if this could be a virus?

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Macbook Air trackpad Click is not working phsyically

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