MacBook Pro Keyboard Malfunction After Sequoia Update

I'm quite unhappy to give up some of the SeQuoia useful everyday improvements, but I quit in order to quell the questionable operation of my “Q“ key. Immediately after updating, my Quite useful Q key stopped working reliably. I take advantage of quitting apps with command Q, and around half the time it didn't work. This coincided exactly with the update, so i was suspicious… and the fingerprint unlocking became very unresponsive; either not working at times or unlocking (or inputting passwords, etc.) was Sloooooow. I was sure it was a SeQuoia issue, but of course, Apple will not admit that this is happening. There is something definitely wrong with SeQuoia and the keyboards. Of course, it is hard to prove, so devs look the other way.

Well, I decided to re-install MacOs and reverted back to Sonoma which my MBP came with. My Q key now works quite as well as it did before, i.e., perfectly as it should. I can quit, reliably quip with “q“s with words like quiz and quack, and equally as well equip myself with a calmness that steals me from being piqued when the “Q“s are being quashed with quare regularity! Ironi“q“ually… I can now even reliably type Sequoia, which was nigh impossible before.

In this post, nary a “q“ was missed, which would not have been the case if I posted this while on Sequoia. Neither, I might add, were any “q“s harmed in the making of this post… and my fingerprint feature works snappily like before.

Update: I fixed the issue of the keyboard suddenly not typing in a textbox. Like Ploul mentioned, it's related to long-press. Turning it off fixes the problem.

In terminal:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain "ApplePressAndHoldEnabled" -bool "false"

Then restart. No issues since.

Does an external keyboard work?

Same. They wanted me to replace my functioning keyboard with another. Nevermind the fact that this happens on external keyboards, too. And it suddenly stopped working after 15.0? Between this and the USB power issues

[Edited by Moderator]

Calista505 wrote:

I upgraded my 16” MacBook Pro from macOS Sonoma to Sequoia a week ago(today is Nov 3, 2024). Immediately after the update, I couldn't log in because my keyboard stopped responding. I took it to the Apple Store, where I was told the keyboard is bad—a hardware issue—and that I’d need to pay $698 for a replacement. I pointed out that even the on-screen keyboard didn’t register key presses from the trackpad, but they seemed unsure how to respond and suggested the trackpad might also be faulty. It was alarming how they insisted it was a hardware issue, claiming the update had no connection to the problem and that my "S" key was damaged. ( it's not!!!) In reality, my MacBook was in perfect condition and functioning flawlessly before the Sequoia update, with no sign of any hardware issues.

After returning home, I contacted AppleCare to arrange for a repair. While troubleshooting, I discovered that pressing Option + Command + R at startup restored keyboard functionality temporarily, which was a relief. All the keys functioned perfectly, and the MacBook began running smoothly. It worked fine for about 3 hours, but then began experiencing keybord glitches and prompted me to upgrade to Sequoia 15.1. Unfortunately, after the update, my MacBook stopped recognizing the keyboard altogether and wouldn’t enter recovery mode, leaving it unusable. Pressing Option + Command + R at startup temporarily restores keyboard functionality. However, the fix only lasts for a short period before the issue reappears.

Also, since updating my Mac to Sequoia, it has started restarting on its own after shutting down.

My MacBook Pro is 2019 16" 16 GB RAM, 1TB. Never had any issues. ( The 14" MacBook that appears below is actually the new one I recently purchased—Apple mistakenly selected the wrong device.)

BTW, I purchased a brand new MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip just a few days ago. However, there are no available updates to upgrade from macOS Sonoma to Sequoia. I've even tried manually searching for updates, but Sequoia doesn’t appear as an option.

You can submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

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You can download Sequoia directly

macOS Sequoia on the Mac App Store

Since upgrading to Sequoia, I've been experiencing intermittent keyboard failure on my 2021 MBP M1 Pro. The issue has been most prevalent in Chrome, WhatsApp and Visual Studio Code. All of a sudden, while typing, the keyboard will stop responding and text entry will fail.

The issue seems only to affect text entry. If I add a key modifier like command or option, the computer will respond as expected. However, I will not be able to edit text until I open a new window. For example, if I'm using Chrome, composing a post on Twitter, and the keyboard starts malfunctioning, I can command-T to open a new tab, enter x.com in the location bar, and start editing the message in the new tab. But the original tab will no longer allow text entry. Once the problem starts, I have to quit the app or open a new window.

This is an insanely odd issue, but very disruptive when it occurs. I will be downgrading until I learn of a fix.

Same issue. Only text keys seem to stop being effective. I can see with a virtual keyboard that they are being struck but no input shows on any application. It even seems to make the keyboard on the laptop itself have the same issue. Rebooting seems to temporarily fix it. But it quickly stops working again. I was waiting to installl Sequoia but I thought after a couple of point 1 updates it would be safe.

But not being able to type without rebooting every couple minutes is a critically bad bug. Going to try to rollback Sequoia. But man, very disappointing implementation so far.

I have this exact issue, on my 2021 MBP M1 Max, Sequoia 15.2.

I've observed it in Chrome (only the specific tab; same doc in another tab is no problem), Slack, and Signal, with current versions of all. (Ironically, it just happened to me typing this reply in Chrome!) I was restarting Slack every few minutes at one point, then realized I could type in a terminal window and cmd+v worked even in the broken text entry field.

This happens on my wireless AND built-in keyboard.

It seems very intermittent.

I really look forward to this being fixed.

My macbook pro M1 13 inch also has this problem.

After updating to Sequoia my laptop's keyboard and trackpad suddenly stopped working. I had no idea, i had apple care so i went to store, they returned my laoptop within 4 days and told me they only did internal cleaning. When i came home and again same problem occurred. Like, it really freak me out, they took my laptop again same problem is happening. I will take my laptop again tomorrow and now updating it to 15.3 Sequoia, let see if problem get solved

Same with my MBPro 14" M1 - Build 2021.

Directly after Sequoia 15.3. update the M-key started lagging behind. I have to push it twice to have it working on the password entering screen. The first tap doesn't work although the second does.

The keyboard works properly in pages or other apps.

I have started to get the same random keyboard erratic behaviour after installing 15.3.1. Actually it is doing it right now, as I type this. (I had to type 'now' twice, as it didn't register the first time.) I tried to reset the PRAM, and it behaved itself again for a short time. Does seem worse using WhatsApp and Apple Mail, but is very random.

MacBook Pro M1 2022

Ever since 15.3.1 in various programs, my keyboard just stops mid sentence. I'm on a MacBookPro M1 16". When that happens there's nothing I can input. I have to restart the software.

It happens on the chatgpt prompt, on Discord, on Slack...

I have 13 inch Macbook Pro (M2 - 2022). The OS kept bugging me to update and everything was working fine. But as soon as I upgraded to Sequoia 15.3.1, the keyboard stopped working. Nothing is working for me. This is purely on Apple to force faulty software on is.

Anyone found a solution?

Ploul wrote:

I discovered that the problem was related to long press. Then I found an apple post on this forum giving a shell command that solved it (after OS restart)

Could you provide more details like a link to that post so others can benefit?

I am having this issue as well since 15.3.1. It is frustrating to be typing in Chrome or Whatsapp and having to open a new tab or restart the application. Happens multiple times throughout the day. Hoping for a fix in the next release.