Magic Trackpad 2 is only recognized as a Mouse

Question

Level 1

17 points

Magic Trackpad 2 is only recognized as a Mouse

My new Magic Trackpad 2 is recognized only as a mouse. It pairs fine over Bluetooth, but when it does the brief flash of a mouse appears, not a trackpad, and after pairing System Preferences recognizes it is a mouse. This behavior is the same weather I plug it in with the cable or via BT.

Thinking it was a Trackpad conflict, I disconnected my old Magic Trackpad 1, and tried again ... but achieved the same unsatisfying results.

(This is repeatable behavior both with my 27" iMac, running latest El Cap., as well as my 17" MacBook Pro, running latest El Cap.)

Any suggestions on how to make it recognized as a Trackpad?

Posted on Oct 22, 2015 10:48 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 9, 2015 4:24 PM in response to Sg42

Upgrading to beta only works if you're using a beta version of El Capitan. I'm using the commercial version 10.11.1 not the beta version and the OS will only recognize the Magic Trackpad 2 as a mouse. I've reset pram, deleted preference files, uninstalled and reinstalled the trackpad with no result.

Amazingly the magic trackpad 2 is recognized by my wife's iMac but not by mine. Mine is only one year older, a 2013 model.

I also have the original magic trackpad which I uninstalled before installing the new trackpad. The original trackpad still works fine.

Any thoughts other than installing beta OS software?

Reply

Answer 2

Jeff DeMello Author

Level 1

17 points

Oct 22, 2015 11:20 AM in response to Jeff DeMello

FYI ... by "recognized only as a mouse", I mean:

When it connects, the grey Mouse graphic flashes at the bottom of the screen, not a grey Trackpad graphic.
In the Trackpad System Preferences, in the "Set Up Bluetooth Trackpad", it shows as a Connected device, and I can move the cursor and click.
I can NOT perform any of the "More Gestures" (i.e. Swipe, Pinch, Spread)

Reply

Answer 3

Sg42

Level 1

18 points

Oct 23, 2015 8:54 AM in response to Jeff DeMello

I had this problem. I fixed it by upgrading my El Capitan Beta to the latest version.

You might see in your "About this Mac" screen that it says 10.11 but it needs to say 10.11.1.

I read another thread about the fact that the Betas do not automatically update. So I clicked the Software Update button and it said "your computer already has El Capitan Beta" or something like that but I did it anyway. It downloads the whole 6 GB and takes an hour or so, but afterwards, it sees both the new Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard correctly.

You can immediately tell because in the trackpad preferences box under "Point and Click", you will see a checkbox for "Force Click and haptic feedback"

Hope this helps!

Reply

Answer 4

Mar 5, 2016 1:13 PM in response to GerryConway

Hello there,

my name is Matthias. I am new here, along with my iMac 27" late 2015. It worked perfectly well with el Capitan 10.11.3 up to now.

Today I got a Magic Trackpad 2 as a present and here is the problem: How do I get the option "rotation" up and running. All other option work perfect, except this one. Anybody out there who knows about this problem and got it solved?

Thanks for helpful answers

Reply

Answer 5

Mar 6, 2016 6:17 AM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Sir, you made my day ... :-)

In Preview it works fine with a JPEG. But this seems to be indeed the one and only APP where it works. Is this so? Which other APPs do support this rotating feature? I tried it in "Photos", "Final Cut Pro", "MS Office" etc. etc. -> No action at all. I thought this is something like "rotate cw" or "rotate ccw" in the pull- down- menues. Obviously not ...

Thanks a lot for your help.

Reply