Problem with trackpad on Mac OS Sierra

This worked perfectly. Went from a HORRIBLE experience with the trackpad (basically impossible to perform gestures, terrible scrolling etc..), to a perfect feeling smooth working trackpad. Definitely try this if you're experiencing the issue - Thanks cmalott for locating this -- Very unfortunate that Apple will not immediately patch stuff like this, that is obviously software related... Makes me never want to update again. Thought I traded my trackpad for Siri functionality until I found this fix..... Thanks again Cmalott

By this worked perfect, I'm referring to cmalot's method of going into system preferences > accessibility > mouse & trackpad > trackpad options > unselect "scrolling" > click OK > click trackpad options > select "scrolling" > hit ok > problem solved.

My mouse was flickering and could not be moved with the trackpad (no external mouse in use). My applications were also flickering and the desktop was sliding back and forth to the Widgets view. I basically couldn't use the machine at all. But, it is resolved now. I booted to Safe Mode and added an external mouse (since the problem persisted in Safe Mode). Here's what I did:

1. Boot in Safe Mode (restart or shutdown and start and immediately hold down a Shift button for the duration of the boot process - this may take a while)

2. Go to System Preferences > Accessibility > Mouse & Trackpad

- Select Trackpad Options...

- Uncheck Scrolling

3. Uncheck 'Ignore built-in trackpad when...' - make sure you have an external mouse attached 😀

4. Reboot the machine & test your trackpad.

If successful, you'll need to go back to Select Trackpad Options and recheck Scrolling. I left the 'Ignore' option unchecked.

HTH!

My laptop built-in trackpad does not respond i.e. does not respond to touch at all. After looking through multiple sites and support discussion it still doesn’t respond. Here is what I have done so far:

Booted into SAFE Mode and toggled the “Scroll” option in the Accessibility —> Mouse & Track Pad —> Trackpad Options… on and off with & without restarting. I did this also not in safe mode with & with out restarting in between.

Checked to make sure that the “Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse and wireless trackpad is present” option is deflected. I tried selecting restarting and deselecting and the same process backwards with restarts in between.

Reset PRAM /NVRAM and SMC multiple times with no luck.

Ran Diagnostic and no issues popped up. According to the System Report the USB sees the trackpad with no issues. I got it work once after going into SAFE mode and restarting normally but the trackpad again stopped responding for no reason.

Also tried reinstalling update 10.12.6 and Sierra altogether with no luck.

I think I've tried all the fixes listed on this thread with no success.

Macbook Pro - Retina 13", Mid 2014 - Sierra 10.12.6

Very confused on the issue. I suspect it is a software issue and related to my update to Sierra. Any info is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Same problem here. Unresponsive and sluggish or the cursor jumping around all over the place and randomly opening tabs on Safari or enlarging web pages. Totally unusable. I updated to Sierra recently (August 2017) after resisting for a while. Also on a MacBook Pro Retina 2014.

Think I will downgrade back to El Capitan

Check your settings in System Preferences > Trackpad. (not Accessibility)

Please read If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse - Apple Support.

This is not the issue, I'm experiencing the same with programs like Thunderbird, OpenOffice, etc, and only with the scrolling gesture that is now way too fast.

After installing Sierra, 2 finger scrolling no longer worked. I went into Accessibility and went into trackpad options and turned on scrolling. It worked for a day then suddenly stopped again. I restarted Air several times and also turned on and off option for scrolling at the same time. Several times during this the pointer disappeared on the startup screen so had to restart to make it appear.

Also, during this same time of restarting, I could no longer double click any apps or folders on my desktop to open. I could still open them using "command O"

I was able to open them by changing the speed of the double-click in Accessibility by making it much slower.

Also, I played around with the "enable dragging" but needed it to be turned off to avoid the jumping.

Having the same exact problem, horizontal two-finger scrolling is laggy/unresponsive.

Same problem here with Illustrator.

Since the update zooming in and out by pressing the alt-key and moving two fingers up or down is horrible, not smoothly. Please fix this issue soon!

Same here. Some of my trackpad gestures work, like three finger swipe to change desktops, but I cannot scroll twi fingers at all.

I got my problem fixed. I had been going into the Trackpad and toggling scrolling on and off to no avail. This time I went into Accessibility. Then Click on Mouse and Trackpad. Now click on Trackpad Options. The scrolling box is most likely highlighted already. Toggle it off and then back on and see if that fixes it - it did for me. Now go back to the Trackpad in System Preferences and make sure you have everything selected as desired.

Hope this helps you.

My MacBook Air required the scrolling to be ON in Accessibility. The scrolling was still intermittent until I restarted several times. I also had to make sure the speed of the double-click in Accessibility is much slower or else double clicking to open apps and folders didn't work.