MacBook Pro late 2016 three finger drag issue

Read this article some additional steps are there : If your pointer is jumpy when you use a trackpad, Magic Trackpad, or Magic Mouse - Apple Support

And check the box of scrolling with inertia , enable dragging & move the scrolling speed slider towards extreme right hand side .

Try these options , if it doesn't work there is a possibility trackpad is malfunctioning ( could be a hardware issue ) .

Why don't you tell this issue to the apple authorised show room people & request them to change the machine , & there is also authorised apple service centre .In case if you have not done latest SMC / EFI firmware update , please do it soon .An articles for it : About the SMC Firmware Updates - Apple Support

: About EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Mac computers - Apple Support

And , it is always recommended not to use any anti virus , or thirds party softwares this message is not particularly for you , but I have seen many posters have issues in their system , so just don't install them .

Please take your machine to the apple show room , and you can give feed back to apple .

I hope so , you should get some help .

My Best wishes ! And take care .😟😟 seriously sad and so sad .....

To anyone wondering how to achieve a clean install and wiping disk at the same time...

Download the MacOS Installer to disk and abort the installation.

Then insert a USB Stick and follow the following guide lines from Apple to turn the stick into a bootable installer and boot from that to achieve your goal...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Be patient while the Terminal creates the Stick it takes anywhere between 5 and 30 minutes depending on the USB Stick...

Then boot from the stick by holding down alt when rebooting. The Boot manager will appear and your can select the stick to boot from. Then when booted launch Disk Utility and WIPE your internal Hard Disk completely. Make sure you have backed up personal data.

Then quit DU and commence with the installation.

Dear darrenchiusw,

I also had this issue and I asked to apple support. They send me the solution. plz visit Turn on "three finger drag" for your Force Touch trackpad - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204609

it will certainly work for you too..

Best regards.

Dear darrenchiusw,

I also had this issue and I asked to apple support. They send me the solution. plz visit Turn on "three finger drag" for your Force Touch trackpad - Apple Support - https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204609

it will certainly work for you too..

Best regards.

I am experiencing these same issues so you pretty much nailed it. The only thing I would add is that when moving (pushing/dragging depending on which hand you use) from right to left appears to work much better than when starting on the left and moving right. I found that all of the troubling and frustrating behaviors you mention above and that I have mentioned

• Occur on both the first 2016 13" MacBook Pro w/ Touchscreen I purchased in late November and the newer one I received last week (after exchanging the original).
• Do NOT occur when using the Magic TrackPad or my 2013 MacBook Pro (with the same software releases). (Same actions on my part - Magic TrackPad works 100%, new trackpad has the problems identified.)

I have not attempted the beta release though I was told by AppleCare that there were fixes in that release. It appears from the above post that 12.3 does NOT fix these issues. (BTW, I was also told that 12.2 would fix the issues until AppleCare found that I already had 12.2 installed.).

I suspect there is a fundamental flaw or inconsistency in the design and implementation of this new trackpad for which Apple did not account and did not test. I believe they are now floundering as they try to find out what the problem is. Sadly, one of the responses I had from AppleCare is that the 3-finger drag was only ever intended for moving windows around virtual desktops. If so, that again is a huge fail on the part of Apple and exposes that many within Apple don't really know what they are doing. Everybody is guessing and so far it is not promising. All of our purchases have been put on hold indefinitely.

Here is what you need to do.

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click the Accessibility icon.
3. Choose Mouse & Trackpad from the options on the left.
4. Click Trackpad Options.
5. Place a checkmark next to "Enable dragging."
6. From the related pop-up menu, choose “three finger drag” so there's a checkmark next to it.
7. Click OK.

Enjoy!

I don't know what the cause is but I have narrowed it down to being an issue only when you start dragging in the left side of the trackpad with your three fingers spread a bit. If you start on the right it works. If you keep your three fingertip together it works everywhere.

Browsing other replies, the idea that this feature was intended merely to move windows around as opposed to selecting text sounds like BS from Apple to cover for the bug, which I imagine will be correction soon.

I complained earlier about the three finger drag. So its been over 2 weeks now since I have been using my new 15' Macbook w/ touch bar. Apparently, the issue seems considerably reduced now. It will never happen in the middle of the trackpad which is where all of your 'natural' three finger drag is going to start.

I also complained about weird graphical glitches in several applications. That isn't the case anymore either after the 10.12.2 update.

This is extremely disappointing. I plan to post a YouTube on it later this week showing how the behavior on the my new MacBook Pro does not operate like my former MacBook Air, my current, yet older 15" MBP w/ Retina display or the Magic Trackpad. 3-finger drag works flawlessly on all those devices including the latest Mac OS X as it has on prior versions of OS X. Neither is this specific to a particular app as the inconsistency exists within the Apple apps, Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom.

And, no, do not expect it to be fixed by replacing your hardware. Due to this I (and the poor battery performance) I exchanged my 2016 MacBook Pro 13" with a new one. No difference. This problem is the same. It is not a problem with your machine, it is a fundamental flaw in the design (hardware, software or firmware or whatever) in the new MacBook Pro. So along with the extra dongles you will need to carry a Magic Trackpad or you will need to revert to guestures more akin to what you do on a Windows machine.

I do not have 10.12.3 installed but if the above post is true - that it does not eliminate the problem - then I strongly believe it is a flaw in the hardware design and was not sufficiently tested during engineering. When coupled with the apparent failure of Apple engineering to get the new batteries up to spec (and needing to resort to smaller, older battery design) I believe these new MacBook Pro models were a major fail on the part of Apple who felt the need to get to market and/or did not do adequate engineering. We may begin to hear excuses such as "It is a user problem." Or "We never said you could use 3-finger drag that way." Or whatever. I have been a long, diehard Apple fan. But I have just directed my organization to cease all purchases of Macs and to begin a pilot with Windows products. Sorry, but the "just works" that made us so loyal to Apple no longer works.

Personally for me, the more I used the trackpad, the better it got. I have been using it for a month now, and I don't notice these erratic experiences anymore . I would suggest using the machine for couple of weeks(after taking update) before making any conclusions.

I have 10.12.3 installed, the Trackpad remains a disaster - I noticed that three touch points arranged horizontally register better than three touch points arranged vertically/diagonally - I submitted this 10.12.3 (16D17a) Beta feedback report:

• Initiating Three Finger Drag sometimes leaves the mouse pointer perfectly still, i.e. all drag/touch motion is ignored.

• Three Finger Drag is especially inconsistent: (a) on background application windows, (b) after switching between Desktop Spaces.

• Three Finger Drag is sometimes mistaken for vertical/horizontal scrolling, i.e. three contact points are treated as two.

• Three Finger Drag can register late, i.e. window movement/response lags/jumps after dragging motion.

Do you have/use a Magic Trackpad and if so, is it now working like the Magic Trackpad? With my MacBook Air and my 2-year old MacBook Pro the experience was the same across those machines and the Magic Trackpad. This consistency is important for those of us who move between devices and from using the MacBook at our desks and then travel and then back to the desk again.

ALso, for me the problem has mostly been, as others have seen, that when I drag right to left (which since I use my right hand on the trackpad is more like a "push" than a "drag", it works every time. When I start on the left side and pull/drag towards the right it often doesn't even register anything. Sometimes it registers it as a 2-finger operation.

Did that. 5 days ago. Brand new machine. Clean install. Latest OS X (12.2). Problem occurred immediately with Apple apps. (BTW, I had taken the problem to the genius bars at the Apple Stores in the area and I would get answers like, "I never knew you could use 3 fingers like that.", "Try putting your fingers closer together.", "Try moving your fingers farther apart in case it is reading 2 fingers as one." "Maybe your fingers aren't hitting the trackpad at exactly the same time." And of course they tried all the various settings in the Trackpad section and the Accessibility section of System Preferences. In other words, we tried everything. And there were many times, too many, where the first thought was, "It must be something that you the customer is doing." (Implication, surely hour design couldn't be flawed. That never happens.). Finally they threw up their hands and replaced my machine - a few days ago - in hopes that things would be different. But, sadly, this problem is deeper than a single machine's hardware.

I have to agree with the prior poster who feels that the issue is getting better. I posted a separate inquiry on this issue, and I don't know why it's better, if it's me learning to hold the three fingers closer together, the machine learning my tendencies, or a software update, but it is better. Not all the way better.

The new MacBook Pro is so sublime in its overall characteristics I wouldn't return it, I would not discourage people from buying it. It's a new product and I'm confident that between software tweaks and getting used to it, it will be OK. Need to get used to the particular finger coordinations, not to mention keeping your fingers away from the Touch Bar. That should have incorporated a deep press or physical button to prevent unwanted touches.