Is your trackpad super sensitive?

[woodynorman]

I replaced my 2013 13" MacBook Air with a 2018 MacBook Pro 15" touch bar model. I'm enjoying everything about it but....

My trackpad is super sensitive. I've always enabled "tap to click" in the trackpad settings. I much prefer it to actually pressing to click. But the trackpad is so sensitive on the Pro that I'm having problems. I am a visual typer. I cant type without looking at the keys. But if I just barely brush the (very large) trackpad with my hand or wrist, the cursor jumps to wherever the pointer is on the screen. By the time I look up from the keys, I'm typing in some random place on the screen! Its really hard to get anything done when the cursor is jumping all around, inserting text in random places. I've tried hovering when I type, but eventually I'll brush the trackpad.

I have the "click sensitivity" set to firm, but that doesn't seem to help. It's not "tap" sensitivity, so I get that. Is there any way to change the "tap" sensitivity?

Ive turned off "tap to click" and of course the problem goes away. But I'm having a really hard time adjusting to actually clicking. I want to tap again!

Any help?

 

[1096bimu]

I replaced my 2013 13" MacBook Air with a 2018 MacBook Pro 15" touch bar model. I'm enjoying everything about it but....

My trackpad is super sensitive. I've always enabled "tap to click" in the trackpad settings. I much prefer it to actually pressing to click. But the trackpad is so sensitive on the Pro that I'm having problems. I am a visual typer. I cant type without looking at the keys. But if I just barely brush the (very large) trackpad with my hand or wrist, the cursor jumps to wherever the pointer is on the screen. By the time I look up from the keys, I'm typing in some random place on the screen! Its really hard to get anything done when the cursor is jumping all around, inserting text in random places. I've tried hovering when I type, but eventually I'll brush the trackpad.

I have the "click sensitivity" set to firm, but that doesn't seem to help. It's not "tap" sensitivity, so I get that. Is there any way to change the "tap" sensitivity?

Ive turned off "tap to click" and of course the problem goes away. But I'm having a really hard time adjusting to actually clicking. I want to tap again!

Any help?

“click sensitivity" changes the pressure required for a click, nothing else.
a tap is a tap there is no logical way to change its sensitivity, either you are touching the trackpad or you are not.
What you are describing is a failure of palm rejection, which I have not experienced or heard anyone else experience, I just tried several times while typing this, I cannot activate the trackpad with my palm no matter how hard I try.

 

[maflynn]

Mine seems normal, and I really do enjoy the heuristic that apple built in regarding palm rejection

 

[airlied]

Mine is normal too. Perhaps your trackpad sensation setting is set too high?

My problem with 15' trackpad is it's too big. I wish they could make a 13' size on 15'. Sometimes even when I touch the spacebar I could accidentally hit trackpad.

 

[Painter2002]

I replaced my 2013 13" MacBook Air with a 2018 MacBook Pro 15" touch bar model. I'm enjoying everything about it but....

My trackpad is super sensitive. I've always enabled "tap to click" in the trackpad settings. I much prefer it to actually pressing to click. But the trackpad is so sensitive on the Pro that I'm having problems. I am a visual typer. I cant type without looking at the keys. But if I just barely brush the (very large) trackpad with my hand or wrist, the cursor jumps to wherever the pointer is on the screen. By the time I look up from the keys, I'm typing in some random place on the screen! Its really hard to get anything done when the cursor is jumping all around, inserting text in random places. I've tried hovering when I type, but eventually I'll brush the trackpad.

I have the "click sensitivity" set to firm, but that doesn't seem to help. It's not "tap" sensitivity, so I get that. Is there any way to change the "tap" sensitivity?

Ive turned off "tap to click" and of course the problem goes away. But I'm having a really hard time adjusting to actually clicking. I want to tap again!

Any help?

So when I upgraded from my 2014 MBP to my 2017 MBP, I had the same problem because I always used "Tap to click". With the large trackpad, it was so easy to accidentally "ghost" click on the trackpad when typing.

But with the force-touch trackpads, the effort to click is a lot less, and while it does take a while to get used to I finally was able to get used to not having the "Tap-to-click" on.

I'd try giving it a 2-3 weeks with "tap-to-click" turned off, and see if you adapt to it by then. Unfortunately the settings don't adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad, although I would imagine someone may know of a way to mess with with the trackpad touch sensitivity (not "click" sensitivity) using terminal commands.

 

[AppleHaterLover]

So when I upgraded from my 2014 MBP to my 2017 MBP, I had the same problem because I always used "Tap to click". With the large trackpad, it was so easy to accidentally "ghost" click on the trackpad when typing.

But with the force-touch trackpads, the effort to click is a lot less, and while it does take a while to get used to I finally was able to get used to not having the "Tap-to-click" on.

I'd try giving it a 2-3 weeks with "tap-to-click" turned off, and see if you adapt to it by then. Unfortunately the settings don't adjust the sensitivity of the trackpad, although I would imagine someone may know of a way to mess with with the trackpad touch sensitivity (not "click" sensitivity) using terminal commands.

This. Give it 2 weeks.

When I went back to a Mac without Force Touch, i'd click using the same force used to "click" a Force Touch trackpad and nothing would happen and I thought the thing was broken. A force touch "click" is almost a tap.

 

[woodynorman]

Thanks for the replies. I used (and returned) another 15" MBP after 2 weeks. I had the same problem with that one.

I'm gonna keep trying with it off. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but I don't like it.

I wish the trackpad was smaller, like the Air. That would sure help.

 

[Painter2002]

Thanks for the replies. I used (and returned) another 15" MBP after 2 weeks. I had the same problem with that one.

I'm gonna keep trying with it off. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but I don't like it.

I wish the trackpad was smaller, like the Air. That would sure help.

Once I got used to it (took about 3ish weeks for me I think), I came to love this trackpad and the size more than any other trackpad I’ve used, on either MacBooks or Windows machines.

I actually have also come to appreciate the trackpad size a lot over time too. The larger size means less swipes to move an item from one side of the screen to the other, or less finger acrobatics when trying to correctly size a selector box when photo-editing or screen clipping, and it’s more effortless IMO.

Of course it’s not for everyone, but give it time and it might grow on you

 

[woodynorman]

Of course it’s not for everyone, but give it time and it might grow on you

For $2500 it better grow on me!

 

[AngerDanger]

I don't know if you'd have any luck, but I've been using BetterTouchTool for nearly a decade and it seems to have a few options in its settings panel that might do what you're looking for. I say "might" because some come with the caveat of only working with BTT gestures added by the user:


You can download a 45 day trial here.

 

[idealcheese]

Like yours, the trackpad on my 13" 2017 MBP registers accidental touches from my palms or thumbs as taps, making it a complete nightmare to type on. I'm so used to using tap to click that I don't want to live without it, and shouldn't have to. In all this time I have not been able to "train" myself not to occasionally graze the trackpad while typing. Mind you, I've owned well over a dozen Mac laptops starting with the first PowerBook, and never have I hated the user experience as much as with this one.

I also happen to hate the keyboard on my MBP (see my post about it here) so I'm trying to sort out a semi-elegant way to use it with an external keyboard and mouse.

 

[OverSpun]

Like yours, the trackpad on my 13" 2017 MBP registers accidental touches from my palms or thumbs as taps, making it a complete nightmare to type on. I'm so used to using tap to click that I don't want to live without it, and shouldn't have to. In all this time I have not been able to "train" myself not to occasionally graze the trackpad while typing. Mind you, I've owned well over a dozen Mac laptops starting with the first PowerBook, and never have I hated the user experience as much as with this one.

I also happen to hate the keyboard on my MBP (see my post about it here) so I'm trying to sort out a semi-elegant way to use it with an external keyboard and mouse.

I agree with you, I could barely type on the laptop (late '17 15" MBP). I usually use an external screen and keyboard, magic mouse, etc. I just decided to look and I just changed my touchpad to "firm" click. It seems it fixes the issue so far.