M1 MBA Trackpad Won't Click

[MALanoue]

Hi, I've done a lot of searching, but haven't seen anyone else mention this. My wife's 2020 M1 MBA is having trackpad issues. Bought it in late November. Today, it won't click. It moves the mouse, but that's it. Can't press it down at all.

I had this problem on my 2012 MBP and needed to replace the battery, but that was years later and I had used it in closed mode a lot of the time, so it would heat up the battery. She kept this laptop open most of the time. We also have an Intel MBA, only about six weeks older than this one and the trackpad is fine.

This doesn't make sense. Is there something I'm missing? A setting that I need to change? It happened out of the blue. Thanks!

 

[chabig]

These trackpads don't move or make physical clicks. They are force sensitive and use a haptic motor underneath to make it feel like it clicked. You might try strengthening the click force in software:



If that doesn't work and you're convinced their is no click at all, you might have a hardware failure. If so, Apple will replace the machine under warranty.

 

[MALanoue]

Okay, so similar to an iPhone button, where it just wont do anything if the phone is off. Right now it just does nothing. It doesn't feel like any kind of click and it doesn't respond on the screen either--as in it won't open an app or a link.

I'll try those haptic settings, although I am suspecting that it's a hardware failure, since it just happened overnight. Neither of us had gone into those settings. Thanks!

 

[jdb8167]

Okay, so similar to an iPhone button, where it just wont do anything if the phone is off. Right now it just does nothing. It doesn't feel like any kind of click and it doesn't respond on the screen either--as in it won't open an app or a link.

I'll try those haptic settings, although I am suspecting that it's a hardware failure, since it just happened overnight. Neither of us had gone into those settings. Thanks!

Sounds like a hardware failure. Until you can get it fixed, turn on tap to click. I personally can’t stand the setting when using the built-in keyboard but it’s a simple workaround.