People who use their Touch Bar regularly, what do you use it most for?

[yuskina]

I've never used the touchbar, but I wonder if, provided everything involving the trackpad and keyboard were still comfortable and ergonomic, it would be used more if it were placed at the bottom of the keyboard (above the trackpad) instead of above it. Having something easily accessible by thumbs while typing or even just more easily by your fingers when using the trackpad might be nice.

 

[pcdtech]

You know you are right! My past wasn’t helpful to the OP.

Hey, that's ok! Thanks for the message.

 

[Rustifer]

I use an app called poc that allows the apps in the dock to be displayed in the touchbar, after that I also use the touchbar for volume and brightness control

 

[poorcody]

For everyone here, HapticKey (Link: GitHub repo) is a great way to get some tactile feedback for the Touch Bar.
Or you can go straight to the downloads page. (Link: GitHub repo releases page)

Basically, it uses the Taptic Engine in the trackpad to provide feedback every time you tap a Touch Bar button. (It works much better than you would think.)

Also, if you are already using Better Touch Tool, you can activate haptics for button presses there too. I do find haptic feedback helps -- some common buttons I use on the Touch Bar I hit "no look", and the feedback is a nice confirmation.

 

[Mr. Awesome]

..with a hot corner you can only set the mac's display to sleep though, right?

It locks the display, and then a couple seconds later it falls asleep.

 

[naturalstar]

Volume/mute and brightness - also some spellcheck when I hit a brain freeze.
I will use it to skip through podcasts.
I use it to add tabs to a browser. If I'm using Safari, I use it to move through tabs, but I mostly use Brave in Mac.
No emojis and no other customizations made at this point. I need to figure all of that out still. I want to use it more in Windows. Will check out some of the apps suggested here.

If it wasn't there, I wouldn't miss it, but I do see the potential when tweaked for personal use or supported through apps that you use regularly. Not completely useless.

 

[strayts]

I like scrolling endlessly through emojis on the Touch Bar.

But really, pretty much volume and brightness mostly.

 

[routine_analyst]

I customized it to have a lock button. That way people in the office stop messing with my computer when I walk away.
Other than that, volume, brightness and play/pause.

 

[llllllllll]

It locks the display, and then a couple seconds later it falls asleep.

Cool, thanks for clarifying.

 

[adamfozzy]

Is it possible to keep the media controls permanently visible? I really find it annoying to be browsing the internet and having to first click on spotify to get the media keys (or the <)

Yes, in the Keyboard settings in System Preferences you can choose 'Expanded Control Strip' for Touch Bar Shows. That's what I use and I've added a screenshot icon there too.

The only other thing I find useful with Touch Bar is when mirroring screen using airplay, I can quickly switch between desktops. Other than that its pretty pointless and I keep touching it by accident.

 

[marmiteturkey]

I use bettertouch tool to show the following, most of the time:
Unread email count icon
now playing artwork and play/pause/next
all upcoming calendar appointments for the day (scrollable)
all apps in the dock when I hold down alt

 

[topcat001]

I use Pock a lot, and sometimes switch to app specific setups by double tapping the function button. Find it pretty nifty!

 

[PCandaMac]

I use it all the time for screenshots. It’s incredibly useful to easily select whether I want to grab a selection or an entire window. And the touchbar also makes it easy to switch between saving the screenshot to clipboard or desktop.

I also use it all the time for volume and mute control.

I also use it a lot when making PowerPoint presentations. I can see all the slides on the touchbar so I can quickly jump around in my presentation as needed. This use case really shows off the high resolution of the Touch Bar.

 

[startship.sponge]

i use if for function keys and -- with bettertouchtool -- have a bunch of controls that are missing from macos. like toggling wifi on and off

 

[usernametakenforever]

I never liked it but I’ve gotten used to in last few months.

1. Volume control
2. Brightness control
3. Screen lock
4. Zoom activate/deactivate video/audio, & end calls.
5. Change terminal color when using multiple VMs.
6. Smileys
7. Media scrubber(netflix and youtube)
8. Media control

 

[darrenoia]

Autofill for my credit cards, names, email address, etc

This is a very underrated use case of the Touch Bar. I miss it when I'm using my iMac without it.

 

[Big Ron]

I auto hide my dock on my MacBook Pro and use a little program called pock. Link below

Pock: Widgets manager for MacBook Touch Bar

Widgets manager for MacBook's Touch Bar

pock.dev

It's free and I have no connection to the company

 

[llllllllll]

It locks the display, and then a couple seconds later it falls asleep.

Not so sure it does, actually - I just discovered that my MacBook Pro happily keeps playing a youtube video for minutes (the audio, while the screen is off) when using an active corner for this (while it really sleeps / cuts off the audio as well when using, say, the dedicated touch bar button).

 

[Mr. Awesome]

Not so sure it does, actually - I just discovered that my MacBook Pro happily keeps playing a youtube video for minutes (the audio, while the screen is off) when using an active corner for this (while it really sleeps / cuts off the audio as well when using, say, the dedicated touch bar button).

Interesting... That’s weird.

 

[fendushi]

Volume and brightness controls... that is all

 

[Alex W.]

It’s fun, they should have placed it above the normal confusion keys, i always hit it with a finger by Accident when typing