The click on my MacBook Trackpad stopped working recently, so I researched the causes, potential workarounds and the fix which I’ll share in this post to hopefully help others out as well.
The reason for my particular issue was the battery nearing the end of its life.
I’d ignored a warning about the battery requiring a service – you can see any warnings by clicking on the battery icon on the top bar. According to the technician who looked at the MacBook, it’s a common issue that when the battery gets old it swells blocking the click of the Trackpad as it’s directly beneath it.
My fix was simple enough. I had to fork out for a new battery and the technician also adjusted the screw under the Trackpad to restore the click. If you leave it too long then you can cause more damage and even potentially distort other parts of the MacBook, so it’s best not to ignore it!
While I was waiting for my maintenance slot I also looked into workarounds.
The simplest of all is to attach a mouse and use this as a replacement for the Trackpad. You should also make sure you don’t have a Bluetooth mouse connected by going to the Bluetooth icon on the top bar in case it’s overriding the Trackpad.
Assuming it’s just the click that’s not working on your MacBook there are other options you can enable with no mouse required:
– Go to System Preferences > Trackpad
– Go to Point & Click and enable Tap to Click which will allow a single tap on the Trackpad to replicate the missing click
– You can also enable Secondary Click by using the dropdown to select the Click or tap with two fingers option
– Finally, it’s by no means perfect to use but you can enable dragging by going to System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control > Trackpad options > Enable dragging (I selected ‘three finger drag’)
Other options include the classic IT support fix-all of a restart and to restart your System Management Controller (SMC) – go to the Apple Icon top left > About to find out which chip you have:
– If you have an Intel-powered chip then it’s Hold Ctrl + Option + Shift + Power
– If you have a T2 Security chip, then it’s Hold Right Shift + Left Ctrl + Left Option
– Not one of these, Google is your friend!
If you have another solution, then please share it with others in the comments.
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