{"id":51809,"date":"2026-05-05T14:26:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=51809"},"modified":"2026-08-17T09:54:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T13:54:29","slug":"the-problem-with-the-touch-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/05\/05\/the-problem-with-the-touch-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem With the Touch Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I know that sounds like a joke but I really do think the biggest problem with the Touch Bar wasn’t that the first crack at it wasn’t good enough, but that they never took a second crack at it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

One could argue that the second crack was adding the physical Esc key. That took three years. It might have worked out better if the initial version had included Esc and perhaps the volume controls as real keys. Then the focus could have been more on what the Touch Bar could add in place of the keys that many people rarely use, rather than on how it messed up common actions.<\/p>\n\n

I think better software could have helped a lot. First, it would sometimes hang and not respond. But, more importantly, I think it could have been a lot more useful<\/em>. There’s this amazing, programmable screen, but there wasn’t really any way to empower the user<\/em> to do stuff with it. You could only rearrange predetermined toolbar buttons. There also should have been a better way to balance global vs. app-specific items.<\/p>\n\n

Hardware-wise, I think it needed some sort of haptics. And, even now, I’m disappointed with how Touch ID works on Macs. With iPhones, it was nearly perfect for me. Through several generations of Macs, it still often rejects my finger and feels like it’s slowing me down.<\/p>\n\n

Alex Rosenberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I thought the Touch Bar was clever and had potential. I think it was immediately and permanently sullied by being paired with the butterfly keyboard and laptops that had too few ports. Being paired with those other problems but being the official identifying feature of those machines painted a target on it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Steven Aquino<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What was ushered with a bang exited with but a whimper. My understanding over the years has been the software people inside Apple Park more or less fell out of love with the Touch Bar. I’ve never gotten a concrete explanation why<\/em>, but the enthusiasm evidently was severely, irreparably curbed.<\/p>\n

It’s a shame, because hardware was never the Touch Bar’s Achilles heel. <\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

I hate to break it to the able-bodied masses, but not everyone is a touch typist<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Touch Bar Zoom<\/a> is\/was a masterpiece.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n