Am I the only one who liked the Touch Bar?

…and never updated!

It was a bold and interesting move that Apple killed with inaction. All those years, all those OS releases, and not a single new feature.

I like the Touch Bar but I don’t use it much. I do use function keys when I use my MacBook Pro for work, but then I have an external keyboard. Even then I need an app that automatically enables the F keys when I’m using Citrix Workspace.

That was the real issue, I think… Apple never really seemed to like it. At least, not enough people inside Apple.

If it had grown from ¿2016? - 2021, it would have had more fans (the ‘supporter’ kind, not the ‘blowing air’ kind).

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Have been on a precious mbp 20215, 15" just becuase of the tocuh bar. did not habe it – will never will. not missing it

The Touch Bar has grown on me — it turns out I like it quite a bit. I never used function keys except in very rare circumstances (I use F9 on my IDE to run a line at a time, that’s about it). I could never remember which F key did what.

I did use volume and brightness keys. But finding the right one usually meant looking at the keyboard. So the Touch Bar was no different there. But it’s a lot more versatile. I prefer touching the volume/brightness icon and sliding to tap tap taping a key. I liked having visual access to emoji when I couldn’t remember the specific word to use to pull one up in Rocket. And it’s so much more customizable.

Oh, and muscle memory for hitting F9 in my IDE still works fine.

Crucial caveat: I have a model with a Touch Bar and a physical escape key. I’d feel very differently without that.

So I’m not looking forward to losing the Touch Bar in return for getting function keys back. The Touch Bar wasn’t what it could have been, but I found it better than function keys.

My prediction: Apple is moving toward Stream Deck like lcd keys, at least for that row and maybe more. No inside information, obviously. It just seems a natural next step. And with all the power they’re saving on the laptops with ARM, it’s distinctly possible. LP

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I liked the promise of it, similar to the stream deck ideas above. If apple had updated it year over year, added software support (e.g. buy BTT and pull in some of that), or maybe added in separate buttons like a stream deck, or … or… or… it could have been great. But they shipped it, and then never did anything with it. There is an alternate present where the Touch Bar is on every laptop, and the external keyboards, and it is a customizable, powerful addition. With it being everywhere, developers could have invested resources in it (where it doesn’t make sense if is only on some computers).

Instead it hasn’t changed since day 1.

(That said, I like the emoji button)

My personal experience was that because I’ve spent decades using physical function keys, Touch Bar didn’t stand a chance because it absolutely required that I look at it in order to interact with it (like others have mentioned, it’s minor annoyance, but enough to interrupt my interaction).

Interestingly, a friend of mine got her first ever MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, so it’s all she’s ever known, and was really disappointed to learn that it won’t be on future MBPs.

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I can’t figure out how the Touch Bar idea ever got past internal testing. Devs hated the lack of Esc key, so how did Apple devs not give this feedback? Someone pushed this through, and I’m really curious how it happened.

But Jony Ive seems to have been responsible, and said this about it back in 2016:

“the beginning of a very interesting direction, but still just marks a beginning”
https://www.cnet.com/special-reports/jony-ive-talks-about-putting-the-apple-touch-on-the-macbook-pro/

Not sure that worked out like he planned…

Apple tightly controls new products internally, so probably just a few software developers even knew about it until it was released.

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I have and like the touch bar but hardly ever use it because my MBP is used lid down most of the time for space reasons. The issue with the touch bar for me was it was never available on an external keyboard. Even if it had been, it would have been an Apple keyboard only, I suppose, and I have to use a 3 way keyboard for my other devices.
My work windows computer has a touch display. I don’t use it for everything but when one decent sized button is there to be pressed, it’s quicker doing it by touch than by grabbing the mouse and moving it to a target.
In my opinion, Apple needs to bring touch to the Mac asap. It’s crazy that iPads are allowed to have touch and Macs (especially notebooks) are not, when Apple is trying to convince people that an iPad should be enough computer for most people. It doesn’t run some of the software that I use and could not be the only personal computer for me.

I would’ve liked it if the keys were physical - with a changeable graphic on them.

Except the volume slider says to me there might be some utility in something other than physical keys.

Which reminds me: Is it possible to programmatically use the virtual slider that volume control so tantalisingly offers?

Or is there a better hardware solution to customisable analog(ue) controls?

(I’m typing this on a 2016 15" MBP with touch bar.)

Perhaps (not really, of course) a design conspiracy led by team escape-should-replace-caps-lock, who were never going to get the key physically moved? The remapping meme has spread widely in the last five years.

I appreciate everyone’s feedback. I’m a little behind the 8 Ball on the M1 chip but I’m loving my new MBP. The battery life and minimal amount of heat it produces alone makes it better than the i9 15 in MBP that I replaced.

No. I liked the word completions. The Touch Bar could have been so much.

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Don’t particularly like or dislike TB so don’t miss it at all.

FWIW BTT developer is working on getting a pop up TB on screen.

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Somebody will definitely miss it :smiley:


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Saw this idea on Reddit which I love - bring back half height function keys with the Touch Bar on top. This way you get the best of both worlds, physical function keys for when you need them and a Touch Bar for all your slidey tappy shortcuts and buttons.

You may already know that you can show the TouchBar on an attached iPad. How to use an iPad as an external display and Touch Bar for your Mac [Video] - 9to5Mac

Interesting - where did you read that?

I tihnk the truth is that most users rarely use either TouchBar or function keys. But for those who do (including MPU readers) the TouchBar seems preferable since it can remind you of which key is set for which function - which can also change depending on the app.

A StreamDeck of course serves the same purpose, but having it right there on the keyboard seems preferable.

I’ve always mentioned in this group how much the Touchbar means for me. I have a Repetitive Strained Injury, and I have taken advantage of the Touchbar’s functionality—the button, sliders, pickers, word corrections.

There are a few apps that I used that utilized it well, like Mindnode, Affinity suite of apps, Da Vinci Resolve, Fantastical, and Safari. Even with the physical buttons, I still have to look down to adjust the brightness and the volume and I rarely press them anyway. The function keys were for me wasn’t utilized. The Touchbar has functionalities that are just one press or a slide with ailing hands compared to invoking keyboard shortcuts. The slider to adjust brushes and transparency, mix colors, and create nodes was a godsend. Also being able to mute/unmute my microphone on MS Teams when I’m on a call felt like it’s a real console.

This would make me invest in a device like the Streamdeck or Monogram. Even the Griffin Powermate would have helped to replace it.

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Now that takes me back. I think I’ve still got mine somewhere.

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