Touch Bar Not Working On MacBook Pro

If the Touch Bar on your MacBook Pro stops responding, restart it, refresh settings, and rule out hardware faults with quick checks and resets.

When the Touch Bar stops reacting, disappears, or freezes during work, it can stall your flow fast. This guide walks you through clear steps to bring it back, from simple checks through deeper resets, so you can tell whether the fault comes from macOS, an app, or the hardware itself.

The steps here apply to MacBook Pro models that actually include a Touch Bar, mainly 13-inch Intel and M1 models sold between 2016 and late 2023. If you use a newer 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro without a Touch Bar, these directions will not match your keyboard layout.

Touch Bar Not Working On MacBook Pro First Checks

Before you change settings or run terminal commands, start with quick checks. Many cases of touch bar not working on macbook pro turn out to be small glitches that clear once the system reloads basic services.

Restart The MacBook Pro — Click the Apple menu, choose Restart, let the Mac shut down fully, then log back in and test the Touch Bar.
Check For Login Window Activity — Log out of your user account, make sure the Touch Bar shows basic buttons at the login screen, then sign back in.
Disconnect Extras — Unplug hubs, external displays, and other USB or Thunderbolt devices, then restart and test the Touch Bar again.
Clean The Touch Bar Surface — With the Mac turned off, wipe the glass strip gently with a soft, dry cloth to clear grease or dust that might confuse touches.

If the Touch Bar responds on the login screen but goes blank once your desktop loads, the problem usually points to a user-level setting or a running app. If it never lights up at all, you may be dealing with a deeper software or hardware fault, which later sections cover.

Touch Bar Problems On Your MacBook Pro Settings Fixes

macOS lets you decide what the Touch Bar shows, and some options can make it look empty or stuck. A setting that hides the Control Strip or limits the bar to function keys can feel like a failure even though the hardware still works.

Check Touch Bar Shows And Control Strip

Open Keyboard Settings — On macOS Ventura or later, open System Settings, then go to Keyboard and click Touch Bar Settings.
Choose What The Touch Bar Shows — In the menu for Touch Bar shows, pick App Controls or App Controls With Control Strip instead of Expanded Control Strip only or Function Keys only.
Turn On Show Control Strip — Make sure the option to show the Control Strip is enabled so you always see volume, brightness, and other handy buttons.

On older macOS versions, open System Preferences, go to Keyboard, and look for the same Touch Bar options on the Keyboard tab. The names stay close, even though the layout of the panel changed over time.

Common Settings Mistakes And Quick Fix Paths

Symptom	Likely Setting	Where To Change It
Only function keys show all the time	Touch Bar shows set to F1, F2, etc.	Keyboard > Touch Bar Settings > choose App Controls
Volume and brightness sliders gone	Control Strip display toggled off	Keyboard > Touch Bar Settings > turn on Show Control Strip
Touch Bar blank in one app	App shows no controls or custom layout	App’s menu > Customize Touch Bar, or use another app to test

If changing these options brings the Touch Bar back to life, you most likely had a configuration slip rather than damage. You can keep refining the layout from the same panel or from the Customize Touch Bar item in app menus that still offer it.

Reset And Refresh The Touch Bar Process

When the Touch Bar feels stuck, a reset of the background process that drives it can help. This does not erase data and takes only a few seconds once you know where to click.

Restart Touch Bar With Activity Monitor

Open Activity Monitor — Go to Applications > Utilities and launch Activity Monitor from there.
Find TouchBarServer — In the search field, type TouchBarServer and wait for the process to appear in the list.
Force Quit The Process — Select TouchBarServer, click the stop (X) button, then pick Force Quit so macOS restarts it.
Restart Control Strip If Needed — In the same window, search for ControlStrip and force quit it too so both parts reload.

Restart Touch Bar With Terminal Commands

If Activity Monitor feels slow or the processes do not appear there, a quick terminal command reaches the same goal.

Open Terminal — Go to Applications > Utilities and launch Terminal.
Run The Restart Commands — Type sudo pkill TouchBarServer, press Return, enter your login password, then type sudo killall ControlStrip and press Return again.
Test The Touch Bar — Wait a few seconds, then tap along the glass strip and open an app that usually adds custom Touch Bar buttons.

These commands restart the services that draw and manage the Touch Bar. If the bar flickers, resets, and then works again, you were dealing with a process hang. If nothing changes, move on to system-wide fixes.

Fix Deeper Software Glitches On Your MacBook Pro

If the Touch Bar still fails after a restart and process reset, the problem may sit deeper in macOS settings or low-level firmware. The steps here help clear out corrupted caches and out-of-date software that can block Touch Bar features.

Update macOS And Apps

Check For System Updates — Open System Settings or System Preferences, go to Software Update, and install any listed macOS release or security patch.
Update Key Apps — Open the App Store, switch to Updates, and refresh any apps that rely heavily on the Touch Bar, such as your main editor or browser.

Fresh system files often clear bugs that stop the Touch Bar from drawing the right controls, especially after major upgrades. Try the bar in a few different apps once updates finish.

Reset NVRAM And SMC On Intel Models

If you use an Intel-based MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, resets of NVRAM and the System Management Controller can help when system settings or power management go out of sync.

Reset NVRAM — Shut down the Mac, then turn it on and immediately hold Option + Command + P + R for around twenty seconds before releasing.
Reset SMC — On most Intel laptops with a built-in battery, shut down, then hold Shift + Control + Option and the power button for ten seconds, release, and press power again.

On Apple silicon models, these resets happen automatically during a normal restart, so there is no extra key combo for SMC. For those machines, focus on system updates, safe mode, and hardware checks.

Use Safe Mode To Isolate Conflicts

Start In Safe Mode — Shut down the Mac, then hold the power button until startup options appear, choose your disk, hold Shift, and click Continue in Safe Mode.
Test The Touch Bar — Log in, wait for the desktop, and try the Touch Bar with built-in apps such as Finder and Safari.
Restart Normally — If the Touch Bar works in safe mode but fails later, restart again and review login items or third-party tools that run at startup.

Safe mode loads only core extensions, so a working Touch Bar there points to add-on tools or drivers as the source of trouble.

When Only Parts Of The Touch Bar Misbehave

Sometimes the Touch Bar shows some buttons but not others, or reacts in one app while staying blank in another. This pattern often means settings or app-level layouts need a reset rather than a system repair.

Check Per-App Touch Bar Layouts

Open An Affected App — Launch the app where Touch Bar buttons do not appear as expected.
Look For Customize Touch Bar — Open the app’s View or Window menu and pick Customize Touch Bar if the option is still present.
Restore Default Layout — Drag default items back onto the Touch Bar preview, or click a reset button if the app offers one.

If only one program shows strange controls while others look fine, you can usually fix the layout right there or by reinstalling that app without touching system settings.

Test In A New User Account

Create A Fresh Account — In System Settings, go to Users & Groups and add a standard user.
Log In And Test — Sign out, log in with the new account, and open a few apps to see how the Touch Bar behaves.
Compare Results — If the bar works in the new account but not in your main one, focus on login items, custom Touch Bar layouts, and utilities in your normal profile.

This type of test keeps hardware the same while changing your environment, which makes it easier to tell whether you need to clean up settings or schedule a repair.

Check For Hardware Faults And Plan Repair

If you still face touch bar not working on macbook pro even after resets, settings changes, safe mode, and user tests, the glass strip or related parts may have a hardware defect. That can include cable damage, controller faults, or liquid exposure.

Run Apple Diagnostics

Prepare The Mac — Disconnect external drives and displays, leave power connected, and shut the Mac down.
Start The Test — Turn the Mac on and hold the D key (or follow the onscreen prompt on newer models) until a language screen appears.
Review Any Error Codes — Let the tool finish, then note hardware codes related to input devices or the Touch Bar area.

A clean run does not rule out every fault, but a clear error code makes the case for repair much easier when you speak with an Apple technician.

Plan Service Or Repair

Check Warranty Or Coverage — Look up your serial number on Apple’s coverage page to see whether you still have hardware service plans in place.
Book An In-Store Visit — Make an appointment at a Genius Bar or with an authorized repair shop so a technician can inspect the Mac in person.
Weigh Repair Against Age — For older Intel models near the end of software updates, ask for a cost estimate and compare it with the value of the laptop as a whole.

If the Touch Bar repair quote comes close to the price of a newer model, you may decide to live with function keys from the keyboard row instead and retire the Touch Bar feature. If the fix is modest and the rest of the Mac works well, a service visit can extend its life by several years.