Chosen Solution
I have a 2017 touch bar pro, and when I type, randomly, the cursor will end up in some other place while I’m typing. I’m guessing it has something to do with the massive trackpad. Sometimes the cursor just moves and I’ll be typing in some other sentence, sometimes it highlights entire areas of text, and I’ll type over those. I haven’t seen anything online about this issue, but everyone I know who has this model complains about the same problem. I’ve already taken it in, and Apple replaced the entire key and trackpad set up, saying it was possibly dust under the keyboard, but that’s not the fix. It started right out of the box. Anyone know of this problem and a potential fix? I’ve changed some of the haptic feedback settings, but… still nothing.
Apple got sued for this and if you had this issue on this butterfly keyboard, and had it replaced, you are eligible for a settlement. You’ll need to apply by March 2023. See the article. https://www.fastcompany.com/90826134/app…
This honestly worked from above for me, and I was the original poster. I had the same issue with my new MacBook . Drove me bonkers for months. Apple help solved it for me. Uncheck ’tap to click’ in Preferences>Trackpad. PROBLEM SOLVED
Just got the MacBook Pro 16 inch. ordered late Dec. arrived about a week later early Jan. 2020. The jumping cursor issue is happening right out of the box. Ridiculous. it happened a lot for me in Microsoft Outlook when composing an email. Don’t know if there are some “propietary” shortcut/key combonations in Outlook, but yes, but insertion point would jump back a couple rows of text; and/or delete entire sentences. Another odd occurence, is out of the blue, the current Outlook message would disappear (actually becomes a tab at the bottom of Outlook) and a new email would randomly open up. This new MBP is replacing a MBP from late 2014. That was an excellent machine and never exhibited that kind of behavior in the same Outlook application. It also happens when I’m in Word typing documents. I have to “undo” the “changed text” and keep going. A big productivity problem. Turning off “tap to click” did nothing for me. I’ve just now disabled “force click and haptic feedback”. Will report back if that helps or not. Seriously want to know why Apple made the trackpad so large. Update (06/01/2020) well, I haven’t updated in a long time. My new MacBook Pro, 16-inch, spec’d out; has been back to Apple 2x now. 1st time, they kept it like 5 days at my local Apple Store - didn’t even send off. Ran all their hardware tests. Said nothing was wrong. But as soon as I got it home, same thing!! Took back to my local store a 2nd time. I was a little ticked I had just spend $3500 for a machine with these problems. They kept it and sent back to Apple - or whoever they contract with. The replaced the whole top part of the laptop - new keyboard; trackpad; battery. I got it home on a Friday. Immediately, the same problems!!! Cursor jumps a lot. Jumps backward. Deletes sentences. Jumps mid-word … half of the word ends back up a few sentences. Happens in MSWord; Outlook; iMessage; Notes; ANYwhere there is text to be entered. JUST HAPPENED white le typing this response!! And sometimes, does some weird things.. like while typing, it will close an email window and open another one. Or close a textbox. Even on a webpage, typing in forms, doesn’t matter… Just did it again as I type. Happens over and over throughout the day. OH, by the way, when I got my laptop back (on a Friday), that is when APPLE closed down ALL their stores in the US because of the pandemic. And they are still not open. I use FCPX, other apps everyday. Oops. did it again. Just took out my previous two sentences. I just have to either “un-do” (control-Z) or just retype. So frustrating. And I have disable every trackpad gesture. Doesn’t matter. I hope they will replace my laptop. Will call again this week. They have all my case #’s. I will keep you posted. I am beginning to think I will sell this machine… and get a nice Windows machine. ((( I really rely on FCPX. Don’t want to have to switch over to Premiere and start a brand new work-flow. Apple Customer Support has gotten very, very poor in the past couple of years. The Apple Store folks are fine. It’s their 3rd party repair centers that are crap!! Sorry about the rant, but as a side-note… I have some Beats Pro wireless earbuds too. Have had tremendous problems with them as well. After a couple months, just died. Yep, sent back to Apple - they said they were fine. Send back a 2nd time and they said it was my fault and they could repair for $99. And it was under warranty!! Another example of poor Apple Customer Service. Update *12/03/2020 Well, I’ve been putting up with this same issue all year. My MBP has been to Apple 2x now. About to send it back fora 3rd time. When I got my machine back for the 2nd time, THE VERY NEXT MONDAY, all Apple Stores shut-down nation-wide. It HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE TRACKPAD OR SETTINGS!! I’ve tried everything! Turning everything off; even the stop track app, whatever it’s called. I have since discovered a pattern which makes no sense. But 95% of the time, when the cursor jumps back, it is when I ty;e or depress the keyboard letter “t”. Crazy. I have called Apple a few weeks ago and am about to have them check it AGAIN! They guy I talked to through APPLE SUPPORT was of no use. I spent an hour talking to him. That’s on top of the many hours earlier in the year. It is frustrating. I hope I can take it into my local Apple Store (which has just recently opened back up) because that is a “live” person and they are aware of my personal issue. And they also observe the issue I am talking about. And by the way, while typing this update, the cursor has jumped 5x. )) But it also has other strange behaviors such as, opening another text window (when in Messages, Notes, an Outlook or Apple Mail window. Very bizarre. I also think it may have something to do with what Apple calls their “Neural Engine”. Basically, it is AI … and when typing, the neural engines supposedly “learns” your style… It sucks. And right this moment, it just took away the past 4 sentences. But usually, an undo or “Command-Z” brings it back.I am !#^&@@ to say the least. Been an Apple supporter since early 1980s.
I’m glad unclicking “tap to click” works for some, but it has no effect for me. I think it’s simply a matter of keeping my palms off of the trackpad; if I touch it while typing, the cursor jumps all over the screen, with various forms of unsettling results. It’s most annoying having to keep my hands lifted up off the computer. Not sure if it’s helping with my carpal tunnel either. Update (09/04/2020) Go to the App Store and find the “False Tap Stop” app. This fixed the problem for me and others. Try it. Hope you have the same success.
When “Tap to click” is configured in trackpad settings, is very easy to inadvertently touch the trackpad while typing. Apple doesn’t offer any solution to this problem, but there is an app in the App Store to help with it. Is called “False Tap Stop” and doesn’t allow taps to happen while you are typing.
Tape a piece of paper over the trackpad and space beside it. Stops the jumpy cursor
My trackpad was acting that way. I turned off my computer and cleaned my trackpad with a wet wipe very carefully then used a paper towel to wipe away the moisture and lo and behold it worked. Over time the grime and dust from our fingers accumulate on the trackpad that’s my humble conclusion!
I had this problem, however it was happening to me when using Safari typing into a text box. Turned out to be the Grammarly premium plugin, I disabled and re-enabled the spell checking and it stopped jumping back. 15” MBP 2018 with Touch Bar.
I found a fix! I pulled out my mouse from a box of old electronics and discovered that when the mouse is plugged in the cursor no longer skips. When I am typing, I always insert the mouse. When I just want to scroll through the news I unplug the mouse. This solution is 100% effective, i.e., empirically validated. It’s a bit of a drag to have to use the mouse to navigate, but much, much less of a drag than having the insertion point skip and then missing it and typing over creative work and losing it. I hope this helps.
Apple replaced my entire upper in their attempt to fix this. It worked. Problem gone. Make an appointment at your local Apple store. It’s now under extended warranty.
No. I do not have a butterfly keyboard. I have a 2020 13" intel MacBookPro. The problem is the touchpad, not the keyboard.
