How to Disable Force Click on MacBook Pro M1 Trackpad

• The article explains how to disable Force Click on MacBook Pro M1 trackpad by editing a system file called .GlobalPreferences.plist using the Terminal app.
• The article also provides steps to enable Force Click again, and answers some frequently asked questions related to the topic.
• The article warns that editing system files can be risky and may cause unexpected problems, and advises to make a backup of the data before making any modifications.

If you have a MacBook Pro M1 with a Force Touch trackpad, you may have noticed that it has a feature called Force Click. Force Click allows you to perform different actions by applying different levels of pressure on the trackpad. For example, you can Force Click on a word to look up its definition, or Force Click on a link to preview it in a pop-up window.

Some people may find Force Click useful, but others may find it annoying or confusing. If you are one of those who want to disable Force Click on your MacBook Pro M1 trackpad, you may have tried to do so by following the instructions from Apple’s support page. However, you may have encountered a problem: there is no option to turn off Force Click in the System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click tab.

This is because the MacBook Pro M1 models use a different trackpad driver than the previous Intel-based models. The Force Click option is not available in the graphical user interface (GUI) of the System Preferences, but it is still possible to disable it by using the command line interface (CLI) of the Terminal app.

In this article, we will show you how to disable Force Click on your MacBook Pro M1 trackpad by editing a system file called .GlobalPreferences.plist. This file contains various settings for your user account, including the trackpad preferences. By changing a value in this file, you can turn off Force Click and haptic feedback (the vibration that accompanies a Force Click).

Steps to Disable Force Click

To disable Force Click on your MacBook Pro M1 trackpad, follow these steps:

1. Open the Terminal app from the Applications > Utilities folder, or use Spotlight to search for it.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.trackpad.forceClick -bool false

   This command will write a new value (false) for the key com.apple.trackpad.forceClick in the .GlobalPreferences.plist file. This value will disable Force Click and haptic feedback for your user account.

3. Close the Terminal app and restart your MacBook Pro M1.
4. After restarting, open the System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click tab and verify that there is no option for Force Click anymore.
5. Test your trackpad and see if Force Click is disabled. You should not feel any vibration or see any pop-up windows when you press harder on the trackpad.

How to Enable Force Click Again

If you want to enable Force Click again, you can do so by reversing the steps above. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Terminal app from the Applications > Utilities folder, or use Spotlight to search for it.
2. Type the following command and press Enter:defaults write NSGlobalDomain com.apple.trackpad.forceClick -bool true

   This command will write a new value (true) for the key com.apple.trackpad.forceClick in the .GlobalPreferences.plist file. This value will enable Force Click and haptic feedback for your user account.

3. Close the Terminal app and restart your MacBook Pro M1.
4. After restarting, open the System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click tab and verify that there is an option for Force Click again.
5. Test your trackpad and see if Force Click is enabled. You should feel a vibration and see pop-up windows when you press harder on the trackpad.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some common questions and answers related to disabling Force Click on MacBook Pro M1 trackpad.

Question: What is the difference between Force Touch and Force Click?

Answer: Force Touch is a technology that allows the trackpad to sense how much pressure you apply on it. Force Touch enables various features such as pressure-sensitive drawing, accelerated scrolling, and haptic feedback.

Force Click is one of the features enabled by Force Touch. It allows you to perform different actions by applying more pressure on the trackpad. For example, you can Force Click on a word to look up its definition, or Force Click on a link to preview it in a pop-up window.

Question: Why would I want to disable Force Click?

Answer: Some reasons why you may want to disable Force Click are:

• You find it annoying or confusing to have different actions triggered by different levels of pressure on the trackpad.
• You accidentally activate Force Click when you don’t intend to, or you have trouble activating it when you do intend to.
• You prefer to use other methods to perform the same actions, such as right-clicking, keyboard shortcuts, or gestures.
• You want to save battery life by reducing the power consumption of the trackpad.

Question: Will disabling Force Click affect other features of the trackpad?

Answer: Disabling Force Click will not affect other features of the trackpad, such as tapping, clicking, scrolling, zooming, rotating, or swiping. You can still use these features as normal.

However, disabling Force Click will also disable haptic feedback, which is the vibration that accompanies a Force Click. Haptic feedback can also be used for other purposes, such as providing tactile feedback for some gestures or actions. For example, you may feel a click when you align objects in some apps, or a pulse when you reach the end of a document. If you disable Force Click, you will not feel these haptic feedbacks anymore.

Question: How can I perform the same actions without Force Click?

Answer: There are usually alternative ways to perform the same actions that Force Click enables. Here are some examples:

• To look up the definition of a word, you can right-click on it and choose Look Up from the context menu, or press Command-Control-D on your keyboard.
• To preview a link in a pop-up window, you can right-click on it and choose Quick Look from the context menu, or press the spacebar on your keyboard.
• To preview a file in the Finder, you can select it and press the spacebar on your keyboard.
• To rename a file in the Finder, you can select it and press Return on your keyboard.
• To show a map of an address in an email, you can hover over it and click on the arrow icon that appears.

You can also customize some of these actions in the System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click tab. For example, you can change the secondary click (right-click) to be activated by clicking with two fingers instead of clicking in the bottom-right corner of the trackpad.

Conclusion

We hope this article has helped you to disable Force Click on your MacBook Pro M1 trackpad. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer

Before we proceed, we need to warn you that editing system files can be risky and may cause unexpected problems. You should only do this if you are comfortable with using the Terminal app and know how to undo the changes if something goes wrong. You should also make a backup of your data before making any modifications. We are not responsible for any damage or data loss that may occur as a result of following this guide. Proceed at your own risk.