Trackpad Locked MacBook Pro

Question

So I recently noticed this that when my MacBook Pro is shutdown there is no clicking while when I turn it on the click starts to work. At first I thought it's just one time bug but I tried a couple more time to replicate the same thing and it works every time. It seems like the trackpad gets locked when the MacBook is turned off and gets unlocked when turned on.

I tried googling it but didn't find anything useful. Is this like a feature which is not being advertised or something? I am curious to know how does it works?

I have a MacBook Pro 2016 Model.

Answer 1

What you are experiencing is the haptic feedback from the Force Touch Trackpad available in your MacBook Pro. Starting 2015, the MacBook (Retina) and MacBook Pro Trackpads include a technology called Force Touch which can be configured to provide haptic feedback. Haptic feedback is experienced only when the MacBook Pro is powered on.

To learn more, refer to the Apple Support article, How to use the Force Touch trackpad.

Answer 2

It is possible that you have run into a feature available in Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Retina models. The feature is called Haptic Feedback and is available on Force Touch trackpads. This was introduced with Retina MacBooks in 2015 and was subsequently made available in MacBook Pro models.

There are no moving parts in the trackpad itself. Rather a device under the trackpad senses a click and responds with movement of its own that feels like a click.

You can learn more about it by googling MacBook Haptic Feedback. Your symptoms seem to point in that direction, i.e. when powered off no click, when powered on it clicks.