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Recently got a new MacBook Pro and I really don't like the fact that it powers on by a simple touch on the trackpad.

(EDIT: By "powering on", I mean powering on from a completely turned off state, after having hit "Shut down...", not waking up from sleep mode.)

I'd like for it to power on only if I press the top right corner that corresponds to the finger print reader.

Is there a way to do that?

EDIT: to further clarify, some elements from the comments:

  • I should check again at home, but I've had my new MBP for more than a month now and unless I am missing something completely --- or I have been crazy for the last month --- clicking "Shutdown...", waiting for my computer to shutdown, and then clicking on the touchpad (or on any other key) actually turns the computer back on.

  • Now, maybe what happened is I never actually turned my computer off? Is there any setting that would make the computer not turn completely off when clicking "Shutdown..." ?

  • I guess what I would like is for my new MBP to behave more like my old Macbook air, i.e., 1) Actually fully shutdown when I click "Shutdown...", and 2) Only turn back on when I hit the "power one" button, which on the new MBP I always assumed was the "touch ID" button.

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  • When you say "power on" - do you mean power on from a completely turned off state? - or do you mean "power on" from sleep mode?
    – jksoegaard
    Feb 21, 2019 at 13:49
  • I mean power on from a completely turned off state, after having hit "Shut down...". I will clarify in my question.
    – Martin Van der Linden
    Feb 21, 2019 at 15:05
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    I'm not sure you're aware, but simply opening the lid on the MBP or connecting it to power, will also power on the Mac. So I don't know if these are also problems for you? (i.e. how often do you have your Mac powered down, but lid still open?)
    – jksoegaard
    Feb 21, 2019 at 15:17
  • If it's shut down, touching the trackpad won't restart it
    – Sam
    Feb 21, 2019 at 17:14
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    @MartinVanderLinden it is very possible that it didn't actually shut down. To find out, force shut it down (with the touch Id button) and then see if the trackpad turns it on
    – Sam
    Feb 21, 2019 at 20:41

2 Answers 2

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Same situation here - shut down the MacBook 2018, then wait a few minutes, touch trackpad or any of the buttons and it starts booting up. Very annoying.

Found the answer here Turn on (start up) your Mac Looks like it's the expected behavior. From their support page:

Additionally, MacBook Pro (2018) and MacBook Air (Retina, 13-inch, 2018) turn on when you press any key on the keyboard or press the trackpad.

Which is exactly my case.

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  • 3
    the f is wrong with apple these days
    – nickanor
    Sep 10, 2019 at 11:35
  • New MBP, 2022, same issue, driving me crazy.
    – Kev
    Mar 23 at 22:56
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Ok, following Sam's recommendation, I have tried to force shut it down using the touch id button.

In that case, the MBP behaved as expected, i.e., it would only turn back on using the touch id button again, and would not turn back on by a simple touch on the trackpad or by pressing a key on the keyboard.

EDIT: after a couple more tries, it appears I was mistaken, in the sense that even force shutting down the laptop does not actually solve the problem (see the discussion in the follow-up question Why won't my new MBP actually shutdown when I click "Shutdown..." in the "apple" menu).

Unfortunately, the issues remain that when I click on "Shutdown..." in the "apple" menu, the laptop does not seem to fully shut down. It looks as if it does (turns black). But then a simple touch on the trackpad or a hit on any of the keys "wakes it up", as if it had been turned off and was powering on again (it goes through the black background screen with the white apple in the middle and the progress bar).

This, unfortunately, has nothing to do with how long I wait between clicking "Shutdown..." and pressing a key or the trackpad: This has happened many time after waiting the whole night between clicking "Shutdown..." and pressing on the trackpad. In fact, I have clicked "Shutdown..." many times in the last month without ever having to press the touch id to power my laptop on: I always simply pressed on the trackpad, which made me believe this was the new normal with MBP and triggered my asking of this question.

Anyways, I feel now like the issue is separate from the question I asked (i.e., my real issue seems to be that my laptop fails to actually shutdown when clicking "Shutdown...", which is different from what I described). So I decided to ask another question about it: Why won't my new MBP actually shutdown when I click "Shutdown..." in the "apple" menu

UPDATE: For a couple of weeks, I've been using another MBP with a wider screen (I believe 15in as opposed to 13in) but bought around the same time.

It's really weird, this one seems to have a feature where the clicking of the trackpad is blocked (I mean physically blocked, with an actual resistance) until the laptop is turned on using the fingerprint button. This is not something my smaller screen MBP had (there, you could always click on the trackpad).

This gives a clear --- if somewhat weird --- indication that the laptop is actually fully shut down as opposed to sleeping.

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  • Seems like your question is not solved and you should mark it as such, i.e. remove the "solved" marker?
    – n1000
    Feb 27, 2019 at 19:56
  • Just did. By accepting my own answer, I mean to indicate that the new related question described my problem more precisely, and that attention could focus to this newer question from now on. But I can see how that can be confusing.
    – Martin Van der Linden
    Feb 27, 2019 at 20:10
  • I guess then you should rather delete the question...
    – n1000
    Feb 27, 2019 at 20:11

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