You may find that your Touch Bar freezes, crashes, or disappears entirely. Maybe you are in the middle of crafting the perfect tweet or text message, and your Touch Bar emojis become entirely inaccessible. We have a variety of effective solutions for such common Touch Bar problems.
How to Fix a Frozen or Unresponsive Touch Bar
It can be incredibly frustrating when the Touch Bar on your Mac fails to respond to your input. The most common bug that users seem to encounter is a frozen emoji strip in the Messages app. Luckily, we have a few effective solutions that will get you back to “work” (and chatting with your friends) in just a few clicks.
Force Quit the Current App
If your Touch Bar feels stuck, the app that you were using when it froze is likely the culprit. Additionally, your Touch Bar may instantly freeze if the app you are using crashes or consumes too much memory. To fix a frozen Touch Bar:
Relaunch the Touch Bar Using the Terminal App
If you are in the middle of an important task, and your Touch Bar goes black or becomes unresponsive, you may want to quit and relaunch your Touch Bar from the Terminal app to not lose your progress or any unsaved changes.
Reboot the Touch Bar Using the Activity Monitor App
If you are looking for a more straightforward solution that does not involve Terminal commands to refresh the Touch Bar, take advantage of the more user-friendly Activity Monitor app to troubleshoot any issues you may be experiencing.
How to Fix Your Touch Bar if the Control Strip Disappears
The portion of your Touch Bar on your right, formally called the Control Strip, may at times disappear, freeze, or fail to expand/collapse properly. These common nuisances may impact your ability to access essential controls from the Touch Bar, including volume, brightness, and Siri. Fortunately, a quick Terminal command can remedy these problems.
Update macOS to Fix a Faulty Touch Bar
Apple frequently issues software updates of macOS to patch bugs. Touch Bar bugs, including app compatibility issues, performance glitches, and outdated controls, are also addressed in these updates. You can strengthen the reliability of your Touch Bar by keeping the operating system on your Mac up to date. To update macOS:
Use Finder to Fix a Slow Touch Bar
If your Touch Bar feels slow to register feedback to your touch input, or its animations are noticeably dropping frames, you may need to reset your Touch Bar’s cache files using the Finder. Image credit: Hello I’m Nik via Unsplash. All screenshots taken by Brahm Shank. If you must use a different charger, ensure its authenticity before using it to charge your Mac. Also, check your charger and charging cord for damage, including fraying, high levels of heat output, unexpected sounds while plugged in, and debris on the power port.
