How to fix the MacBook key press bug
The new MacBooks have defective keyboards. This is a hardware problem and nothing to do with macOS itself. What happens is when you tap a key on your keyboard, it often registers as multiple key presses. The problem has been widely documented and Unbox Therapy has demonstrated it in one of their videos. Apple has acknowledged this problem and is offering to fix it for the ‘small percentage’ that are experiencing it. There is now an app that attempts to fix the MacBook key press bug.
The app is called Unshaky and it is a free, open source app that is trying to offer a software solution to the hardware problem. Before you try it out, you need to know a few things;
- This is not an Apple approved solution.
- It may or may not work perfectly. You might end up with a keyboard that is easier to work with but one that still repeats letters when it isn’t supposed to.
- Software solutions can be used to fix hardware problems so this isn’t an outlandish idea.
- Results will differ as will the settings from one device to the other.
- You will need to spend a little time tweaking the settings to get it to work right.
Macbook key press bug
Download Unshaky and run it. It requires special Accessibility permission to run.
Once the app is running, right-click its icon in the menu bar and select Configuration from the menu.
You will see a list of all the keys on your keyboard and a field next to them for milliseconds (ms). Click inside the field to edit it and enter a number. This number will determine the ‘delay’ between key press repeats that must be ignored.
If you’re familiar with the Macbook key press bug, you know that if you press a key once, it is executed several times. This delay that you add with Unshaky will force the other key presses that happen within the delay period to be ignored. If you do need to type a letter twice, you will need to tap it twice. The app recommends using a 40ms delay but you’re free to play with this value until it works for you. You can set the delay for each key individually or for all keys at once.
If your MacBook isn’t eligible for the repair and you don’t want to spend money to get it fixed, you can try this app. We strongly recommend that you take the time to set it up properly and experiment with the delay until you get it right.
If it works for you, you should set the app to run at start up.
