MacBook Pro Touchscreen: Features, Gestures & Practical Tips

Apple’s MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is the first MacBook Pro you can control by touching the screen. You can tap, scroll, zoom and move windows with your fingers while continuing to use the keyboard and trackpad exactly as before.

If you’re interested in the laptop itself rather than just its touch controls, our new MacBook Pro buying guide explains the wider features, performance and Australian pricing. Here, we’re concentrating on what you can actually do with touch.

Start with taps, scrolling and shortcuts

Tap once to select something, follow a link or press an on-screen button. In Finder, double-tap a file, photo or app to open it. To bring up the menu you’d normally get from a right-click, touch and hold the item.

Drag one finger across the screen to scroll through a document or webpage, or swipe quickly to move further down a long page. If you’ve used an iPhone or iPad, these actions should feel familiar.

To select several items, touch and hold, then drag across the items you want. To move something, hold it, drag it into position and lift your finger. These gestures are handy for quick tasks, although the trackpad can still be easier for careful selections.

Zoom, rotate and adjust content

Place two fingers on the screen and spread them apart to zoom in, or pinch them together to zoom out. On supported content, you can rotate an item by placing two fingers on it and turning them. Drag a corner handle to resize or crop an item where the app provides those controls.

Touch can feel especially natural when looking through photographs or checking details in a document. For precise editing or long stretches of typing, there’s no need to abandon the trackpad or keyboard.

Arrange windows with your fingers

Touch a window’s title bar and drag it to move the window. Drag an edge or corner to resize it. To place windows side by side, drag one towards the left or right edge and release when the highlighted tiling area appears. A quick flick to either side can tile a window to half the screen.

The small window buttons are easier to use by touch, too: tapping a window control expands the controls. In full-screen view, swipe down from the menu bar or tap the top-left corner to reveal them.

This is useful when you’re comparing two documents or moving between a browser and another app.

Switch apps, windows and desktops

Swipe up with three fingers to open Mission Control and see your open windows. Swipe down with three fingers for App Exposé, which shows the windows belonging to the current app. Swipe left or right with three fingers to switch between desktop spaces.

You can spread your thumb and three fingers to show the desktop, or pinch four fingers together to show your apps. If you use Stage Manager, tap the left edge of the screen to show its open apps.

These are worth learning if you often have several things open at once, because they save you moving the pointer around the desktop.

Use the screen edges and Dynamic Island

Swipe down from the upper-right corner for Control Centre, or swipe in from the right edge for Notification Centre. When the Dock is hidden, swipe up from the bottom edge to reveal it. When the menu bar is hidden, swipe down from the top edge to show it.

You can also swipe down from the top edge over Dynamic Island to open Spotlight and Siri AI. Availability of Siri AI features can depend on language, region and settings, so the gesture may not give everyone the same options.

Make touch work for you

To adjust touchscreen behaviour, open System Settings and choose Touch Display. Apple provides switches and pop-up menus for changing supported touch gestures. If a gesture gets in your way, this is the first place to look.

You can also turn touch input off completely. Open System Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then turn on Ignore Touch Gestures. Turn that setting off again whenever you want to use touch.

Where touch helps, and where it doesn’t

Our advice is to start with the gestures that solve small everyday annoyances: scrolling while reading, pinching into a photograph, moving a window or switching desktops. You don’t need to learn every gesture on day one.

A MacBook Pro is still a laptop, not a detachable tablet. Reaching across the keyboard is convenient for occasional actions, but using the screen continuously may be less comfortable than the trackpad. Detailed selections, spreadsheet work and long writing sessions will often be easier with the controls you already know.

Touch is most useful as a choice, not a replacement. Keep using keyboard shortcuts and the trackpad where they’re faster, and reach for the screen when it’s simpler.

Need a hand?

If you’d like help setting up your new MacBook Pro or adjusting its touch settings, our Mac setup and troubleshooting service can help.