I have a very embarrassing admission to make: after 33 years of being a Mac user, I was completely stumped when I recently tried to force quit and restart my 2017 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Fortunately, I was able to figure it out, so I thought I’d pass along this tip to readers of the Rocket Yard who might also run into this situation.
Update: March 2, 2021 – This tip also applies to 2018, 2019, 2020 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 MacBook Air With Touch ID models.
This all happened while I was upgrading the MacBook Pro to macOS 10.13 High Sierra beta 8. During the installation process, my MacBook Pro restarted several times, and at one point, I was asked to log in. I did so and then followed the prompt to log into iCloud. So far, so good.
The next time I looked at the MacBook Pro screen, it was black except for a progress bar that didn’t seem to be making any progress. I waited about a half-hour and finally decided it was time to force quit the laptop, reboot, and see if that solved the problem.
On just about every recent Mac I’ve ever owned, there’s a simple method of doing a force restart — just hold down the power button until the machine reboots. On old Macs, the power button was useful for a similar method — shutting off the Mac and then turning it back on. So I started searching for the power button on the MacBook Pro…
Do you see it in the picture above?
I didn’t. And believe it or not, in the months that I had owned the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, I had never needed to use a power button. The login screen was always there when I flipped the display up, and the MBP always went to sleep when I flipped the screen back down.
Force Restart
What I didn’t realize is that the Touch ID button at the far right end of the Touch Bar is actually a button – the power button. I had placed my finger on it plenty of times to log in but never actually pushed it. All it takes to force a restart of a frozen MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is to press down on the Touch ID button until the device reboots.
This is one case where I think Apple carried its simplistic design a little bit too far. Would it have been that much of a bother to just put a small power button graphic above the Touch ID button? The only clue that the Touch ID button is also a power button is at the very bottom of this Apple support page in a discussion on Touch Bar accessibility features:
*Sigh*
• Originally posted on July 12, 2018
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Thanks for this invaluable info! I too dint know the touch was actually a button! Thanks thanks thanks from New Delhi India
Thank you!!!! Ugh what a relief!!
Thank you soooooo much! Same issue!! I wouldn’t have known!!
The title is:
HOW TO FORCE RESTART MACBOOK PRO WITH TOUCH BAR & MACBOOK AIR
Do you mean any MacBook Air? Otherwise it could be (or similar):
HOW TO FORCE RESTART MACBOOK PRO WITH TOUCH BAR & MACBOOK AIR WITH TOUCH ID
or
HOW TO FORCE RESTART MACBOOK MODELS WITH TOUCH BAR LIKE MACBOOK PRO & TOUCH ID LIKE MACBOOK AIR
Yes, this is true. We had to massage the title for design considerations and SEO purposes. Just another of the many editorial decisions we have to make every day. :-)
Omgosh thank youuuuu lol
I am tech savvy and a bonafide Mac’er. And like to think of myself as reasonably intelligent, lol. So I of course went to the fingerprint button as well. But yup, I missed it too. Actually “push” it. Aaaah! Easy. A quick symbol by their design team would have made all the difference–so major feedback to them. But to you Steve, a million thank you’s!
Thanks Steve, it was completely frozen and I didn’t know there was a power button at the very end of the touch bar……agreed, Apple should make it clearer by a symbol..!
Thank you!! I was similarly stumped.
THANK YOU!! So glad I found this help!
Wow so simple but SOMEONE kind has to tell you! Thanks,
Thank you so much, Steve! I’m a Millennial and this stumped me too, till you saved the day! Much appreciated.
I was struggling for so long and your site was the only one that worked!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Thank you! I’ve had Apple/Mac computers since the 80s, but I recently bought my first one with a Touch Bar. When my laptop froze, I was at a loss. I even tried touching the Touch ID button, but it wasn’t until I read your post that I knew to press and hold it. It worked! Eternally grateful for the asssist.
Hi,
Thank you I felt dumb aswell. I touched the button but never came to my mind it was actually a push button!
I felt just as dumb. Thanks
Saved my day thank you!
Thank you! Option, Command & Esc pressed together didn’t work for me – but this did!!
You just saved me! I have been trying to restart my Mac since 2 hours wondering why isn’t it restarting. There’s a button on the Touch ID ♂️♂️♂️ Who would have thought about that!!!!!
Awesome. That helped me big time .. i never knew. Computer froze and i jad no way of turning it off for a hard reboot
Thanks so much! I have been similarly stumped so your explanation is really helpful.
Thank you I would spend hours and maybe figure it out?
Saved me lots of time
Very helpful!! Thanks!
OMG thank you. I’ve had my new MacBook Pro nearly a year and had no clue how to force quit when it froze today,
Thank you so much! Till now I was just praying that so never had to hard restart. Life saver!
This was super helpful to me
Thank you so so much! I had spent hours and tried everything but this. So simple but I had no idea. Thanks again.
Thank you!
I am using my mac for over a year and I didn’t know that touch bar is actually a physical button!!! You saved me!
Thank you so much!!
Thanks a lot! I thought I needed to go to the apple store to fix this
Thank you!!! I was completely stumped! Lol
You just saved me from a complete meltdown—enormous thanks. Finding no esc button to hold down with control option I was randomly pressing every thing having no idea there was a shut down ‘button’ at the right end of the dark bar. Thank goodness you smart people share!
Thank you thank you for this post!!! Apple please add a little power sign!