Apple apologizes for butterfly keyboard problems; but is that enough?

, my friends. The fateful day has come.

When Apple released the latest MacBooks Pro in 2018, we saw that they brought the third generation keyboard with the butterfly engine. The first two generations of this “new” keyboard have been somewhat questioned somewhat by the design of the keys themselves (which have gotten lower and odd to some) and much by the fact that it simply stops working when some sort of dirt (including those imperceptible) entered under the keys. Apple's suggestion of cleanliness, so "weird" that it even generated memes, and the result of this design flaw could not be otherwise: processes.

Nowhere to run: Apple was forced to open a repair program (the famous recall) to exchange these problem parts. Almost in parallel, a new generation of MacBook Pro has arrived, equipped with the aforementioned third generation of this new keyboard; shortly thereafter, it was the turn of the new MacBook Air.

The great advantage of this new keyboard is the presence of a protective film below the keys which prevents any kind of dirt / residue from accumulating there. The problem that even with it, iFixit had already shown us that some dirt can break through the new barrier which in practice would cause exactly the same disturbances as before. No sooner said than done!

Butterfly keyboard

Joanna Stern, journalist for Wall street journal, is having trouble with her MacBook Air. And she's not alone: ​​Gavin Sheridan, who also has a MacBook Air, realized that just two weeks after purchasing the product the E, R, W and T keys began to appear twice as much. he pressed them; Joshua Johnson goes through something like his MacBook Pro (1 out of 7 times he presses the T key, the result is a double T).

"We are aware that a small number of users are having trouble with the third-generation butterfly keyboard, so we apologize," an Apple spokesman said in a statement. WSJ. The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard. If you have any problems, contact Apple Customer Service. ”

As Stern said, the apology is valid, but Apple needs to take action and end this problem once and for all. This terrible experience is happening to people who have spent $ 1,200 or more; after three attempts by Apple to solve the keyboard design (unsuccessfully); that is, in Stern's words, “time to stop prioritizing thickness over usability. Time to release the butterfly keyboard. Let it fly far, far away. ”

In the meantime, you have some possibilities:

  1. Take the problematic keyboard to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Center.
  2. Using Unshaky, software designed by Xinhong Sam Liu, a 25-year-old student who was dissatisfied with duplicate keys (especially W); The app detects when a duplicate letter is typed (with milliseconds) and automatically deletes that second typing. It assured the newspaper that no user information is being collected, not even the keystrokes.
  3. Try to clean by following Apple's wild instructions.
  4. Use an external keyboard to solve the problem once and for all.
  5. If you are RICH, buy another notebook and if it is Apple, cheer for the problem does not manifest.

good luck to those who are going through it 😢