How to have the Touch Bar always show the function keys or media controls

By default, the Touch Bar at the top of your MacBook Pro’s keyboard displays app-specific controls that appear when you need them and vanish when you don’t.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we will lay out the steps for customizing the Touch Bar so that it either continuously displays the function keys or a complete suite of media controls all the time.

Set Touch Bar to always show the Function keys

Follow these steps to stop the transitioning habit of your Touch Bar and have it always show the F1, F2, F3, up to F12 Function keys, no matter which app you’re in:

  1. Open System Settings on your MacBook Pro and select Keyboard from the bottom left.
  2. Click Touch Bar Settings.
  3. Hit the drop-down menu next to Touch Bar shows and set it to F1, F2, etc. Keys.
  4. Next, click the drop-down menu for Press and hold the fn key to set it to Show F1, F2, etc. Keys.
  5. Finally, turn off Show typing suggestions and click Done.
Set MacBook Touch Bar to always show the function keys

Everything is set! From now, your Mac’s Touch Bar will always show the Function keys in every app and desktop.

Function keys on MacBook Pro Touch Bar

Note: If you use an external keyboard while your MacBook Pro is in clamshell mode (the lid is closed while the computer is connected to an external display), be sure to tick the box next to “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys on external keyboards.”

Continuously showing the function keys on the Touch Bar is especially handy when running Windows on your Mac or using macOS apps that assign shortcuts to the F1-F12 keys, and now you know how to do that!

Set the Touch Bar to always show media and control buttons

On MacBooks with no Touch Bar and the Magic Keyboard, the top row of keys has the brightness controls, Mission Control button, media keys, and volume buttons. You can set your Touch Bar to stop changing and always show just these controls. After you do that, the Touch Bar will stay consistent and won’t change.

  1. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Touch Bar Settings.
  2. Set Touch Bar shows to Expanded Control Strip.
  3. Choose Show Expanded Control Strip for ‘Press and hold fn key to.’
  4. Finally, turn off Show typing suggestions and click Done.
Set Touch Bar to always show the Expanded Control Strip on MacBook

From now on, no matter the app you’re in, your MacBook’s Touch Bar will consistently show the screen brightness, Mission Control button, Launchpad button, keyboard backlight brightness, media playback controls, volume buttons, and the Siri button. If your MacBook doesn’t have a physical escape key, Touch Bar will always show that.

MacBook Touch Bar showing media and other control buttons

Of course, you can customize the expanded control strip by removing some of the buttons from here and adding the ones you use often.

Get both function and media control on the Touch Bar

In the above steps, you learned how to configure your Touch Bar to show just the function keys or the media controls all the time and even when you press the Function (fn) key.

However, you can also set the Touch Bar behavior to always show one of the above two sets, and when you hold the fn key, it will show the other set of controls.

  1. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Touch Bar Settings.
  2. Set Touch Bar shows to F1, F2, etc. Keys or Expanded Control Strip as needed. We are going with Expanded Control Strip.
  3. Next, set Press and hold fn key to the option you did NOT choose in step 2 above. In our case, it will be Show F1, F2, etc. Keys.
Configure Touch Bar to show media and function buttons

With that set, your MacBook’s Touch Bar will always display the media controls, but if you hold the fn key on your keyboard, it will display the Function keys. This way, you can use both sets of controls when needed.

On the same tune: