imbushuo/mac-precision-touchpad

★ 10,296CAudience · generalComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((mac-precision-touchpad))
    What it does
      Windows gesture support
      Precision Touchpad protocol
      Apple trackpad driver
    Supported hardware
      MacBooks from 2011
      Magic Trackpad 2 and 3
      USB and Bluetooth
    Installation
      Download release package
      Right-click INF file
      No test signing needed
    Licensing
      SPI driver MIT
      USB driver GPLv2

mindmap root((mac-precision-touchpad)) What it does Windows gesture support Precision Touchpad protocol Apple trackpad driver Supported hardware MacBooks from 2011 Magic Trackpad 2 and 3 USB and Bluetooth Installation Download release package Right-click INF file No test signing needed Licensing SPI driver MIT USB driver GPLv2

Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Get pinch-to-zoom, three-finger swipe, and smooth scrolling working on a MacBook running Windows 10 via Boot Camp.

USE CASE 2

Connect an Apple Magic Trackpad 2 or 3 to a Windows PC with full Windows gesture support.

USE CASE 3

Replace the limited default Apple trackpad behavior on a Windows dual-boot setup.

Tech stack

CWindows Driver Kit

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

T2 chip MacBooks from 2017 onward work in fallback mode and may not offer the full gesture experience.

The SPI driver is MIT (use freely for any purpose), the USB driver is GPLv2 (share code changes publicly if you distribute your modifications).

In plain English

This project is a Windows device driver that makes Apple trackpads work properly on Windows 10 when you run Windows on a MacBook or connect an Apple Magic Trackpad. Without a dedicated driver, Windows can detect the trackpad as a basic mouse, but loses all the gesture support and precision tracking that makes Apple trackpads feel good to use. This driver implements Microsoft's Windows Precision Touchpad protocol, which gives the trackpad full gesture support within Windows. The driver covers a wide range of Apple hardware: MacBooks going back to 2011, MacBook Pros across many model years including Retina display generations, MacBook Air models, and Magic Trackpad 2 and 3 (both USB and Bluetooth connections). The T2 chip-based MacBooks from 2017 onward are supported with a fallback mode, though the experience may not be optimal on every model. Installation is straightforward: download the release package from GitHub, right-click the .inf file, and select install. No need to enable test signing or manually install certificates. The driver is also available as a Chocolatey package for those who prefer a package manager. Uninstallation goes through Windows Device Manager. One practical note: starting in early 2021, Microsoft changed driver code signing requirements, so automatic CI builds are no longer auto-signed with the standard certificate. For production use, the author releases manually signed packages on the release page, which are the ones recommended for normal users. The driver is split into two components with different licenses: the SPI driver (used for newer MacBooks) is MIT-licensed, while the USB driver is GPLv2. Bug reports go to GitHub Issues, feature tracking is on a separate Azure DevOps board.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm running Windows 10 on a MacBook Pro via Boot Camp and my trackpad only acts like a basic mouse. Walk me through downloading and installing the mac-precision-touchpad driver to get full gesture support.

Prompt 2

I want to use an Apple Magic Trackpad 3 on my Windows desktop. How do I install mac-precision-touchpad for a Bluetooth connection?

Prompt 3

I installed mac-precision-touchpad on a 2019 MacBook Pro with a T2 chip but the experience isn't great. What are the known limitations for T2 MacBooks and is there anything I can tune?

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

← imbushuo on gitmyhub — every repo by this author, as a profile.

Verify against the repo before relying on details.