Apple is finally adding support for Windows Precision Touchpad drivers in its latest Boot Camp update. The new 6.1.15 update includes support for Windows Precision Touchpad, including single tap to click, lower-right corner to right-click, down motion to scroll up, and three or four finger gestures.
Various Reddit users noticed the surprise update went live yesterday, and it apparently works better than third-party solutions like Trackpad++ and mac-precision-touchpad that people have had to use for years. “Works way better than both of them with better palm and thumb detection too,” says one Reddit user.
Microsoft started supporting Precision Touchpads more than seven years ago
Microsoft first started introducing Windows Precision Touchpad with Intel in 2013, in an effort to fix what were notorious PC trackpad issues at the time. It has taken Apple a long time to enable Windows Precision Touchpad in Boot Camp, but not every MacBook is supported. An Apple support document notes that only Mac computers with a T2 chip will be able to access Windows Precision Touchpad, which is most MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models from 2018 onward (full list here).
The timing of such a significant update to Boot Camp is also surprising and could hint that Intel-based Macs will coexist with Apple’s M1-based Macs for a while yet. Apple discontinued Intel-based MacBook Airs last year, but you can still buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro with an Intel CPU for now. Apple has said that its “transition to Apple silicon will take about two years to complete.”
