Update:
This is a question I asked before upgrading to Macbook Pro with MacOS Monterey. This now works as expected:
- If my bluetooth mouse is connected, the trackpad is off.
- If my bluetooth mouse is disconnected, the trackpad is on.
I’m using the same mouse, but the laptop is different. I suppose it could have been a hardware issue but my suspicion is some kind of software bug, just haven’t tested with another laptop yet.
Original text:
On a Macbook Pro 2018 with Catalina (10.15.7) I’m setting System Preferences > Accessibility > Pointer Control to ignore the trackpad when a mouse is present.
I expect that when a mouse is not connected, the track pad will come back on. But it doesn’t. Is this expected behavior? That setting seems to imply that the trackpad should work with no mouse detected.
I’ve tried this with both a bluetooth and a wired mouse, connecting and disconnecting. I’ve turned off bluetooth on the Mac. I’ve turned off the bluetooth mouse. I’ve shut down the Mac, disconnected the mouse, and (right after I log in) the trackpad still won’t work.
I’ve tried every combination I could think of. Same result: Have to manually unset that setting to get the trackpad to come back.