Touch Bar Demo App For Mac

The latest MacBook Pro models come with an integrated touch bar that replaces the old function keys. Since the bar control buttons update automatically depending on the app you are using, the approach can significantly improve your productivity.

Touch Bar Demo App is an open source project that allows you to access the macOS Touch Bar controls even on older Mac models, as long as you have at least the macOS 10.12.1 Build 16B2657 version installed on your machine.

For everything to run as expected, you need to make sure that the TouchBarServer app is up and running on your Mac. Note that if you don’t have installed a macOS version that has the Touch Bar support activated, the app cannot be launched.

The TouchBarServer utility will set a menulet in your status bar which allows you to decide if you want to see the Touch Bar buttons on your screen, admit iOS Touch Bar clients, or want the app to run at login.

On the other hand, the Touch Bar Demo App archive contains the Xcode project that needs to be deployed on your iPad device. Within the Xcode project window, you need to change the bundle identifier name and configure a valid signature.

Make sure to visit the Touch Bar Demo App project page to get detailed installation instructions and access resources that explain how you can sideload the project on your iOS device.

Once everything is set, you will be able to see the Touch Bar control buttons on the iPad, and you can interact with them via touch controls. Of course, the menu will change depending on the currently active app.

What’s more, by pressing the Fn key, you can also choose to see the Touch Bar menu on your screen. Keep in mind that you can use the Touch Bar controls only if you are in front of the computer: the iPad device has to stay connected to your Mac via USB at all times.

Bottom line, Touch Bar Demo App helps users that work on machines that don’t have an integrated Touch Bar to control their apps by using an iPad.

The fact that you need to manually sideload the Touch Bar Demo App project on the iOS device might prove challenging for inexperienced users, yet the developers provide step by step instructions that should get you through the process.