Free tool · runs in your browser
Touchpad test
Check a laptop touchpad or a Mac trackpad: go down the list, and each check lights up the moment the browser sees it.
Live test
input- Move the pointer one finger, across the pad not yet
- Tap one finger, lightly — or click not yet
- Double tap two taps, quickly not yet
- Right click tap with two fingers, or press the lower-right corner not yet
- Drag press and move, or double tap and slide not yet
- Scroll up and down two fingers, vertically not yet
- Scroll sideways two fingers, left and right not yet
- Pinch to zoom two fingers apart and together not yet
- input
- —
- scroll events
- 0
- travel
- 0px
- passed
- 0/8
Nothing to install, nothing leaves this page · while the pointer is over the pad, the page stays put — scroll outside it to read on · updated 30 September 2026
When to run a touchpad test
- Before buying a used laptop. A minute here beats finding a dead right click at home.
- After a repair, or when the touchpad or keyboard was replaced.
- After a Windows update or a new driver, when gestures suddenly feel different.
Touchpad not working?
Start from the check that stayed dark.
Nothing moves at all
The touchpad is switched off. Most laptops toggle it with a function key that has a touchpad on it, usually together with Fn. On Windows, look in Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad; with a mouse plugged in, also check Leave touchpad on when a mouse is connected. On a Mac, System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control can ignore the built-in trackpad while a mouse is present.
Still nothing on Windows: in Device Manager, find the touchpad under Human Interface Devices or Mice and other pointing devices, uninstall it and restart — Windows puts the driver back. Drivers from the laptop maker often arrive through Settings → Windows Update → Advanced options → Optional updates.
Tap to click not working
Tap to click is off. On Windows it lives under Touchpad → Taps, next to Tap twice and drag to multi-select, which is what the drag check uses. On a Mac it is System Settings → Trackpad → Tap to click, and it ships switched off.
Right click not working
On Windows, under Taps: Tap with two fingers to right-click, or Press the lower right corner of the touchpad to right-click. On a Mac: System Settings → Trackpad → Secondary click.
Two-finger scroll not working
If scrolling or pinch stays dark, or input reads “wheel”, the touchpad sends what a mouse wheel sends: large, identical steps. On Windows that usually means it is not running as a precision touchpad. Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad says Your PC has a precision touchpad when it is; if the line is missing, the driver from the laptop maker’s support page is the next thing to try.
On Linux under X11 this is normal: Chrome gets even a good touchpad as wheel steps, so there the test counts them anyway.
Scrolling goes the wrong way
That is a setting, not a fault: Scrolling direction under Scroll & zoom on Windows, Natural scrolling on a Mac.
Three-finger gestures not working
Windows offers three- and four-finger gestures only on a precision touchpad; without one, the laptop maker’s touchpad app handles them, if anything does. With one, look in Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad → Three-finger gestures: each of them can be set to Nothing. On a Mac: System Settings → Trackpad → More Gestures.
What no web page can see
A browser is told where the pointer is and how far to scroll. It is never told how many fingers are down or where they touch. That rules out three things for any online test, this one included:
- Three- and four-finger gestures. Windows and macOS take them before the browser does. Check them against the tables below — the screen itself is the test.
- Dead zones. A grid that lights up under the cursor maps the screen, not the pad: the pointer moves on from wherever it was, whichever part of the pad your finger is on. To find a dead spot, slide one finger slowly along each edge and watch for the pointer stalling.
- A mouse, by its clicks. A click is a click. Scrolling does tell them apart — that is what input shows — but for a clean run, unplug the mouse.
Touchpad gestures on Windows 11 and Mac
The three- and four-finger ones happen above the browser, so the test is doing them: each should change the screen at once.
Windows 11 touchpad gestures
| Gesture | What it does | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Tap | Select, like a click | tested above |
| Two fingers, slide | Scroll | tested above |
| Two fingers, pinch or stretch | Zoom | tested above |
| Two-finger tap | Right click | tested above |
| Three fingers up | All open windows | by eye |
| Three fingers down | Show the desktop | by eye |
| Three fingers left or right | Switch between open apps | by eye |
| Three-finger tap | Search, by default | by eye |
| Four fingers left or right | Switch desktops | by eye |
| Four-finger tap | Notification center, by default | by eye |
To change them: Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad → Three-finger gestures and Four-finger gestures. Some of them only work on a precision touchpad.
Mac trackpad gestures
| Gesture | What it does | Here |
|---|---|---|
| Tap with one finger | Click, when Tap to click is on | tested above |
| Click or tap with two fingers | Secondary click | tested above |
| Two fingers up or down | Scroll | tested above |
| Pinch with two fingers | Zoom in or out | tested above |
| Two fingers left or right | Swipe between pages | tested above |
| Double-tap with two fingers | Smart zoom | by eye |
| Two fingers in from the right edge | Notification Center | by eye |
| Tap with three fingers | Look up | by eye |
| Four fingers up | Mission Control | by eye |
| Four fingers down | App Exposé | by eye |
| Four fingers left or right | Switch full-screen apps | by eye |
| Thumb and three fingers together | Apps | by eye |
| Thumb and three fingers apart | Show the desktop | by eye |
All of them are in System Settings → Trackpad, where several of the four-finger ones can be switched to three.
Passed? Your browser uses half of it
Every two-finger movement you just made reached the browser. It turns a sideways swipe into Back and a pinch into zoom, and that is where it stops.
Glidepad gives the same movements more to do: a double swipe opens the site you put on that side, two flicks at the top of a page reload it, spreading two fingers over a link opens it in a background tab, and pinching twice closes the tab.
Chrome and Edge on Windows · free, Pro adds the second half of each pair