How to Customise Function Keys and the Touch Bar on Mac

On a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, the top row of the keyboard changes with every app — sometimes helpful, sometimes a game of hide-and-seek for simple keys like Escape or the brightness controls. Meanwhile, on any Mac, the F1 to F12 keys either trigger their printed features (brightness, volume, playback) or act as standard function keys, and which behaviour you get is your choice. This guide shows how to set the function keys to work the way you expect, customise what the Touch Bar shows, and use the Fn key to get the best of both worlds.

Quick Answer

To customise function keys on a Mac, open System Settings, click Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts, and choose Function Keys to toggle “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” — you can even set this per app. To customise the Touch Bar on a MacBook Pro, go to System Settings, click Keyboard, choose “Touch Bar Settings,” set what it shows (App Controls, Control Strip, or F keys), and tap “Customize Control Strip” to drag your favourite controls into place. Hold the Fn key at any time to temporarily see the opposite row.

Deciding How Your F Keys Should Behave

By default, pressing F1 and F2 changes screen brightness, F10 to F12 control volume, and so on — the little icons printed on the keys. The actual F-key functions hide behind the Fn key. That arrangement suits most people. But if you use software that leans on real F keys — spreadsheets, development tools, design apps, some games — pressing Fn fifty times a day gets old. Flip the setting instead:

1. Open System Settings and click Keyboard.
2. Click “Keyboard Shortcuts.”
3. Select “Function Keys” in the sidebar.
4. Turn on “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.”
5. To keep the printed features for just some apps, click the plus button on the same screen, add those apps, and the setting applies only inside them.

That per-app option is the smart middle ground: F keys behave as genuine function keys inside your work app, and as brightness and volume keys everywhere else. From then on, holding Fn gives you the printed features — Fn plus F11 still lowers the volume. Apple’s support article on using the function keys on your Mac explains which models have which row and how the setting behaves with external keyboards.

Customising the Touch Bar’s Control Strip

The right-hand portion of the Touch Bar is the Control Strip — a fixed set of quick controls like brightness, volume, Siri, and mute. You choose its contents:

1. Open System Settings, click Keyboard, then click “Touch Bar Settings.”
2. Click “Customize Control Strip.”
3. A palette of controls appears on screen and the Touch Bar enters jiggle mode.
4. Drag items down from the screen into the strip, or drag unwanted items up off the strip to remove them. You can also drag left and right to rearrange.
5. Tap Done on the Touch Bar or click Done on screen.

Useful additions include Screenshot, Do Not Disturb, Screen Lock, Night Shift, and AirPlay. Keep the strip short — four to six controls you actually touch beats a crowded row. If you use the Touch Bar heavily in particular apps, note that many apps offer their own Touch Bar customisation inside their View menu (“Customize Touch Bar”), which changes the app-specific section while keeping your Control Strip.

Choosing What the Touch Bar Shows by Default

In Touch Bar Settings, the “Touch Bar shows” menu decides the main section:

• App Controls: Buttons change per app. Powerful, but the row keeps moving — the main reason people find the Touch Bar unpredictable.
• Expanded Control Strip: Your full set of controls, always the same. Predictable and fast once customised.
• F1, F2, etc. Keys: The Touch Bar permanently displays function keys. Choose this if your work depends on them.
• Quick Actions and Spaces: Workflow shortcuts or desktop switching, for specific setups.

The same settings screen has “Press and hold Fn key to” — choose what holding Fn reveals: the F keys, the Control Strip, App Controls, or Quick Actions. Setting this to show F keys while your default is App Controls gives you both worlds with one press. This keyboard flexibility is one of several small customisations worth doing on a new Mac, alongside enabling right-click and tap to click on the trackpad.

The Escape Key and Other Special Cases

On Touch Bar models, Escape appears at the left end of the bar in most contexts. If an app hides it, tapping the Fn key usually reveals it, and you can also map Caps Lock to act as Escape: in Keyboard settings, click “Modifier Keys” and set Caps Lock to Escape — a favourite trick among programmers. On the newest MacBook Pro models Apple restored a physical Escape key, so the issue is fading. If the entire Touch Bar freezes or goes blank, restart the Mac first; if it stays dark, the Control Strip process can be restarted from Activity Monitor by quitting “TouchBarServer,” which relaunches automatically.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Assuming the per-app option does not exist. Many people flip F keys globally and lose one-tap volume control everywhere. Set it per app instead.
• Overloading the Control Strip. Too many controls means smaller targets and more hunting. Keep only what you touch weekly.
• Forgetting the Fn key. Whatever you choose as default, Fn always shows the other row. That fact alone solves most complaints.
• Dragging controls from the Touch Bar itself. Customisation starts from the on-screen palette in Settings — dragging on the bar alone just taps things.

Function Keys on Windows Keyboards and in Specific Apps

If you plug a Windows-style keyboard into your Mac, the same standard-function-keys setting governs it, though the key labelled with the Windows logo acts as the Option or Command key depending on the keyboard — check Keyboard settings under Modifier Keys if shortcuts feel swapped, and swap them back there if you prefer Mac order. Inside specific apps, remember that many professional tools define their own F-key shortcuts: video editors use them for tools and playback marks, spreadsheets for editing and recalculation, and development environments for debugging steps. When an F key inside an app does nothing — or changes your screen brightness instead — that is the global setting asserting itself, and the per-app list in Keyboard Shortcuts is exactly the fix. It is worth spending two minutes adding your three most-used serious apps to that list the day you set up a Mac; the setting then never crosses your mind again, which is the highest praise a keyboard preference can earn.

Conclusion

Your top row should work the way your hands expect. Set F keys globally or per app in Keyboard Shortcuts, choose what the Touch Bar shows by default, hand-pick a short Control Strip, and use Fn as the instant switch between the two worlds. Ten minutes of setup ends the daily hunt for brightness, volume, and Escape for good.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make the Touch Bar always show the function keys?

Yes. In System Settings under Keyboard, open Touch Bar Settings and set “Touch Bar shows” to “F1, F2, etc. Keys.”

Why do my F keys change volume instead of working as F keys in my app?

The standard setting gives the printed features priority. Add your app in Keyboard Shortcuts under Function Keys, or flip the setting globally.

Does this apply to external keyboards too?

Yes. The “standard function keys” setting and per-app rules apply to Apple external keyboards and most third-party ones as well.

How do I get the Escape key back on a Touch Bar Mac?

It appears at the left of the Touch Bar in most apps, and pressing Fn reveals it elsewhere. You can also remap Caps Lock to Escape in Modifier Keys settings.

My Touch Bar is frozen or black. What should I do?

Restart the Mac. If it happens again, quit the “TouchBarServer” process in Activity Monitor to restart the bar, and install any pending macOS updates.