State of Linux on the MacBook Pro 2016 & 2017

The following document provides an overview about Linux support for Apple's MacBook Pro 2016 and MacBook Pro 2017 models.

The MacBook Pro 2016 shares surprisingly many components with the Retina MacBook (e.g. keyboard and touchpad controller, Wi-Fi and bluetooth chipsets, ...), so figuring out how things work on one device should benefit both device families.

The Apple MacBook Pro 2017 models are nearly identical to their 2016 counterparts, except for the use of newer Intels Kaby Lake processors instead of Intel Skylake processors, faster memory and updated AMD Radeon GPUs in the 15-inch models.

The checks if hardware works below were done with multiple Linux distributions. To state the obvious: The newer the kernel the better. The information below assumes that you run Linux 5.4 or newer.

If you don't know what the model identifier for your MacBook Pro is (as that identifier is used on several occasions below), check https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201300

Contribution

If you want to contribute to get Linux running smoothly on the MacBook Pro 2016, report all findings on how to get devices working as pull requests! All help is appreciated.

There is also a chat available via gitter for discussions:

Current status

Device	Status
Audio input & output
Battery
Bluetooth
FaceTime HD camera
Graphics card (Intel)
Graphics card (AMD)
Keyboard & Touchpad
NVMe (internal SSD)
Screen
Suspend & Hibernation
System Management Controller
Thunderbolt
Touch Bar
Touch ID
USB
Wi-Fi

Audio input & output

With the applied Cirrus 8409 kernel driver patch from https://github.com/davidjo/snd_hda_macbookpro the internal audio input and output has been verified to work for the MacBookPro13,1, MacBookPro13,3 and MacBookPro14,3.

If you are having issues with the internal audio input, and you are using PulseAudio for your Linux distro; then try switching between the built-in audio profiles and see if it's receiving the background sound with help of the pavucontrol command, it should work on 'Analog Stereo Duplex' built-in audio profile.

With the MacBookPro14,1 the internal audio output is working, however the internal audio input is not working.

For the rest of the MacBook Pro models the audio via HDMI or any USB-connected audio device is working, so at least they can act as a workaround until internal audio is working.

Battery

Working fine, including the interface to get current capacity, temperature, etc.

Battery life is still suboptimal, because power saving modes for several devices, like display (panel self refresh), SSD or the Thunderbolt controllers, aren't working yet. You can expect a battery life of less than 4 hours.

Bluetooth

Works out of the box, except for the models without Touch Bar, which still suffer from a bug and need an additional patch as noted in https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/29#issuecomment-371370548

Transmitting audio using A2DP is still choppy for unknown reasons, maybe because the Bluetooth support is limited to lower bandwidth applications so far.

FaceTime HD camera

In the MacBookPro13,1 (without Touch Bar) the FaceTime HD camera is connected via PCIe, like in previous MacBook Pro's. It's working with the bcwc_pcie driver.

The models with Touch Bar have the FaceTime HD camera connected through the iBridge device via USB. They are exposed as regular USB video devices and are supported by the uvcvideo driver out of the box.

Graphics card

Intel

Graphical output using the Intel GPU is working out of the box on the MacBookPro 13,1 and 13,2, without dedicated AMD GPU. For the MacBookPro 13,3 with dedicated AMD GPU, only the AMD GPU is enabled when booting an OS which isn't macOS, so you have to follow the instructions in the following link to enable the integrated Intel GPU, if you want to use it: https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux/issues/6#issuecomment-286168538

Intel GPU has not yet been tested on the MacBookPro16,1.

Connecting external displays via USB-C-to-DisplayPort cables works fine, including connections with daisy-chaining/MST. An actual tested and working setup includes concurrent output on the internal display and two external displays daisy-chained together with Full HD each.

AMD

Works out of the box for the MacBookPro13,3 and MacBookPro14,3.

The MacBookPro16,1 currently requires a 5.6-RC kernel and the latest amdgpu drivers.

Keyboard & Touchpad

Works out of the box for the MacBookPro13,* and MacBookPro14,*.

For models with a T2 chip (MacBookPro15,* MacBookPro16,1) you'll need the BCE drivers from https://github.com/MCMrARM/mbp2018-bridge-drv and the touchpad and keyboard patches from https://github.com/aunali1/linux-mbp-arch.

For earlier Linux versions you can get the driver from https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver.

The Esc and function keys are part of the Touch Bar in all Touch Bar-models, so follow the instructions for the Touch Bar to get it working.

Beside the actual keyboard, the power button and the lid close event work out of the box.

Palm rejection based on touch-sizes and disable-touchpad-while-typing are working with this patch to libinput (master branch).

NVMe

Works out of the box.

The SSDs used in the MacBook Pros don't seem to support APST. As it's currently unknown how power saving works for those SSDs it's likely they consume way more power than they need to, therefore reducing the battery life.

Screen

Works out of the box.

Adjustable screen brightness only works out of the box for the models without additional AMD Radeon GPU (MacBookPro13,1 and MacBookPro13,2). For the MacBookPro13,3 with additional AMD Radeon GPU the following patch is necessary: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=105051#c32

There is one oddity in the EDID data of the 13" models, as it contains a 2800x1800 mode in addition to the correct 2560x1600 mode. In the end that doesn't matter, as Xorg probes and sets the correct resolution of 2560x1600.

Suspend & Hibernation

Putting the MacBook Pro into suspend mode works on all models, but successful resume requires additional prerequisites as explained below.

Models with Apple's NVMe controller (MacBookPro13,1, MacBookPro13,2, MacBookPro14,1 and MacBookPro14,2) require disabling the d3cold PCIe power state for the NVMe controller to successfully wake up again:

echo 0 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:01\:00.0/d3cold_allowed

This command must be executed from root, and ideally on startup, since the file is rewritten to '1' on startup. Even then resume is incredible slow and takes up to a minute, probably due to additional bugs.

For the 15" models with additional AMD GPU resume only works when using the internal Intel GPU.

System Management Controller

The System Management Controller (SMC) is responsible for interactions with sensors and fans.

Fans, temperature and voltage sensors work out of the box using the applesmc kernel module.

Even though the MacBook Pro manages fan speed automatically, manually setting the fan speed through applesmc works as well. That's useful if you want to use a different fan speed profile than the hardware uses by default. In that case, you might want to use a tool like mbpfan.

The ambient light sensor is working out of the box for the models without Touch Bar, using the applesmc module as well. In models with Touch Bar, the ambient light sensor isn't connected to the traditional SMC, but to the iBridge instead. For it to function, you need the third-party apple-ib-als kernel module you can find in the following git repository: https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver

An accelerometer isn't available at all.

Thunderbolt

Works out of the box.

Up to now power management support for the Thunderbolt controllers isn't complete yet, resulting in unnecessary battery drain when no devices are attached to the Thunderbolt ports.

Touch Bar

Not working out of the box, but thanks to @roadrunner2 basic functionality is working using the apple-ib-tb kernel module you can find in the following git repository: https://github.com/roadrunner2/macbook12-spi-driver

Starting with Linux 5.9 a forked version of the driver is necessary, which is available at https://github.com/PatrickVerner/macbook12-spi-driver

Missing is as of now just the advanced functionality with custom graphics Apple offers in macOS.

Touch ID

Not working.

USB

Works out of the box.

Wi-Fi

The MacBook Pro models without Touch Bar come with a Broadcom Limited BCM4350 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter which works fine out of the box using the brcmfmac driver (ensure you got the matching firmware package installed).

The MacBook Pro models with Touch Bar come with a Broadcom Limited BCM43602 802.11ac Wireless LAN SoC (rev 02) which is also supported by brcmfmac, but has several issues rendering it unusable, caused by the available firmware. The issues are caused by failing country detection and are:

Only 2.4Ghz APs are shown
Connecting to an AP barely works or fails directly

According to Broadcom releasing a fixed firmware would require verification to ensure that it complies with regulatory limits, which is very unlikely to happen as it wouldn't provide enough return on investment for them (see https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=193121 for details).

The MacBookPro16,1 comes with a Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM4364 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 04) which is detected with wifi patches from here but doesn't work as no appropriate firmware is available. Catalina firmware doesn't seem to work here and no pre-Catalina firmware is available for this card.

Misc

History of improvements per kernel version

4.9

Working AMD graphics of the MacBookPro13,3 (which is the only model with both Intel and AMD graphics).

4.10

intremap=nosid as kernel boot parameter not necessary anymore, although it's unclear why.

4.11

The NVMe controller in the MacBookPro13,1 and MacBookPro13,2 is now working out of the box (the one in the MacBookPro13,3 was already working before). (linux/commit/124298b)
When booting with kernel modesetting (KMS) the screen isn't scrambled during boot anymore.

4.13

On the Touch Bar models the FaceTime HD camera is working out of the box. (linux/commit/7b848ed)
Adds support for the Alpine Ridge 4C Thunderbolt Chip used in the MacBook Pro's (linux/commit/5e2781b)

4.14

Includes the foundation for upstreaming the applespi-driver. (linux/commit/ca9ef3a, linux/commit/899596e, linux/commit/75fc70e, linux/commit/630b3af)

4.16

Bluetooth is now working out of the box. (linux/commit/8353b4a, linux/commit/8bfa7e1, linux/commit/4c33162)

4.20

Fixes a garbled screen issue with Intel graphics when using KMS, introduced with Linux 4.18. (linux/commit/d9a5158)
Fixes a black screen issue for models with AMD graphics, introduced with Linux 4.18. (linux/commit/07e3a1c)
Fixes a GPE storm, which caused unnecessary battery drain. (linux/commit/ca1721c)

5.1

Fixes a regression introduced with Linux 4.17 with prevented the MacBook Pro's without Touch Bar to boot. (linux/commit/6f913de)

5.3

The applespi driver for the internal keyboard and trackpad of the MacBookPro13,* and MacBookPro14,* is now included upstream and works out of the box. (linux/commit/038b1a0)

5.4

Includes support for the NVMe controller found in MacBookPro's released since 2018. (linux/commit/6634133)

5.8

Fixes the built-in display for the MacBookPro13,3, which stopped working in Linux 5.6. (linux/commit/cbd14ae) This fix also got backported to the 5.7.8 stable kernel.

iBridge

The models with Touch Bar feature an additional USB device, called iBridge (Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05ac:8600 Apple, Inc.). It's the interface to the embedded T1-chip running iOS and providing access to the ambient light sensor, the FaceTime HD camera, the Touch Bar and Touch ID.

A prerequisite for all devices connected to the iBridge to work is a firmware stored by macOS on the EFI system partition (ESP). For the time being the easiest way to keep this firmware available is to install Linux in addition to macOS and keeping the contents of the original ESP in place.

If the iBridge couldn't be initialized (e.g. because the firmware is missing), instead of the usual USB device, the following USB device is present: Apple Mobile Device [Recovery Mode] (Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ac:1281 Apple, Inc.)

usb-devices shows that iBridge exposes four interfaces:

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=ef(misc ) Sub=02 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  3
P:  Vendor=05ac ProdID=8600 Rev=01.01
S:  Manufacturer=Apple Inc.
S:  Product=iBridge
C:  #Ifs= 4 Cfg#= 1 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=0e(video) Sub=01 Prot=00 Driver=uvcvideo
I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=0e(video) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=uvcvideo
I:  If#= 2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=01 Prot=01 Driver=usbhid
I:  If#= 3 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 Driver=usbhid

The two video interfaces could be the FaceTime HD camera and the Touch Bar, while the two HID interfaces could be the Touch Bar and the Touch ID button.

Booting macOS as a VM interestingly leads to the following changed output of usb-devices:

T:  Bus=01 Lev=01 Prnt=01 Port=02 Cnt=01 Dev#=  2 Spd=480 MxCh= 0
D:  Ver= 2.00 Cls=ef(misc ) Sub=02 Prot=01 MxPS=64 #Cfgs=  3
P:  Vendor=05ac ProdID=8600 Rev=01.01
S:  Manufacturer=Apple Inc.
S:  Product=iBridge
C:  #Ifs= 8 Cfg#= 2 Atr=e0 MxPwr=0mA
I:  If#= 0 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=0e(video) Sub=01 Prot=00 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 1 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=0e(video) Sub=02 Prot=00 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 2 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 3 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=10() Sub=00 Prot=00 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 4 Alt= 0 #EPs= 0 Cls=02(commc) Sub=0d Prot=00 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 5 Alt= 1 #EPs= 2 Cls=0a(data ) Sub=00 Prot=01 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 6 Alt= 0 #EPs= 1 Cls=03(HID  ) Sub=00 Prot=01 Driver=usbfs
I:  If#= 7 Alt= 0 #EPs= 2 Cls=ff(vend.) Sub=f9 Prot=11 Driver=usbfs

macOS somehow initializes some additional capabilities of the iBridge. Those additional interfaces are likely responsible for Touch Id and the advanced graphical functionality of the Touch Bar. There might also be some kind of interface for iBridge-firmware updates.

Disable auto-boot

Apple introduced an "auto-boot" feature with the MacBook Pro 2016 causing the notebook to be switched on, whenever the screen lid is opened. By modifying a NVRAM variable this can be (luckily) disabled again.

How to do that from macOS as well as enabling the startup chime again is documented e.g. at http://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/10/31/how-to-stop-the-new-macbook-pro-from-automatically-turning-on-when-the-lid-is-open/

To disable auto boot from within Linux, ensure that efivarfs is mounted and run:

printf "\x07\x00\x00\x00\x00" > /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/AutoBoot-7c436110-ab2a-4bbb-a880-fe41995c9f82

If you get "No space left on device" errors, it's probably because of dump-type0-*-variables written by the Linux kernel taking up all space. Removing them solves the problem:

for i in $(find /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/ -name 'dump-type0*'); do chattr -i $i; rm $i; done

With disabled auto boot the MacBook Pro will show the battery percentage for a brief second as an image on the screen whenever you open the lid or plug in the power cord while the lid is open.

To re-enable auto boot again run:

chattr -i /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/AutoBoot-7c436110-ab2a-4bbb-a880-fe41995c9f82
rm /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/AutoBoot-7c436110-ab2a-4bbb-a880-fe41995c9f82

Cheap and reliable Node.js hosting starts at $3/month, and $1/month static HTML hosting

Dunedan / Mbp 2016 Linux

Programming Languages

Labels

Projects that are alternatives of or similar to Mbp 2016 Linux

State of Linux on the MacBook Pro 2016 & 2017

Contribution

Current status

Audio input & output

Battery

Bluetooth

FaceTime HD camera

Graphics card

Intel

AMD

Keyboard & Touchpad

NVMe

Screen

Suspend & Hibernation

System Management Controller

Thunderbolt

Touch Bar

Touch ID

USB

Wi-Fi

Misc

History of improvements per kernel version

4.9

4.10

4.11

4.13

4.14

4.16

4.20

5.1

5.3

5.4

5.8

iBridge

Disable auto-boot

Links