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Shiny MacBook Keys?

12:35 video

If your new or nearly new Apple laptop has shiny spots on the keys, you’re not alone. Over the last decade or so, Apple seems to have changed something about its keyboard material, and after a few weeks of using a new laptop, you’ll notice it. It’s frustrating after spending a thousand or many thousands of dollars to find that one of the parts you touch most quickly changes.

It’s not grease

You’ll probably think it’s oil from your fingers (from the greasy French fries while surfing), wipe the keys, try a damp microfiber cloth, maybe rubbing alcohol, and it still won’t come off. It’s not grease: it’s the plastic of the keycaps wearing down and removing the matte finish. People are really annoyed, including prominent bloggers like M.G. Siegler and John Gruber. It’s a big blemish on otherwise nearly perfect hardware. It seems Apple chose a cheaper ABS plastic to make thinner keys and devices, and those keys lose their finish quickly.

Option 1: a keyboard cover

There are many on Amazon. I picked the Upperkey (uppercase) Ghost cover, which they say is thermoplastic polyurethane rather than silicone. It’s very slim, fits right on top of the MacBook keyboard with a cutout for the Touch ID sensor, and I got the clear version (a tinted version may fit the black keyboards better).

It’s surprisingly thin, lays right on the keyboard, fits between the grooves and around the edges, and helps keep dust, water and debris out. One online reviewer credits it with saving their butterfly keyboard through the years.

What I didn’t like:

  • The clear one doesn’t look great: it looks like there’s a cover over your keyboard.
  • Typing feels okay but different, with more resistance. I type more slowly and make more mistakes, missing keys or hitting the wrong key, deleting and retyping a lot. It may take adjustment, but if you switch between devices, going between one with a cover and one without is a mental shift. It reminds me of the iPad Smart Keyboard Folio’s mesh.
  • The backlight shines right through, so it’s fine in dim light.
  • Apple doesn’t recommend keyboard covers, because of the tight tolerance between keyboard and display. Mine is so thin that it probably doesn’t matter, and you can pull it off before closing the lid.
  • Because the shiny spots come from friction, I’m not sure the cover prevents them: the cover moves and flexes as you type, so rubbing still happens on the keys underneath. If you’ve used a cover over time, do you still get shiny spots? Let me know.

Overall, I’m not a fan of how it feels: less tactile, and I type slower.

Option 2: Keyshorts stickers

Keyshorts makes a two-layer matte sticker for each keycap. I chose black with white lettering to match the MacBook Pro. They also come in clear, and you can choose designs, submit your own, change the language, font, or size if you need bigger letters.

Install: cut off the side of the template to use as an applicator. One by one, peel a sticker off the template, stick it to the applicator’s corner, position it over the key, and place it. The first key (Escape) was the hardest, since you have to work out how it lines up; with the applicator you can lift and reposition until it’s centered, then peel out the applicator and smooth it with your finger. It took about 80 minutes for the whole keyboard, which killed my neck and back, so take a break.

Done, it looks almost indistinguishable from a regular keyboard; you can’t see the difference unless you get close or feel it. The backlight shows through the white letters but isn’t as bright as bare keys, so if bright backlighting matters, this may not be the best option.

My mistakes: I misplaced the O and F keys and pushed them down when removing the applicator. Peeling stickers up is difficult. I got a corner up on the 1 key, but there’s a small distortion of the second layer that won’t go away (the F too, less noticeable), and I accidentally put the O on the zero, which I couldn’t lift without destroying it. My advice: go slowly, and make sure it’s lined up before removing the applicator, or buy a second set as backup. Removal will probably be annoying too: Keyshorts says to peel from a corner slowly, leaving no residue.

The best part: it doesn’t change the look or feel at all. Every key feels the same, so you don’t adjust how you type, and you get cutouts for the home-row bumps, Caps Lock, and Touch ID. Friction will still wear the stickers like the keycaps, so you may need to replace them in months or years, but since they don’t move, the keys underneath should be fine, unlike with a cover.

Cost

  • Ghost cover: under $15 on Amazon, a cheap way to try.
  • Keyshorts: about $30, and it shipped from Poland, taking almost four weeks.

Verdict

These are the only two options I’ve found so far. If you’re super anal about keeping the keys perfect, go with Keyshorts and maybe buy two. I can’t get used to a full cover, especially when I switch devices. If you’ll keep your laptop a very long time, maybe accept it as part of the MacBook. If you upgrade frequently, either could help resale value. I’ll give Keyshorts another chance and ask for replacements for the ones I messed up. Is shiny keys enough of an issue for you to try something, or is there a better option?

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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