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Another thing terrible about the Settings app is you cannot navigate it with the keyboard only (at least I have not figured out how). So if your Bluetooth mouse fails (which happens at least once a week for me) you can’t use a keyboard alone to correct it. Nope you have to fish out a wired mouse, plug it in, and then reset Bluetooth or whatever it takes to get the BT mouse working again. Madness.

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Isn't the only way to navigate it now by using the search bar to find the thing you're looking for?

I jest, but there was a time when I could find my settings in under a minute or two.

Settings -> Keyboard -> Turn on "Keyboard Navigation"

Why on earth would that be off by default though?

Best guess is Apple finds it slightly unaesthetic and considers it more of an assistive function rather than strictly necessary for everyone.

I think its been this was as long as OS X has existed, maybe even earlier versions of Mac OS were the same?

For simple users, perhaps because it might be confusing (press some keys accidentally, something suddenly happens in the UI).

For some power users, perhaps because if you don't need it, it hijacks a lot of key combinations that you could use as custom keyboard shortcuts.

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