At long last, Apple appears to be listening. The Cupertino company is now formally addressing complaints of keyboard stickiness and malfunction on its newer MacBook models.

Apple now officially acknowledges that there are indeed some problems with the "butterfly" mechanism built into its more recent keyboards.

As a solution, it's offering an extended keyboard repair and service program for devices affected with issues, as iMore reports.

The program covers replacement of one or more keys, if not the whole keyboard entirely, depending on the extent of the customer's woes. It also covers eligible models up to four years since the date of purchase. All MacBook or MacBook Pro models, as long as they have a butterfly-style keyboard, appear to be included in the list of eligible devices. Take note that four years is far longer than typical warranty programs or even Apple's premium AppleCare Plus service, so it's best to take advantage of this while it's still up and running.

Apple Keyboard Repair Program

Apple's service page states that if you've encountered one of the issues listed below, then you should definitely go to the company and have your device repaired.

• If the letters or characters repeat unexpectedly.

• If the letters or characters do not appear.

• If one or multiple keys feel "sticky" or do not respond in a consistent manner.

Yet again, Apple says only "a small percentage of keyboards in certain MacBook and MacBook Pro models" are affected by such issues, as 9to5Mac reports:

Affected customers can get the servicing done free of charge at any Apple Authorized Service Provider. For those who have already paid to get their MacBook's keyboard fixed, Apple will promptly issue a refund as long as the service was performed through Apple and not third-party repair centers.

Butterfly Keyboard

Apple's ultra-thin butterfly-style keyboard was first introduced with its 12-inch MacBooks and has been adopted for the rest of its laptop lineup ever since. The design has been a topic of heavy debate since it launched, particularly because it was such a radical aberration from the squishiness of previous MacBook keyboards. The number of complaints about the keyboard has ballooned in the past several months, with people claiming it easily fails and is hard to repair because of its fragile design.

Customers can at least get a sigh of relief now that Apple is finally taking steps to solve the problem.

Check out Apple's support document detailing all the MacBook models covered in the program.