2019 MacBook Pro Cursor Keeps Going Invisible

A Troubleshooting Procedure that may Fix Problems with macOS El Capitan or Later

You should try each, one at a time, then test to see if the problem is fixed before going on to the next.

    Be sure to backup your files before proceeding if possible.

1. Shutdown the computer, wait 30 seconds, restart the computer.
2. Disconnect all third-party peripherals.
3. Resetting your Mac's PRAM and NVRAM
4. Reset the System Management Controller (SMC)
5. Reset your Startup Disk and Sound preferences, if needed, after resetting the PRAM.
6. Test in safe mode to see if the problem persists, then restart normally.  Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and Playing Safe - what does Safe mode do?
7. Repair the disk by booting from the Recovery HD. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Utility Menu appears. Choose Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.  Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait for the Done button to appear. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu. Restart the computer from the Apple Menu.
8. Repair permissions on the Home folder: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder.
9. Create a New User Account Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and enter your Admin password when prompted. On the left under Current User click on the Add [+] button under Login Options. Setup a new Admin user account. Upon completion log out of your current account then log into the new account. If your problems cease, then consider switching to the new account and transferring your files to it - Transferring files from one User Account to another.
10. Reinstall OS X by booting from the Recovery HD using the Command and R keys. When the Utility Menu appears select Install OS X then click on the Continue button.
11. Erase and Install OS X Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:

     1. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.

     2. When Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry) from the Device list.

     3. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.

     4. Set the Format type to APFS (for SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

     5. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.

     6. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.

     7. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

I posted this earlier:

I think you may have blundered into a side effect of "displays have separate spaces", which can also be invoked when you change a screen to "Full screen", then switch to a different app, Now treated as a separate "space".

I have never been a fan of either feature, but in the case of Full Screen, switching to non-full screen BEFORE you switch to another Application should solve the problem.

In the case of "Displays have separate spaces", perhaps invoking Mission Control would get your cursor back.

-------

you cancel "Full screen" by mousing near the Apple menu, not on the other side, so this all may be related.

I have a 2013 MacBook Air and I'm also experiencing this issue. I've noticed it a few times while using facebook and while using full screen but I notice it happening the most when I use multi-touch gestures, like 3 finger swipe left, to switch to another desktop or another app. It's quite annoying.

As a temporary fix, I noticed that when I enabled Mac's old "dashboard" feature (swipe three fingers right and you can use the calculator and calendar and stuff), that I can get the mouse to easily reappear.

• When the mouse disappears, swipe 3 fingers toward the right, to swap to "dashboard" display.
• Then simply click anywhere on the screen.
• When I swipe 3 fingers left (to go back to your main desktop display) the mouse reappears.

Not the best fix since Apple is phasing out the "dashboard" feature but it gets the mouse back without having to open and close your computer.

I am not sure why this would occur.

However, there are a few changes that can make this easier to live with:

system preferences > Accessibility > Displays ...

adjust the mouse cursor size one click larger than normal, AND

[√] Shake Mouse cursor to locate. [This shaking must be side-to-side, not up and down]

I think you may have blundered into a side effect of "displays have separate spaces, which can also be invoked when you change a screen to "Full screen", the switch to a different app, Now treated as a separate "space".

I have never been a fan of either feature, but in the case of Full Screen, switching to non-full screen BEFORE you switch to another Application should solve the problem.

In the case of "Displays have separate spaces", perhaps invoking Mission Control would get your cursor back.

Try turning off Wifi and disconnecting Ethernet cable and please report back to see if that did anything. For me when I boot up 50% of the time I'm now getting the vanishing cursor but the problem disappears when I disconnect my internet connection and then wait a few minutes and reconnect.

Do you happen to be using Safari?

Part of me wonders if it is a script that makes the cursor disappear when a video is playing in a browser.

Thanks for any input in helping to solve this annoying problem.

I have the same problem. seems to have started after the last update as well. Always happens with Zoom, and regularily happens with many other apps as well (VS Code, etc)

The only workaround that I've found to work is to cmd+tab, select another app to focus, and then it'll usually show back up again. but if I don't do that, all I can see are some transitions around the screen where it's hovering, but I can't see the cursor at all.

I do think I see what is happening here. Anytime you open up a full screen program with video of any sort your Mac is hiding the cursor as if you were trying to watch a movie. So a full screen zoom call, it believes is a movie. Apple should hotkey this somehow of you don’t want this to occur. For now the cmd+tab or the 4 fingers swipe up is working for us. It adds just that one more challenge each morning to my child attempting to school virtually.

If you're experiencing this issue when you open a window in full screen view, first press esc to downsize the window, and then press the mission control button (F3) to bring the cursor back. :)

Your symptoms sounds different.

Do you have a graphics tablet attached?

sometimes an unused graphics tablet with pen nearby can cause the cursor to re-home just from vibrations.

This started on my MacBook Pro after I installed updates yesterday. If I switch between apps, such as going from Word to Mail or Safari, the cursor disappears. If I swipe up with 3 fingers to go back to desktop, then click the app again, it comes back. Such a pain!

This is happening on both my new Macbook and on my newer iMac as well. It's a really annoying issue that happens across all my applications. The only "easy" way I've found to get the cursor back is to three finger swipe up out of full screen mode, and then the cursor usually appears. But I don't want my cursor to randomly disappear at all. I'm still looking for a permanent fix as well.

This is driving me crazy. New 16" MacBook Pro here and it's happened 3 times this week and a reboot doesn't fix it always. Cursor will reset to the middle and disappear every 2 or 3 seconds rendering the computer unusable.

This might sound weird but I disconnected my ethernet connection and it stopped.

On another occasion I switched off the wifi and it stopped.

I was trying to see what might be activated in the Activity Monitor but I couldn't see anything.

This was happening on an external monitor with trackball and trackpad in addition to the main notebook. I have turned off these devices to try and isolate but it doesn't seem to be the problem.

I hope this helps someone...

KSDan wrote:

I do think I see what is happening here. Anytime you open up a full screen program with video of any sort your Mac is hiding the cursor as if you were trying to watch a movie. So a full screen zoom call, it believes is a movie. Apple should hotkey this somehow of you don’t want this to occur. For now the cmd+tab or the 4 fingers swipe up is working for us. It adds just that one more challenge each morning to my child attempting to school virtually.

That is a good idea, but that isn't the only time the cursor disappears. I've had the cursor disappear with no open apps and I rarely have an app fullscreen when testing our organization's Macs. Your suggestion does make me wonder if some how this could still be what happens even without a full screen app open although it doesn't explain the weirdness of only retrieving the pointer by clicking only on the top left half of the menubar. It does give me something else to investigate next time it happens.

Does this happen with only one specific app?