macOS 10.15.5 broke mouse pointer location on vertical display

I have an external display that I rotate 90 degrees so it sits vertical. Ever since upgrading to macOS 10.15.5, when my mouse gets close to the edge of the screen, the pointer location gets shifted.


The best way I can explain it is with a screenshot.


My mouse is where the red arrow is, and you can see the x in the tab is highlighted (x to the left of "New tab"). The OS thinks the mouse is hovering over the x, however my mouse is ~50 pixels to the left.


Any ideas? I've tried:

  • restarting
  • changing the scaled resolution of the vertical display
  • rotating display back to normal (no rotation, aka "Standard"). In this orientation I do not have the issue

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jun 16, 2020 9:14 AM

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Posted on Aug 17, 2020 8:34 AM

I found another workaround:

After re-connecting the cables, I changed the display "Rotation" setting in Sys. Prefs from 90º to 270º (and physically rotated the monitor 180º to match the display's visual rotation) and this has eliminated the mouse "worm hole" issue.


It would be great if this issue could be fixed though.

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75 replies

Jul 14, 2020 12:47 PM in response to rynop2000

Same problem here, as described above, I had a replacement laptop on 10.15.4 and it worked fine, but I accidentally updated and the issue came back :(


1440p center horizontal no scale, 4k 90 degree left side scale 1440, 4k 270 degree right side 1440 scale, MBP 16


Nothing I can do fix the issue, I have to position my windows to avoid the issue, super annoying!

Sep 24, 2020 3:23 PM in response to rynop2000

I'd like to reiterate here and confirm that i too am experiencing the exact same problem as well.


I have an external 4K ViewSonic VP2780 SERIES, and when set to 90 degrees and scaled in display settings, the problem with the mouse pointer position outlined in this tread persists.


It seems to disappear toward the right edge of the screen and/or clicking in that area does not target the correct position of the mouse. For example, when attempting to click the Search icon in the menu bar, the Siri icon is selected instead.



Nov 6, 2020 5:40 PM in response to rynop2000

Adding to this thread. I have a newer 16" MBP, running OSX 10.15.7 with an external monitor rotated at 90 degrees.


It definitely a weird UI bug. I've had to retrain myself to offset my clicks when close to the right side of the screen.


There's this invisible vertical stripe about 1.5" off the right of the monitor that runs the full length of the screen. To find it, you have to move the mouse pointer across that area very slowly (either direction works). The speed is key -- too fast, and the pointer skips over. As soon as the mouse pointer encounters the invisible stripe, the pointer suddenly vanishes as if into another dimension(?). You can scroll another approximate 1/2" before the pointer suddenly re-emerges, right about where it vanished. I wonder if this pocket-dimension screen-fold results in a calculation error between where the mouse pointer is positioned on the screen, and where the actual click happens. For my setup, click errors only happen on the right side of the stripe.

Nov 27, 2020 6:29 AM in response to rynop2000

My mbp 16` has this problem for a year.

I called to the Apple Service, they could not fix it.

So i waited for a year, but NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

I am using 2 external monitors, one is vertical.

In addition to this, i have another one. If i close macbook and connect to my monitors, the scan rate of my monitor drops to 30hz.

Plz, Apple. Fix these problems. There was no problem on 15` mbp.


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macOS 10.15.5 broke mouse pointer location on vertical display

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