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Magic Mouse keeps losing connection

For the past several days, my magic mouse keeps losing connection to my MacBook Pro, and most of the time it won't even connect at all. I thought the batteries needed changing at first, but that didn't help either. I keep going into my Bluetooth settings to try and manually connect it but, again, it didn't work. Can anyone suggest ways to try to fix this problem?

Magic Mouse-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Sep 2, 2012 1:21 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 9, 2012 10:12 AM

I had this problem too, turns out a slight design flaw with the mouse is that smaller batteries come loose and power is lost, so the bluetooth dies. You'll probably find that it loses connection when you're moving it around quite a lot, in particular, when you lift it up off of the desk and put it back down again. See, different brands of battery tend to be ever so slightly varied in size, and smaller ones tend to be more 'loose' in the mouse and an be shaken loose when moving the mouse around.


The best solution (the one which worked for me) is to grab a set of Apple's own rechargeable batteries from their store as they are just the right size to fit in the mouse without ever being shaken loose.


If you can't do this, some people find that wedging a bunch of paper between the two batteries and between the batteries and the mouse door can help keep them in place.


I hope this solves your problem as it has mine. 🙂

231 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 9, 2012 10:12 AM in response to ryansfreeze

I had this problem too, turns out a slight design flaw with the mouse is that smaller batteries come loose and power is lost, so the bluetooth dies. You'll probably find that it loses connection when you're moving it around quite a lot, in particular, when you lift it up off of the desk and put it back down again. See, different brands of battery tend to be ever so slightly varied in size, and smaller ones tend to be more 'loose' in the mouse and an be shaken loose when moving the mouse around.


The best solution (the one which worked for me) is to grab a set of Apple's own rechargeable batteries from their store as they are just the right size to fit in the mouse without ever being shaken loose.


If you can't do this, some people find that wedging a bunch of paper between the two batteries and between the batteries and the mouse door can help keep them in place.


I hope this solves your problem as it has mine. 🙂

Sep 13, 2012 8:47 AM in response to sbeddoesdesign

THIS WORKED GREAT !!! - my magic mouse was driving me insane! - everytime I just slightly lifted it it would diconnect!


I cut a piece of paper 8cm x 8cm and folded it twice to get a 4cm x 4cm square...


Then I folded it once more to get a 4cm x 2cm rectangle...


Then I folded down, outwards and in half the two long (4cm) edges, making a 4cm x 1cm rectangle that when let lose opens up into what looks like a small unfinnished paper aeroplane.


Finally I wedged the middle fold between the two batteries and let the outer folds open up, one on top of each battery.


Closed the lid - right snug - no more probs


😁

Dec 17, 2012 12:18 PM in response to Keith Jones

Boo-yah! That was it for me, as well!


I have both an iPhone 4 and a Nexus S 4G sitting in charging stands, right in front of my mousing surface. I was thinking it was radio interference from somewhere, but I kept thinking it was due to 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi activity (I even switched my daughter's MacBook Pro to the 5GHz connection, thinking this was a contributing factor, and disabled Wi-Fi on my own MacBook Pro next to my desk). I stupidly never even considered the phones.


Turning off the Bluetooth radio on my phones cleared up the problem and my mouse is smooth as silk.


Folding paper into 2mm triangles...? That made me laugh out loud 😁

May 29, 2014 2:12 AM in response to Linelle Lane

I was about to throw both of my mice against the wall. But after adding the metal washers, I've not had one single lost connection!


Apple should even consider including those metal washers (or similar add-on solution) in the package until they've changed the mechanical design of the battery compartment to better adapt to small variations in battery size.


Apple, look at this picture. Those two cheap metal washers make the diffrence between extremely annoyed users and 100% satisfied users of a mouse that deserves to do the magic instead of having it ruined by poor battery compartment design.


User uploaded file

Sep 9, 2015 11:59 PM in response to ryansfreeze

So I don't know if this has been suggested before but I will share the fix for me anyway, I am using my Magic Mouse with both my Mac and PC at work, the PC kept losing connection but the Mac was fine, so it turns out Windows wants to be smart and disconnects from the mouse whenever it thinks it is able to.


To turn this off, go to Device Manager, open the properties of your Bluetooth controller and disable: Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.


User uploaded file

This did the trick for me.

Credit for the fix: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/bluetooth-mouse-disconnects


Cheers

May 13, 2016 1:55 AM in response to ryansfreeze

My mouse connection problem has just started, and it is dropping off every 10 seconds, after pretty much every use. The mouse is about 1.5 years old and came with the iMac. I have never had the problem before and I have not recently changed batteries.


Following this thread I have -

  • Reset PRAM and SMC
  • Cleaned the battery connectors
  • Added the paper to make it very secure
  • Removed phone & turned off all Bluetooth devices


As I haven't changed the batteries recently, or had this problem ever in 1.5 years, I don't think it can suddenly be caused by non connecting batteries.


It is making it impossible to use the computer at all. The "connection lost" sign comes up and then 5 seconds later the "connected" sign comes up, then 5 seconds later "connection lost" and so on.


The only thing I can think of, to enable me to work today, is to buy a USB mouse.

Sep 14, 2012 1:49 PM in response to hwv.5934

I have done all of these things to keep the magic mouse working. It has been working for a couple of weeks and started all over again. I am tired of having wedge foil and paper to keep the mouse working properly. I have finally taken the suggest from Apple support and have reverted back to my ProMouse. Maybe will try a trackpad one of these days. I just wished Apples would have offered me an exchange Magic Mouse for a Magic Trackpad.

Dec 9, 2012 4:14 AM in response to ryansfreeze

Its the Phone!


I have been having the same problem......intermittently the mouse keeps dropping connection.


Keyboard is fine, Track pad is fine.......however the mouse keeps dropping the connection.


I was just about to log a call with Apple, then suddenly bingo I said to the boss has it been doing this in the week.....and the answer gave it away, NO.


Ok whats different, I turned my mobile phone off that sits on the same ink blotter and now its fine.


As for batteries as initially I was thinking the same, but that was a red herring, I was thinking ah the charge, its dropping down too quickly......I have GP ReCyko rechargeables upto 1000 and AA 2100mah NiMH and to be honest spot on.


And the plus side if you charge them, they do retain a high percentage of their charge in storage they say 90% for up to 12mths.


Anyway it was my phone N95

Dec 18, 2012 9:31 AM in response to ryansfreeze

Been trying to fix this for months, maybe years. Adding paper worked for me. (Checking for bluetooth interference from the phone was obvious: turned that off months ago and mouse still kept disconnecting.) Am using Duracell rechargeable batteries which have also had varying fits in other appliances/units so will smile while making little paper triangles and laugh because they DO work.

Dec 18, 2012 9:38 AM in response to drm1029

Sorry... I wasn't trying to make fun of anyone; I think there are two, separate problems at work.


1. loose batteries, which should cause the mouse to completely disconnect - I have to believe that even a momentary loss of power shuts down the mouse and you loose the connection; so, good call on the battery solution;


2. irratic connection, which I attribute to radio interference at 2.4GHz, which presents not as a complete disconnect but as a 'stuttering' mouse cursor. While my mouse would sometimes disconnect completely, the larger problem for me was the jerky cursor behavior.


Interestingly, it had nothing to do with the BT radio on the Nexus S 4G - that was already disabled; it appeared to be entirely caused by the BT radio in my iPhone 4.

Jan 13, 2013 8:40 AM in response to ryansfreeze

I had the same problem and I made of my own solution to it. It is very simple.

Using a Q-tip cotton swab, and break it in middle. put the two halves in between batteries with cotton side to two ends. Then close the lid, sound and tight. This prevent any small shaking when you move the mouse and cause the batteries losing contact.


Good luck and happy using Magic Mouse.

Magic Mouse keeps losing connection

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