macOS Sierra magic mouse has a slow tracking speed

Question

Level 1

10 points

macOS Sierra magic mouse has a slow tracking speed

Prior to macOS Sierra I used SmoothMouse to increase my Magic Mouse's tracking speed as the default maximum was far too slow. After installing Sierra, it stopped working, and according to this article it will not support Sierra at all.

I've tried other solutions read online:

BetterTouchTool, which actually worked on my work computer (Magic Mouse 2), but not on my personal computer (Magic Mouse 1).
I figured it was a long shot since the post was so old, but I tried modifying mouse scaling via the command line, as outlined in this post.
ControllerMate

And nothing changed.

I'm wondering: Has anyone else experienced this problem with macOS Sierra? And if so, have you found a solution? Or if not, is there any news or statement as to why the default maximum tracking speed is so slow?

Thanks,

Cohen

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch,Early 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12), magic mouse 1

Posted on Oct 8, 2016 3:41 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 6, 2017 5:01 PM in response to freewalker

It is infuriating that Apple hasn't fixed that yet.

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Answer 2

Jodiuh

Level 1

8 points

Oct 26, 2017 11:40 PM in response to sjpye

Thanks!!!!

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Answer 3

Mar 13, 2017 1:23 PM in response to Coh3n

I always used the terminal command

"defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling SPEED IN NUMBER"

to increase the speed over the maximum available through system settings. Since Sierra this is not possible any longer. Is there maybe a different terminal command?

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Answer 4

Jun 3, 2017 7:02 AM in response to Coh3n

Struggled one whole day, tried everything including reinstalling Mac OS and resetting NVRAM, etc.

Finally got it fixed by deleting Smoothscroll, it is not compatible with Mac OS Sierra.

Hope it helps.😎

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Answer 5

Jun 18, 2017 8:58 AM in response to SnowGepard

I'm new to macOS, using my MacBook Pro for only a week, and one glaring thing that I noticed is the Magic Mouse pointer speed is very slow. I searched the web and cam upon the Terminal command solution, to no avail. So, is it really confirmed that this solution no longer works?

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Answer 6

Jul 8, 2017 5:42 PM in response to sjpye

Dude! You single handedly solved the Magic Mouse 1 and 2 problem. It's just too bad that there will only be a handful of people that actually see this post and Apple ain't talking. Kudo's and two thumbs up too you sir.

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Answer 7

Jul 17, 2017 11:51 AM in response to norm123

Seriously? Apple can't do something as simple as making a mouse driver that works? This is proof that Tim Cook doesn't use a Mac. If he did it would have been fixed by now.

Who ever thought there would be a help discussion over getting an Apple mouse to work properly.

I've only read about this and haven't tried it, but maybe it will help. Search for "mac mouse tracking speed terminal". There is a way to increase tracking speed using Terminal, where you change the maximum track speed number. The default setting is "defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling
3.0". It can be changed to "defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling
5.0".

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Answer 8

Aug 30, 2017 6:30 AM in response to Coh3n

I needed to speed up trackpad beyond max, and this worked in Sierra:

defaults write -g com.apple.trackpad.scaling -float 5.0

For mouse, this should work:

defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling -float 5.0

From StackOverflow:

mac - How to increase "tracking speed" beyond the maximum? - Ask Different

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Answer 9

sjpye

Level 1

14 points

Jan 3, 2017 4:26 AM in response to Coh3n

Have you tried using MagicPrefs? I find that the Magic Mouse 2 is not retaining its tracking speed setting for me, and setting the tracking using MagicPrefs seems to work for me.

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Answer 10

norm123

Community Specialist

Oct 9, 2016 3:19 PM in response to Coh3n

Hello Coh3n,

I understand that you are experiencing some issues with the tracking speed of the mouse on macOS Sierra and the previous version of macOS as well. I know it is nice to be able to have the mouse settings customized to your preferences. Let's see what we can do.

The first thing that I'd like to have you do is boot the Mac into safe mode and then test the tracking speed out.

macOS Sierra: Start up in safe mode

If the issue doesn't occur in safe mode, then you'll want to review this article:

macOS Sierra: If you think you have incompatible login items

If the issue does occur in safe mode, please test it out in a test user.

How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac

Let us know how it goes, and if you still continue to have issues, please let us know if this occurs in any specific apps.

Have a great rest of your day.

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Answer 11

Coh3n Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 11, 2016 5:00 PM in response to norm123

Thanks for the help, norm123.

Just to be clear, I did not experience this issue on older versions of macOS -- only Sierra, and only on Magic Mouse 1; everything works fine on Sierra with Magic Mouse 2.

Neither starting in Safe Mode nor trying a test account changed the result -- the mouse tracking speed is still too slow.

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Answer 12

norm123

Community Specialist

Oct 12, 2016 9:41 AM in response to Coh3n

Thanks for clarifying that for us, Coh3n. At this time, we'd like to have you reinstall the macOS Sierra, then test again with the tracking speed.

macOS Sierra: Reinstall macOS

Cheers.

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Answer 13

Coh3n Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 12, 2016 3:44 PM in response to norm123

Unfortunately, reinstalling Sierra didn't help.

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Answer 14

chuck_3rd

Community Specialist

Oct 12, 2016 4:04 PM in response to Coh3n

Thanks for doing all those troubleshooting steps. At this time, due to the nature of your issue you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - Contact Apple Support.

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Answer 15

Coh3n Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 13, 2016 6:16 AM in response to chuck_3rd

The support for my product has expired, so I cannot contact Apple Support directly. It's not the end of the world -- the mouse is still usable. It's just annoying I can't make it any faster.

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