Add an option to disable mouse acceleration [enhancement]

[noah-nuebling]

Add an option to disable mouse acceleration [enhancement]

[noah-nuebling]

Hey petersf-libre, thank you for the suggestion, I also think that that would be an awesome feature to have. I added your request to the list of feature ideas for Version 1.0.

I've already looked into this and unfortunately it seems very hard to change the pointer speed programmatically.

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Below are some of my thoughts/findings from looking into the topic. Might be useful of you want to look into it yourself.

I tried to change device parameters in the IORegistry. You can find the code I used for my experiments in "Mouse Fix Helper/PointerSpeed/PointerSpeed.m".

I figured out how to change acceleration (HIDMouseAcceleration) value programmatically. The problem is that I was not able to change sensitivity. While I was able to change a devices HIDPointerResolution value, which is also altered when you change sensitivity in SteerMouse, that did not have an effect on actual sensitivity, unfortunately.

I'm not sure if it makes sense to implement the ability to turn off pointer acceleration without giving the user the ability to change the pointer sensitivity as well. I'll have to look into this more, though.

If anybody knows how to change a devices pointer sensitivity programmatically, it would be super awesome if you let me know!

From what I understand, the "Tracking speed" slider in System Preferences only affects the acceleration value, as does the "defaults write .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling x" terminal command. There seems to be no "official" way of changing the sensitivity value at all, but weirdly, setting the acceleration value to a negative number using the terminal turns off acceleration and it increases sensitivity.

To maybe make some of the terminology clearer:
Sensitivity = pointer resolution → how fast your pointer moves when you move your mouse slowly
Acceleration = tracking speed → how fast your pointer moves when you move your mouse quickly

If you want to play around with the IORegistry I recommend you use IORegistryExplorer or IOJones.

[khesed]

In macOS Sonoma, this is built in.

[mrockwood]

Recently found this open source mac app that may provide some direction.

[karlhorky]

Came here from this Reddit comment, which asks for the same thing:

Is that hard to add disabling accelleration and precise cursor speed setting, no free alternatives for this. Many people searching for this who came from windows to mac

I would also love to have this feature of adjusting acceleration and sensitivity (tracking)! I've been looking for a SmoothMouse alternative since macOS Sierra was released (they discontinued development because Apple has deprecated “IOHID”).

Seems like CursorSense and SteerMouse are paid options (US $9.99 / $19.99) that implements this, although according to the SmoothMouse blog post linked above, it seems like this goes into the territory of tweaking / recreating the mouse driver:

SmoothMouse didn’t tweak the default driver of macOS like SteerMouse or USB Overdrive, it took its place instead

[karlhorky]

Not stale

[karlhorky]

Ah there's also a follow-up blog post from the SmoothMouse people that discusses efforts / alternatives, may offer some further clues for implementation options:

https://dae.me/blog/2243/macos-kernel-programming-bounty-to-revive-smoothmouse/

[karlhorky]

In macOS Sonoma, this is built in.

omg this feature was finally released 🤯 I thought macOS would never have it!

Starting with macOS Sonoma, no need for 3rd-party software like SteelSeries ExactMouse anymore!

Had to do some outreach about it:

• tweet https://twitter.com/karlhorky/status/1707018379104587871
• SmoothMouse shutdown blog post comment https://dae.me/blog/2144/on-macos-sierra-support-and-the-future-of-smoothmouse/#comment-257227
• SmoothMouse Reddit comment https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/57qbud/comment/k2ff8u4/?context=3
• FixMouse PR patrickjane/fixmouse#3
• MouseFix PR mfilej/mousefix#1
• NoMouseAccel PR apsun/NoMouseAccel#1
• LinearMouse issue linearmouse/linearmouse#618

@khesed thanks for the comment 🙌

[github-actions]

Stale issue message

[austiecodes]

Just here to make some insignificant suggestions. Since SteerMouse and CursorSense are paid options, once this feature is implemented, it could also be made a paid option. I have already paid for this app, and I don't want it to be abandoned because the developer lacks income as a reward for developing this amazing app.

[karlhorky]

@noah-nuebling since it sounds like you weren't planning on having this feature any time soon anyway, would it make sense to now close this issue?