How to Increase the Speed of Your Apple Magic Mouse on macOS
If your Apple Magic Mouse feels slow or unresponsive, you can boost its tracking speed beyond the limit offered in System Settings. macOS allows deeper customization through Terminal, which gives you full control over how quickly the pointer moves across your screen.
Why You May Want a Faster Magic Mouse
Increasing the tracking speed can help you:
- Move the cursor across large or multiple displays more efficiently
- Improve workflow speed and responsiveness
- Reduce hand movement and fatigue
- Customize your mouse for precision work or fast navigation
Step-by-Step Guide to Increase Magic Mouse Speed
1. Open Terminal
Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal and open it.
2. Check Your Current Mouse Speed
Run one of the following commands to view your active mouse scaling value:
defaults read .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scalingor
defaults read -g com.apple.mouse.scalingThis tells you the number macOS is currently using.
3. Set a New Faster Speed
Apple usually sets the value around 3 by default. You can increase it to something like 4–12 depending on your preference.
Example:
defaults write .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling 8or
defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 8You can adjust the number higher or lower until it feels right for you. Most macOS versions accept values up to: 10–20. Anything beyond that becomes extremely fast and often unusable.
4. Restart Your Mac
Reboot your Mac to apply the new speed setting to increase magic mouse speed.
Tips for Best Results
- If the pointer feels too fast, lower the value and test again.
- Higher numbers can be helpful on large monitors or high-resolution displays.
- Keep track of your original setting in case you want to revert it later.
- Software updates or system resets may return the value to default.
How This Works
The defaults write command modifies the com.apple.mouse.scaling preference, which controls how fast the pointer travels relative to your hand movement. macOS limits this in System Settings, but Terminal allows you to override that limit for greater flexibility.
Summary
You can make your Apple Magic Mouse significantly faster by changing a single macOS preference through Terminal. Read the current value, set a new one, and restart your Mac. The whole process takes less than a minute and gives you full control over the responsiveness of your mouse.
