How to Change Mouse Speed on Mac

Macs ship with mouse tracking on the conservative side, and Windows switchers in particular find the pointer sluggish. The fix is one slider — and if you drive a 4K or ultrawide display and the slider maxed out still isn't enough, one Terminal command goes further.

The Tracking speed slider

1. Connect your mouse, then open System Settings → Mouse.
2. Drag the Tracking speed slider toward Fast.
3. Test with real work — aim at a few menu bar icons and window buttons, not just open space.

Same steps on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia. The setting is per-pointer-type: your trackpad keeps its own speed under System Settings → Trackpad, so tuning the mouse won't make the trackpad twitchy.

Remember macOS applies pointer acceleration by default: move the mouse slowly and the pointer covers less distance than the same motion made quickly. If your problem is inconsistency rather than speed — flick-shots in games landing differently each time — the fix is disabling acceleration, not raising this slider.

Beyond the slider: Terminal

The slider tops out at a scaling value of 3. The preference behind it accepts more:

# read the current value first (slider max = 3)
defaults read -g com.apple.mouse.scaling

# set a higher sensitivity, e.g. 5
defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 5.0

# undo — remove the override, then re-set the slider normally
defaults delete -g com.apple.mouse.scaling

Log out and back in for it to apply. Touching the Tracking speed slider afterwards overwrites your custom value with an in-range one, so treat the two methods as either/or. If you're on a gaming mouse, also check its own DPI buttons and vendor software — hardware DPI multiplies with this setting, and it's often the better place to add raw speed.

Tracking vs scrolling vs double-click speed

Three different “speeds” get conflated; each has its own home:

• Tracking speed — how far the pointer moves. The slider above.
• Scrolling speed — how fast pages move per wheel notch or finger swipe. For mice: System Settings → Accessibility → Pointer Control → Mouse Options…, then the Scrolling speed slider.
• Double-click speed — how quickly two clicks must land to count as a double-click. Also under Accessibility → Pointer Control: the Double-click speed slider. If double-clicks keep registering as two singles, slow this down — it's a far more common fix than a new mouse.

The Accessibility location surprises people, but it covers every pointing device and works for third-party mice that have no settings pane of their own.

Pointer still misbehaving?

If the pointer stutters or hesitates regardless of speed settings, look at the connection instead: Bluetooth interference from USB 3 hubs, a low mouse battery, or a crowded 2.4 GHz dongle all masquerade as “speed” problems. Wired in, a flaky mouse gets instantly smooth — that's your diagnosis. If the wired test doesn't exonerate the connection, work through the Bluetooth side properly before replacing anything.

While you're in the Mouse pane, two neighbors are worth a glance. Natural scrolling decides whether the page follows your fingers (phone-style) or the scroll wheel's direction (Windows-style) — switchers usually want it off. And left-handers can swap the primary mouse button in the same settings area, so the index finger keeps the main click on either hand. Every one of these is per-user and takes effect instantly, so experiment freely — nothing here needs a restart, and nothing is more than one toggle away from how it was.

Chasing 1:1 movement?

If consistent aim matters more than raw speed, acceleration is the setting to kill — see how to turn off mouse acceleration on Mac.