How to change the speed of your mouse and trackpad on Mac

Do you feel like your mouse is moving too slow, your trackpad is moving too fast, or something in between? This tutorial shows you how to increase or decrease the mouse and trackpad pointer speed on Mac for the perfect experience.

Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad in both black and white colors

The steps here work for Apple’s Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, MacBook’s trackpad, as well as third-party mice and trackpads you have connected to your Mac.

Change the mouse speed

  1. Click the Apple icon  and choose System Settings.
  2. Select Mouse from the left sidebar.
  3. Be under the Point & Click heading and move the slider to adjust the Tracking speed.
Change mouse tracking speed on Mac

Before you close the window, move your mouse around to see if the speed is to your liking. When you’re happy with it, just close the settings window.

It’s important to note that the speed here will feel different on different mice. For example, when I use an Apple Magic Mouse, I like to keep it on the second fastest level. However, I set the tracking speed to somewhere in the middle when I use an inexpensive wired mouse. You can try what works best for you and the specific mouse you own.

Change the trackpad pointer speed

  1. Click the Apple icon  and select System Settings.
  2. Click Trackpad.
  3. From the Point & Click tab, move the slider to adjust the Tracking speed.
Change trackpad tracking speed on Mac

Again, use your MacBook’s trackpad or external trackpad a bit to see if the speed is right for you. You can then close the Trackpad settings window.

More tutorials for new Mac owners:

If you’ve owned a Mac for years, then things like how to change the speed of your mouse or trackpad are old news. But this type of how-to is helpful for new Mac owners, especially those who switched from Windows and are still getting used to the features of their computer.