Trackpad

How to disable inertial scrolling on your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2023

When the original iPhone launched ten years ago, it instantly captivated audiences with its smooth implementation of the multi-touch user interface and attention to detail like rubber band scrolling, which continues to scroll content after your finger has stopped moving until it gradually comes to a halt.

Also known as inertial scrolling, this feature eventually made its way into macOS to support Mac computers with a multi-touch trackpad or Magic Mouse. Since this behavior may not appeal to everyone, we've put together this quick tutorial to teach you how to disable inertial scrolling with just a few clicks.

Three finger drag gesture via new MacBook Pro’s trackpad acting up for some users

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2023

Three finger drag, a productivity-boosting multi-touch trackpad gesture in macOS, isn't working properly for some owners of Apple's new MacBook Pro. Both 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pros have larger trackpads than their predecessors, but for many people the gesture doesn't work at all.

For others, three finger drag works only intermittently or performs erroneously when used in one of the sides of the new MacBook Pro's Force Touch trackpad.

How to disable the fake clicking sound for MacBook trackpads

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated February 21, 2023

MacBook equipped with a Force Touch trackpad produces an audible ‘click’ sound in order to simulate the sound you would hear on a Mac without a Force Touch trackpad. It has no down travel and all you’re hearing is an audible sound when you click it. In this tutorial, we’ll talk about how to disable that fake clicking sound.

How to use your iPhone as a mouse or trackpad

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated July 3, 2018

Your iOS devices have some of the best touch screens out there. As a matter of fact your iPhone screen makes for a great mouse, or trackpad.

The idea of using iOS devices as a trackpad for your computer isn't new, but Mobile Mouse Remote is a great app that provides this kind of functionality with ease of use in mind. It even packs some useful bonus features.

If you're interested in this kind of functionality for your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, then this is something you're going to want to check out.

MacID’s ‘Tap to Unlock’ makes logging into your Mac even faster

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 12, 2019

Probably one of my most-used applications on my Mac is MacID, which I use on a daily basis to unlock my Mac without ever using the keyboard to enter a password. The application works in two ways – these include allowing you to use your iPhone or iPad's Touch ID sensor to log into your Mac, or using a secret 'Tap to Unlock' gesture on the multi-touch trackpad (or Magic Trackpad/Magic Trackpad 2) to log into your Mac.

Both ways can save a ton of time, and reduce wear and tear on your keyboard, but in this tutorial, we'll focus on how you can set up 'Tap to Unlock' in MacID on your Mac.

Teardown analysis of Magic accessories finds chips from other Apple products and more tidbits

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 23, 2015

Repair experts over at iFixit have performed an interesting triple teardown of Apple's latest Magic accessories—the Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard—and found that all three devices are outfitted with many of the same chips also found in other Apple products.

On the downside, Apple's unified approach to engineering the new Magic devices has resulted in just 3 out of 10 in iFixit's Repairability ratings due to high level of integration and excessive amount of adhesive.

10 things I dislike about Apple’s new Magic gadgets

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

I'm a huge fan of Apple's wireless keyboard, mouse and trackpad. My daily driver is a 2014 MacBook Air model and I also own a 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display which gets hooked up to the Air when I'm tied to my desk.

And of course, I also own a Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and Apple's Wireless Keyboard. These accessories soup up my desktop computing with precision input, wireless design and small footprint.

That being said, I'm currently on the fence of upgrading to Apple's new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard. I'm sure I'll eventually purchase them just because I'm sick and tired of buying new alkaline batteries every few weeks.

But right not, I'm having second thoughts because not everything about the new Magic devices is as rosy as Apple paints it.

Apple’s refreshed Magic accessories have introduced a new Bluetooth pairing process

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

Apple's just announced Magic accessories—the $99 Magic Keyboard, $79 Magic Mouse 2 and $129 Magic Trackpad 2—don't just feature a refreshed design with an integrated litium-ion battery, Bluetooth 4.0 and a built-Lightning port for recharging, but a new way to pair them with your computer.

The previous-generation mouse, keyboard and trackpad had to be paired to your Mac using the standard wireless pairing process for Bluetooth-compatible peripherals: you would go through the Bluetooth pane of OS X's System Preferences to scan for Bluetooth device and pair one to your computer.

With the Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard, the pairing process has been vastly simplified, however.

Meet Apple’s new Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2 and Magic Keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 13, 2015

In addition to refreshing its iMac lineup with enhanced screen technology and faster chips across all models, giving the 21.5-inch iMac a brand new Retina 4K display and removing non-5K Retina models from the 27-inch lineup, Apple has also introduced a trio of new accessories today.

As rumored before, the second-generation Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad have been announced, as well as an all-new aluminum keyboard marketed under the Magic Keyboard moniker.

References to Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 discovered in OS X code

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 8, 2015

References to unreleased Apple-branded mouse, keyboard and trackpad accessories have been discovered in OS X code by French blog Consomac. Code strings discovered in the latest OS X 10.11.1 beta 3 point to the Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2, which are likely next-generation versions of Apple-branded mouse and trackpad. In addition, the strings hint at a brand new keyboard, dubbed the Magic Keyboard.

How to disable the mouse pointer shake gesture on Mac

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

Have you ever woken your Mac up from sleep, and couldn't find the mouse pointer among the mess of windows and desktop icons. We've all been there before.

Starting with El Capitan, macOS is hoping to help out with that, courtesy of a brand new addition to the operating system. It's certainly not a headline feature, but macOS can help you quickly locate your mouse or trackpad pointer by simply shaking your mouse or swiping your finger back and forth on the trackpad in quick succession.

Watch our video inside to see how it works. We'll also show you where to go to disable the feature in System Preferences.

Using BetterTouchTool to cycle through Safari tabs

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

BetterTouchTool is a free Mac utility that allows you to supercharge your Mac's trackpad gestures. There are literally hundreds of uses for an app like this, but I'd like to share with you one particular use case scenario that I find extremely useful.

I've set up BetterTouchTool to allow my MacBook's trackpad to quickly cycle through all of my open tabs in Safari using a simple two-finger gesture. Have a look at our full demonstration video and tutorial for all of the details.