Learn what to do if the mouse or trackpad pointer on your Mac feels slow, laggy, or unresponsive, creating a frustrating experience.
The solutions here apply to Apple’s Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and other third-party mice and trackpads.
1. Make sure your mouse or trackpad is charged
If the device connected to your Mac isn’t charged or has degraded batteries, the cursor will lag, and you’ll have an overall poor experience. To fix this pointer delay, charge or replace its batteries as needed.
2. Restart your Mac
Temporary glitches like an irregular mouse or trackpad pointer and laggy input can be fixed by restarting your Mac. Click the Apple menu and select Restart.
3. Turn off the trackpad or mouse and turn it back on
If your mouse or trackpad has a button to turn it off, do that. If it doesn’t have a dedicated power button, move its pairing button to the off position or pull out the replaceable battery and reinsert it.
4. Turn Bluetooth off and on
If you only use a Bluetooth mouse, trackpad, and keyboard, macOS won’t let you turn off Bluetooth, as that’s how it communicates with the wireless peripherals. So, connect a wired keyboard and mouse if you have one. If you have an Apple Magic keyboard and trackpad, connect them via the Lightning or USB-C cable to your Mac. Then, go to System Settings > Bluetooth and turn it off. Wait for 30 seconds, then turn Bluetooth back on.
5. Clean the device surface
If you’re using a trackpad, wipe its surface with a soft, dry cloth to remove dirt, oil, and other debris. For a mouse, clean the railing and remove any debris from the bottom laser opening.
6. Ensure you’re using the mouse on a flat surface
A mouse won’t work correctly on a bedsheet or other uneven surfaces. Use a flat surface like your desk, and clean your mousepad if necessary.
7. Adjust the tracking speed
You can customize the mouse and trackpad speed in Mac settings and see if this improves your experience. Go to System Settings and select Trackpad or Mouse from the bottom left. Stay in the Point & Click tab and adjust the Tracking speed.
8. Try using a different cable to connect your Mac to the display
I connect my Mac mini to my monitor with a USB-C cable. But recently, I had to move data from one external SSD to another, so I freed up the USB-C slots by connecting the monitor with a cheap HDMI cable I bought from Amazon. After doing that, I started noticing significant cursor delay. I then went to Mac’s display settings and found that the refresh rate had also changed from 60Hz to 30Hz. I was able to fix these issues and restore normal performance by simply using a better HDMI cable — the one I received with my 4K monitor.
9. Remove the USB drive from your USB port
In rare situations, your wireless mouse or trackpad can be jerky and slow even after trying all the above options. If you’re using a USB drive with your Mac, remove it from the USB port and see if that improves the situation.
I can attest that this solution worked for me, and my mouse cursor started working normally after I unplugged the USB drive from my MacBook Pro’s USB port. I had a bus-powered USB 3.0 hard drive connected to my Mac, and that, as it turns out, was what caused the problem.
An old Apple support document (that has since been removed) noted that this can be a problem:
I sometimes have difficulty with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth devices when USB 3 devices are attached to my computer. What could be wrong?
Some USB 3 devices, hard drives, in particular, can generate radio frequency interference that can cause Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices operating in the 2.4GHz band to have issues communicating with your computer. Do not place hard drives or other USB devices behind the rear of your Mac near the hinge of your screen. The antennas for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are located there, and USB 3 devices placed there may interfere with your wireless connections. See this white paper for more information.
So, the problem stemmed from the radio frequency interference generated by the USB 3.0 hard drive. If you have an external hard drive, try moving it away from the vicinity of your MacBook’s hinge, where the Bluetooth radio is located. I’ve found that relocating the device further away can help resolve the issue.
10. Remove any new wireless electronic device nearby
A new wireless electronic device or piece of equipment you recently placed near your Mac may be causing interference. To rule that out, make sure to keep any new wireless electronics farther away from your Mac.
11. Update your Mac
Things might not work correctly if your Mac is running an old version of macOS. So, head to System Settings > General > Software Update to get the latest version.
12. Stop apps from launching automatically
A few people have found that if they stop apps from launching automatically on Mac’s startup, this helps with the speed and responsiveness of the mouse or trackpad.
13. Unpair and re-pair the mouse or trackpad
Connect another mouse or trackpad, then go to System Settings > Bluetooth and click the info button ⓘ next to the mouse or trackpad. Click Forget This Device and confirm. After that, restart your Mac and the mouse or trackpad and pair it again to your computer.
14. Reset your Mac’s Bluetooth module
Still no luck? Cursor still lagging? Follow the steps to reset your Mac’s Bluetooth module. This will hopefully fix the Bluetooth issues you’re having on your Mac.
1) Make sure you’re in Finder and click Go from the top menu bar.
2) Press the Option key, and you’ll see the Library option appear in the list. Click it.
3) Scroll down and open the Preferences folder.
4) From here, delete these files:
For mouse:
- com.apple.AppleMultitouchMouse.plist
- com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist
- com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist
For trackpad:
- com.apple.AppleMultitouchTrackpad.plist
- com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.trackpad.plist
- com.apple.preference.trackpad.plist
- com.apple.Trackpad-Settings.extension.plist
Tip: If you have difficulty finding these files, type “mouse” or “trackpad” in the search bar and click Preferences next to “Search.”
5) Restart your Mac.
6) Pair the Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad again, and it should no longer have any delays, lags, or unresponsiveness issues.
16. Reset SMC and NVRAM
If you’re facing this problem on a Mac with an Intel processor, reset the system management controller (SMC) and non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM or PRAM) and see if that helps.
17. Reset all custom settings
If you customized the button click, lighting, cursor speed, etc., of the third-party mouse or trackpad, use the same app or service to reset it to default. Once that’s done, connect it to your Mac to fix the problem.
Try another mouse or trackpad to determine where the problem lies
If the problem persists despite trying all these solutions, borrow a mouse or trackpad from a friend or family member and pair it with your Mac. If the borrowed device works fine, it indicates an issue with your mouse or trackpad rather than your Mac. You can address this by contacting Apple Support in case of Magic Mouse/Trackpad or the concerned third-party mouse manufacturer.
Also, check out: How to use your Mac’s keyboard, mouse, and trackpad seamlessly and wirelessly with your iPad