How to Change the Pointer Sensitivity, Touchpad on a Mac

This practical guide walks through how to change the pointer sensitivity, touchpad on a Mac, explains the main requirements, and highlights common issues that may appear along the way.

macOS has independent speed controls for the touchpad and mouse. We'll explore both methods below.

Change the trackpad speed on Mac

In default settings, the trackpad built into your MacBook can slow down the movement of the cursor on the screen. You can increase or decrease the speed and sensitivity of the touchpad from the System Preferences menu.

To get started, click on the Apple logo in the top left corner of the screen and select the 'System Preferences' option.

Next, you click on the 'Trackpad' section.

Here, you switch to the 'Point & Click' tab at the top, then use the slider under 'Tracking Speed' to increase or decrease the touchpad sensitivity.

By default, the Trackpad's Tracking Speed ​​is set to level 4, but you can maximize it to level 10 or decrease it, depending on your usage habits.

Change mouse speed on Mac

In case you use an external mouse with your MacBook (Magic Mouse or a third-party mouse), you can still easily change the speed, sensitivity of the mouse pointer on the screen.

First, connect your mouse to your Mac via Bluetooth or a traditional USB port. Then, click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen and select the 'System Preferences' option.

Here, navigate to the "Mouse" section.

In the 'Point & Click' tab, you use the sliders in the 'Tracking Speed' section to increase or decrease the mouse speed as you like.

With 10 levels, you can try one after another to find the right sensitivity for your daily use of Mac.