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I previously used BetterTouchTool to override the maximum mouse cursor speed in System Preferences. However, as of macOS Sierra, this is no longer possible according to the developer (source).

I am not sure if this is due to a technical limitation on part of the application, or if it indeed is impossible to override the maximum mouse cursor speed.

Note that I am referring explicitly to the Mouse cursor speed – not the Trackpad cursor.
I am looking to increase the cursor speed of my Logitech Performance Mouse MX (without the use of Logitech Control Center!).

So the question is: How can the maximum mouse cursor speed be overridden (with a permanent setting) in macOS Sierra? Perhaps it could be done by a Terminal command or editing a plist file, but the solution could entail a third-party app.

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5 Answers 5

Reset to default
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There are 2 FREE ways to accomplish getting mouse speeds over 5.0 accelleration on mac OS High Sierra:

  1. First, is by executing the command-line:

defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling X

where X is the amount of acceleration you want in the form of a number with one decimal space after it, then logging out, and logging back in. Therefore if you wanted to increase your speed to 8 acceleration you would type in the terminal the following command:

defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling 8.0

Note: If afterwords, you adjust the mouse controls in System Preferences again, you have to once again enter the terminal command and log out to regain your accelerated mouse settings.

  1. Second, is to use an app called mousezoom. It gets installed in preferences pane.
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    Thanks. Mousezoom worked for me. macOS Mojave 10.14.6
    – csonuryilmaz
    Dec 11, 2019 at 6:52
  • @csonuryilmaz you are welcome! Glad you found something!
    – DanRan
    Dec 14, 2019 at 20:26
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    MouseZoom works in Catalina, too. But you have to sudo xattr -d -r com.apple.quarantine /Library/PreferencePanes/MouseZoom.prefPane/ to get it past the unidentified developer thing that Apple put there to frustrate users.
    – frumbert
    Apr 15, 2020 at 0:36
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    mousezoom works like a charm! @frumbert thanks for the tip! It wouldn't work otherwise ;)
    – neox5
    Sep 28, 2020 at 17:50
  • MouseZoom at max speed (10) works for me! @frumbert Thanks. Notice that the ~ is missing before /Library. The readme of MouseZoom was helpful for the step before that.
    – Ryan
    Nov 19, 2020 at 19:37
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My system runs 10.12.6. I used to use usboverdrive.com for this, but found that (somehow) it interfered with Safari 11's cascading bookmark menus. Removing usboverdrive removed the menu issue.

Instead, I'm now using http://www.plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/. Steermouse also allows one to accelerate tracking speed. It doesn't interfere with Safari menus, and the website says it's "High Sierra ready."

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    Great app. Highly configurable. Regularly updated, now supports Big Sur.
    – camslice
    Jul 7, 2021 at 10:09
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For those who have touble increasing speed beyond with multiple approaches ... try "inverted" option in this tool http://triq.net/mac/mouse-acceleration it speeded up my mouse to some number like 65000 factor ... and it finally feels like normal speed for mouse

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I tried using this utility (http://triq.net/mac/mouse-acceleration) with a Dell Mouse, and it seems to help increase the tracking speed of a mouse or trackpad beyond the default maximum value (up to 6 times). This tool also works with macOS Sierra. Try and see if it works with your Logitech mouse.

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  • Thanks! I tried it, but 6x is not fast enough and seems to be roughly what System Preferences and/or BTT offers.
    – P A N
    Aug 21, 2017 at 16:40
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This command works:

defaults write -g com.apple.mouse.scaling  8.0

But:

  1. System needs to restart before changes to take effect.
  2. If you adjust the mouse speed again in system preferences, the increased mouse speed is reset to its normal range of speeds. So don't touch it.
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