The biggest (only?) issue with using a non-Apple mouse on macOS is losing that smooth scrolling, also known as kinetic scrolling.<\/p>\n
It might seem like a silly detail, but it\u2019s such a nice feature that I really miss when it\u2019s not there.<\/p>\n
A few years back, when I swapped out my MacBook’s trackpad for a cheap mouse, I found a solution in this quirky, free, open-source app called MOS<\/a>.<\/p>\n MOS does one thing, and it does it well. It has a few options to add exceptions to its effect, which is sometimes necessary, and it lets you hide the menu bar icon. Awesome!<\/p>\n All this time, though, I\u2019ve learned to live with (and accept) one major annoying flaw: it would \u201cfreeze\u201d the scrolling when it got interrupted in some apps made with Catalyst (Apple\u2019s tool for converting iPadOS apps to macOS) and Electron (web apps turned \u201cnative\u201d). It\u2019s hard to explain, but trust me, it\u2019s super annoying.<\/p>\n There aren\u2019t too many of them, but I use a few of those apps, like WhatsApp and Signal. Apple itself uses Catalyst in standard macOS apps like Maps, Messages, and Weather.<\/p>\n After almost two years of complete silence, MOS 3.5 just dropped the other day<\/a>, bringing just one fix:<\/p>\n In Catalyst apps, scrolling is not properly responded to immediately after scrolling stops, including Maps\/Messages\/Weather, etc\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While it doesn\u2019t mention it, the fix also applies to Electron apps.<\/p>\n After stumbling upon this update and sitting down to write this, that I realized there are alternatives to MOS, even if they come with their own issues (and I\u2019m not sure if they\u2019re immune to the glitch MOS had in Catalyst\/Electron apps).<\/p>\n There\u2019s magicScrollWheel (which hasn\u2019t been updated since 2020) and SmoothScroll<\/a> (proprietary and paid, a USD 10\/year subscription). The latter even has a version for Windows. I\u2019m not sure if Microsoft\u2019s system offers smooth scrolling; if not, it\u2019s worth a shot.<\/p>\n PS: SmoothScroll has a video<\/a> that explains smooth\/kinetic scrolling, which is tough to put into words, way easier to explain with moving images.<\/p>\n