Guides

Using a joystick as your Mac's mouse

Yes, a joystick can be your Mac's mouse, and for a lot of people it is a better one: the hand, chin or mouth only has to push and let go, and the pointer stops as soon as the stick returns to centre. Which setup you need depends on one thing, how the joystick introduces itself to the Mac. Some joysticks are built as mice and move the pointer the moment they are plugged in. Everything else, from a USB flight stick to the stick on a PlayStation Access Controller, needs an app to turn it into a pointer. I built InputConfig for that second kind, because my hands do not work well with a mouse. It is free.

First, find out what kind of joystick you have

Plug it in or pair it, then push the stick.

• The pointer moves. It is a joystick mouse. Joystick mice sold for computer access, and a power wheelchair in Bluetooth mouse mode, present themselves to the Mac as an ordinary mouse, so macOS moves the pointer with no software. Pointer speed is in System Settings, Mouse. The sections below on clicking and on commands are where an app still helps.
• Nothing moves. It is a game-style joystick: a USB joystick, flight stick or arcade stick, the stick on the PlayStation Access Controller, a joystick on the Xbox Adaptive Controller, or a gamepad. The Mac reads it but does nothing with it on the desktop. This is the kind InputConfig turns into a mouse.

Not sure? Open InputConfig's settings and look under Connected Controllers. A game-style joystick is listed there; a joystick mouse is not, because the Mac sees it as a mouse.

Turn a game-style joystick into the pointer

1. Connect the joystick by USB, or pair it in System Settings, Bluetooth.
2. Install InputConfig from the Mac App Store and grant it Accessibility when it asks. That permission is what lets it move the pointer and click.
3. Make a new preset. On the empty device, choose Automatically insert available inputs, and a row appears for every direction and button the joystick reports.
4. Give the four stick directions the output Mouse Motion: up, down, left and right. If a row is on the wrong direction, press Scan on it and push the stick the way you mean.
5. Give one button the output Mouse Button, Left click.
6. Press Activate. The stick now moves the pointer in every app.

For a PlayStation Access Controller, start from the built-in Access Controller preset instead: it already has the pointer, left, right and double click, scrolling, Return and Space. For a gamepad, Mouse + Scroll does the same.

InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

Settings that make a joystick a good mouse

A joystick sets how fast the pointer moves, not where it is, so the tuning is all about control near the centre. Each setting is in Options on the stick's rows, and Stick settings on the device's menu sets the deadzone on every direction at once.

• Inner deadzone. How far the stick must move before anything happens. It stops the pointer creeping when the stick rests slightly off centre, and stops a tremor from moving it. Start at 20 to 30 percent and watch the live plot.
• The Smooth curve. The first part of the travel is slow and precise; a full push is fast. This is the curve for pointing.
• Speed. Each Mouse Motion row has its own top speed. Start low and raise it once the pointer goes where you mean.
• Outer deadzone. Where the stick reaches full speed. Bring it in if the stick never gets to the edge of its travel, so a short, comfortable push still means full speed. It is set per row, so a direction that is harder to reach can have its own.
• A slow lane. A second set of pointer rows at a lower fixed speed on the D-pad or on four buttons, for the last few pixels onto a small target. Mouse + Scroll does this on the D-pad.

The tremor and limited range guide has starting numbers for shaky hands and short reach, and the deadzone visualizer shows what each setting does before you touch the stick.

Clicking

A pointer is only half a mouse. InputConfig clicks wherever the pointer is, whatever moved it, so everything here works with a game-style joystick and with a joystick mouse alike.

• A button or a switch. Any button on the joystick, or a switch plugged into an Access Controller or Xbox Adaptive Controller port, can be Left click.
• Three clicks on one button. Press is left click, hold is right click, double press is double click. Lengthen the hold time and the double press window for a hand that moves slowly; see hold and double tap.
• Dragging without holding. Set a click to Toggle: one press holds the mouse button down, the next press lets go, and the stick drags in between.
• A click that waits for stillness. If pressing the button jolts the stick, put the click on a short hold instead of the press, so it fires once the hand has settled.
• No button at all. macOS has Dwell, which clicks when the pointer stops moving; search for Dwell in System Settings. It works with a pointer moved by InputConfig, and a wide deadzone suits it, because letting go of the stick stops the pointer at once.
• A knock on the laptop. Tap the Mac turns a knock on a MacBook into an input, so it can be the click. I have tested it on M4 MacBooks; it did not work on an M1 Pro, and desktop and Intel Macs have no sensor. The calibrator's status chip shows whether yours listens.

Chin, mouth and short-throw joysticks

A joystick at the chin or the mouth usually moves through a smaller range than one under a hand. The settings are the same; the numbers change.

• Bring the outer deadzone well in, so the movement you have reaches full speed.
• If one direction is harder to reach, set that row on its own.
• Keep the speed low and the Smooth curve on, and widen the inner deadzone if talking or breathing nudges the stick.
• Put the clicks where they cost the least effort: a switch by the cheek or hand, a sip-and-puff switch through an adaptive controller's port, or Dwell.

Mounting is the hardware side, and it matters more than any setting. An occupational therapist or seating clinic can position the stick; the guide for OTs and AT staff covers the software half of that visit.

Your wheelchair's own joystick

Many power wheelchairs can move a computer's pointer from the chair's own joystick through a Bluetooth mouse mode. It is set up on the chair, not on the Mac, and to the Mac the chair is then just a mouse. The page on using a wheelchair joystick as a Mac mouse explains how it works and what InputConfig adds to it.

Commands without more buttons

With one stick and few buttons, every extra command costs a movement. Two kinds of input need no button at all.

• Screen regions. An area of the screen fires a command when the pointer enters it, whatever moved the pointer: a corner for Mission Control, an edge for dictation. The built-in Cursor Regions preset is a working example.
• Stick zones. On a game-style joystick, the far corners of the stick's travel can each be a command while the rest of the travel moves the pointer.

Dictation, Spotlight, Mission Control, volume, Siri Shortcuts and any key combination are all outputs, so these commands can stand in for the keyboard. See screen regions and stick zones.

Games

The same joystick can drive. One-stick driving makes a single stick work the way a power wheelchair drives: push forward to go, pull back to brake, left and right to steer, and two quick snaps back for reverse. It sends keys and mouse, so it works in driving games that can be played from a keyboard. It reads the stick's axes, so it needs a game-style joystick, not a joystick mouse. The one-stick driving guide has the setup.

What it does not do

• It does not track your head or eyes. macOS has a head pointer built in, and the page on clicking with head pointer shows how InputConfig adds the clicks. Eye gaze needs an eye tracker.
• It does not change how a joystick mouse moves. That device is already a mouse; its speed is set in System Settings, Mouse, or on the device.
• It does not turn a joystick into a game controller for games that only accept a gamepad. It sends keys and mouse.
• It runs after you log in. At the login window, use the Mac's own accessibility options.

Questions

Related

• A mouse alternative for tremor and short reach on a Mac
• The PlayStation Access Controller on a Mac
• The Xbox Adaptive Controller on a Mac
• Deadzones and calibration
• Screen regions (custom hot corners) and stick zones
• One-stick driving, set up properly
• How to connect a joystick to a Mac

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.