Why did scrolling stop working on my Mac after installing a mouse app?

Most likely two pieces of software are modifying the same scroll events. macOS lets more than one utility tap the event stream, and each one sees the output of the one before it. If one inverts a scroll and another inverts it back, the result is a scroll that appears to ignore your settings. Vendor mouse drivers, smooth-scrolling utilities and key remappers can all do this, as can a scrolling utility left installed and forgotten.

How do I tell whether a third-party app is breaking scrolling on my Mac?

Start the Mac in Safe Mode, which stops third-party login items and drivers from loading, and test scrolling there. If scrolling behaves correctly in Safe Mode but not in a normal boot, a third-party app is responsible. Restart normally and quit scrolling utilities one at a time until the behaviour changes.

Why did scrolling break after a macOS update?

A utility that taps scroll events depends on macOS internals that can change between releases, and Accessibility permission is often reset or invalidated by a major update. After an update, re-grant it in System Settings under Privacy and Security, where macOS 27 lists it as Device Control and Data Access, and check whether each scrolling utility still supports that version of macOS.

Can two mouse utilities run at the same time on a Mac?

They can both run, but if both modify scroll events the results are unpredictable, because each one acts on what the previous one produced. The reliable approach is to let exactly one utility own scrolling and configure everything else to leave scroll events alone.

Mac scrolling stopped working after installing an app

Updated October 2026

Scrolling is not dead — it just ignores you. You change a setting and nothing happens. Almost always this means two apps are changing your scrolling at the same time, and one is quietly undoing the other. Here is how to find which one, in about five minutes.

The short answer

Start up in Safe Mode and test scrolling. Correct there means a third-party app is the cause, not macOS or your mouse.
Restart normally and quit scrolling apps one at a time. The one that changes the behaviour is your culprit.
Let one app own scrolling. Switch scroll changes off everywhere else, including in your mouse maker's driver.

macOS lets more than one app edit a scroll on its way past, and each app works on what the one before it produced. Two apps flipping direction cancel each other out, so nothing changes. Two apps changing speed multiply together, so scrolling flies. Neither app is broken — each is doing its job to the wrong input.

Step by step

Boot into Safe Mode and scroll. Safe Mode blocks third-party login items and drivers. Apple lists the steps in Start up your Mac in Safe Mode.
If it behaves there, restart normally. You have confirmed the cause is an app rather than macOS or hardware.
Quit scrolling apps one at a time and test after each. Behaviour changing as you quit one identifies it.
Check System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions for utilities you installed and forgot. This is the usual answer.
Check Accessibility permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security — on macOS 27 it is listed as Device Control and Data Access. A big macOS update often clears it, leaving the app running but powerless.

What usually causes it

These are kinds of app rather than a list of products, because what matters is the sort of thing to look for rather than any one name.

Kind of app	Why it conflicts
Mouse maker's driver	Several smooth their scroll output before macOS sees it, which changes the shape of the events other apps inspect. Logitech's Options+ behaves this way.
Smooth-scrolling utilities	Rewriting scroll events is their entire purpose, so they conflict with anything else doing the same.
Key remappers and automation tools	Many can rebind scroll events even when that is not why you installed them.
A second scrolling app you forgot	Common after trying a few before settling on one. Quitting is not always enough — some restart at login.

Tips

Check the permission before anything else

Accessibility permission takes ten seconds to confirm and is the single most common cause after a macOS update. The app keeps running and looks perfectly fine in the menu bar, but it can no longer change a scroll, so every setting you touch does nothing at all. Re-grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility (on macOS 27, Device Control and Data Access).

Turn scrolling off in the driver, do not uninstall it

Your mouse maker's software usually does several useful things besides scrolling. Rather than removing it, find its scroll setting and switch that part off. You keep button mapping and battery readouts, and you remove the app from the queue that is fighting over your scroll events.

Safe Mode is the test that settles it

It is worth the restart. Nothing else tells you so cleanly whether the problem is an app, macOS itself, or the mouse. If scrolling is still wrong in Safe Mode, stop looking at apps entirely and check the hardware.

Common problems

The wheel does nothing at all

If the wheel is completely dead, in every app, and still dead after a restart, this is probably not a software conflict. That pattern points to the mouse itself, its battery, or its Bluetooth pairing. This guide will not help you — check the hardware first.

It broke straight after a macOS update

Updates reset Accessibility permission and can change the internals a scrolling app depends on. Re-grant the permission first. If that does not fix it, check whether each scrolling app you use still supports your version of macOS, because major releases sometimes break them until the developer catches up.

Mouse Aide: Reverse Scroll

Watches for exactly this problem: if another app is changing the same scrolls, Mouse Aide tells you, instead of leaving you to work out why the settings feel wrong. It sets scroll direction, speed and a sideways modifier for mice without touching how your trackpad behaves. macOS 14 or later, a one-time purchase, sandboxed with no network access at all.

Download on the Mac App Store →

More: Mouse Aide overview · Natural trackpad, reversed mouse · All guides