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Mac app · free

Scrollwise

Natural scrolling on the trackpad, classic on the mouse. Automatically.

macOS has one scroll direction switch for every device, so anyone who uses both a trackpad and a mouse flips it back and forth all day. Scrollwise checks which device each scroll comes from and fixes the direction on the fly. Leave the macOS switch alone and never touch it again.

Download for Mac
How to install

v1.1.0 · 0.4 MB zip · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon and Intel

Scrollwise settings window: the Right now panel shows an X3PRO BT2 mouse scrolling standard, flipped by Scrollwise, with trackpad set to Natural and mouse to Standard
The Right now panel names the device you just scrolled with and how it scrolls.Screen capture on a backdrop

What it does

One switch was never enough

  • Knows which device you are using

    It asks macOS which device sent each scroll, so a trackpad and a mouse can scroll in opposite directions at the same time.

  • Nothing to switch

    Connect or disconnect a mouse whenever you like. The direction is right the moment you touch it.

  • Any mouse, Magic Mouse included

    Wheel mice over Bluetooth or USB, and the Magic Mouse, which macOS otherwise treats like a trackpad.

  • See it working

    A live readout shows the device it just saw and whether it flipped the scroll, so you know it is doing its job.

  • Your call per device

    Natural or standard for the trackpad and the mouse separately, with sideways scrolling included or left alone.

  • Private and light

    It only looks at scroll and touch events, never keystrokes, and makes no network connections.

Screens

What you will see

  • Everything on one screen. Natural or standard per device.Screen capture

Install

Four steps and you are done

The only unusual step is the first launch, because this build is signed but not yet notarized by Apple.

  1. Download and unzip

    Download the zip below and double-click it. Drag Scrollwise into your Applications folder.

  2. Open it once

    The first launch shows a warning that Apple could not check the app, because this build is not notarized yet. Click Done, then open System Settings, Privacy and Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to Scrollwise.

  3. Follow the setup

    Scrollwise walks you through the rest: it moves itself into Applications, asks for Accessibility access once and ticks it off as soon as you switch it on, then asks whether to open at login. If a switch looks on but nothing happens, click Reset and try again.

  4. Scroll

    Leave the macOS Natural scrolling switch as it is. Scroll with the trackpad, then the mouse, and watch the Right now panel. If Scroll Reverser or a similar app is running, Scrollwise offers to quit it so the two do not cancel out.

Privacy

Permissions, and what it does with them

  • Makes no network connections. There is no analytics, telemetry or update check.
  • Sees scroll and touch events only, never keystrokes, and does not record what you scroll.
  • Stores nothing but its own preferences.
  • Signed and built with the hardened runtime. It runs no scripts or helper processes.

Release notes

What changed

  1. v1.1.0Sep 28, 2026

    • A setup assistant on first launch: it moves the app into Applications, asks for Accessibility once and fixes a stuck permission by itself.
    • Asks whether to open at login instead of switching it on quietly.
    • Opening a newer copy closes the older one, so two copies never flip the same scroll.

  2. v1.0.0Sep 28, 2026

    • First release: natural on the trackpad, standard on any mouse, with a live device readout.

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