How do I stop accidental trackpad input while using a mouse?
Use Disable trackpad to control your MacBook’s built-in trackpad manually while a mouse is connected. Turn the switch on to ignore the trackpad, or off to use both devices. This choice is separate from scroll direction.
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Connecting a mouse does not itself turn the switch on. The switch remembers the native macOS option, which may already be enabled from an earlier choice. When that saved option is on, macOS ignores the built-in trackpad while a qualifying external pointing device is present.
When to use Disable trackpad
This is useful when your palm or fingers brush the MacBook trackpad while you type or use a mouse. It affects the built-in trackpad, including pointing and scrolling. It is not a control for disabling the mouse or an external Magic Trackpad.
Radar Mouse shows the shortcut under Built-in Trackpad only when it detects both a built-in trackpad and a device classified as a mouse. On a desktop Mac without a built-in trackpad, the shortcut is absent. With only a trackpad connected, it is also absent.
The native macOS option can respond to a mouse or wireless trackpad being present. Radar Mouse’s shortcut has a narrower visibility rule: a detected mouse must be present for it to appear. Use System Settings directly if you want to manage the native option when the Radar Mouse shortcut is hidden.
Turn the shortcut on or off
- Connect a working mouse to your Mac.
- Click the Radar Mouse icon in the menu bar.
- Find Built-in Trackpad.
- Turn Disable trackpad on.
- Check that your mouse still works and the built-in trackpad is ignored.
When the shortcut is on and a mouse is detected, Radar Mouse hides the built-in trackpad’s Scroll direction row. The mouse’s direction control stays available.
Turn Disable trackpad off when you want to use the internal trackpad and mouse together again. You can change this choice while the mouse stays connected; you do not need to unplug the mouse. The trackpad’s direction row returns with its saved choice. This shortcut is available independently of the Accessibility permission used for scroll reversal.
There is no separate Radar Mouse default for this switch: its initial value is read from the native macOS setting, which may already be on or off.
Restore the built-in trackpad
To restore the built-in trackpad while keeping your mouse connected, turn Disable trackpad off or turn off the corresponding option in System Settings.
If no qualifying external pointing device remains, macOS is intended to make the built-in trackpad usable again, even if the saved native option remains on. This restores input without clearing your choice. Reconnecting a qualifying device can make that already-enabled option effective again; reconnecting does not create a new on choice.
When Radar Mouse detects no mouse, it hides the shortcut and shows the trackpad’s direction row. That panel change is not a separate confirmation that macOS has restored input. A connected receiver, wireless trackpad, or another pointing device may still qualify for the system option, so check your connections if the built-in trackpad stays ignored.
Quitting Radar Mouse does not turn this macOS option off. If you are stopping use of Radar Mouse and want the trackpad available while a mouse stays connected, turn the option off first. See trackpad troubleshooting.
Why the switch or direction row is missing
The shortcut is shown only on the detected built-in trackpad’s block while a mouse is detected. It never appears on an external trackpad’s block.
The built-in Scroll direction row is intentionally hidden when Disable trackpad is on and a mouse is detected. Turning the switch off should restore it. When there is no detected mouse, the shortcut disappears and the trackpad direction row is shown again.
If the app cannot use the macOS shortcut on your system, it displays Open Trackpad Setting… instead of a switch. The button opens the system pane so you can change the setting there.
Use the setting in macOS
- Open System Settings.
- Choose Accessibility → Pointer Control.
- In Mouse & Trackpad, find Ignore built-in trackpad when mouse or wireless trackpad is present.
- Turn it on to have macOS ignore the internal trackpad when the qualifying device is present, or off to use both devices together.
You can reach the same pane with Open Trackpad Setting… when Radar Mouse shows that fallback. If the button lands in the general Accessibility pane, select Pointer Control yourself. Apple’s Pointer Control guide describes this native option and notes that some non-Apple mouse drivers can interfere with it.
If you change the native option outside Radar Mouse, the panel may keep an old switch value. Check the real setting in System Settings and refresh the app’s view before relying on the switch’s appearance.