How to Fix Mouse Cursor (Pointer) Disappears on Mac

Are you having a hard time finding the mouse cursor on your Mac? 

If you can name one thing that is present on every operating system, that would be the mouse cursor. However, there seems to be a problem affecting Mac users where their mouse cursor disappears randomly on macOS. 

This can really be frustrating due to the fact that you mainly use the mouse cursor to navigate through your operating system. 

There is still no direct explanation as to why this kind of issue occurs, but there are a few workarounds that are known to be effective in fixing the disappearing mouse cursor on macOS. 

In this guide, we are going to show you a few tweaks that you can try to fix the mouse cursor disappearing issue on Mac.

Let’s get started. 

 

 

1. Toggle Mission Control. 

Mission Control is a feature on macOS that lets you view all the applications running on your system, desktop spaces, and current windows. If you are having a hard time locating your mouse cursor, you can simply toggle Mission Control to display all workspaces on your Mac. 

 

 

You can launch Mission Control on your computer by simply hitting the Mission Control key on your keyboard or by swiping up on your trackpad using three fingers. 

Alternatively, you can also set your preferred option on how to toggle Mission Control by simply navigating through Apple Menu > System Preferences > Mission Control

 

 

2. Hit Right-Click.

If you find yourself stuck in a window without any mouse cursor to navigate through your operating system, you can simply hit the right-mouse/trackpad button on your Mac. 

Try to click the right-mouse/trackpad button a few times to see if the mouse cursor would appear. However, if nothing happened after performing this, you can continue to the next method below to try and fix the issue with your cursor. 

 

 

3. Toggle Quick Application Switcher.

Another way to fix this issue on Mac is to toggle the app switcher and go to the Finder app. For some unknown reason switching your current window to Finder makes the mouse cursor appear. 

You can invoke the quick application switcher by simply pressing the Command + Tab key on your keyboard. Go back to Finder afterward to see if your mouse cursor would appear. 

 

 

4. Open Force Quit Window. 

If invoking the application switcher did not work in fixing the issue with your mouse cursor, you can try launching the Force Quit window to make your cursor appear. 

The Force Quit window is an effective tool for terminating applications that may cause instability to your system. To launch it, simply press the Command + Option + Escape key on your keyboard. 

Now, terminate all the applications running on your system to see this will make your mouse cursor appear on the main screen. 

 

 

5. Restart Your Mac. 

For the next method, you can try restarting macOS. It may be a simple solution, but it is effective in fixing temporary bugs and glitches that may have occurred on your system. Allowing your operating system to restart would give it a chance to reload all of its resources. 

To restart your Mac, simply follow the steps below to guide you through the process:

  1. On your Mac, click on the Apple logo located at the top-left corner of your screen. 
  2. After that, click on Restart

mail crashing on Mac

 

  1. Lastly, wait for your Mac to restart completely. 

Now, try to use your computer normally and observe if the mouse cursor would still disappear randomly. 

 

 

6. Reset NVRAM/PRAM. 

You may have changed some of your system settings unknowingly which causes the mouse cursor to disappear on your system. It is also possible that some apps installed on your Mac changed some system preferences, which can also cause the problem. 

In this case, you can try resetting your NVRAM/PRAM to restore the default system settings and preferences on macOS. 

  1. First, turn off your computer. 
  2. Next, locate the Option + Command + P + R keys on your keyboard but don’t press it yet. 
  3. Lastly, press the Power button on your Mac and immediately hold the Option + Command + P + R keys on your keyboard and continue holding it for 20 seconds.

Once done, allow your computer to boot normally to check if the issue with the mouse cursor disappearing on Mac is still present. 

If this is the case, proceed to the next method below to try and fix the problem with your computer. 

 

 

7. Boot in Safe Mode. 

Another possible solution to a mouse cursor that is disappearing is to boot your Mac in Safe Mode. This allows your operating system to fix itself for underlying glitches and bugs that might be related to the mouse cursor. 

To boot into Safe Mode, check out the step-by-step guide below:

  1. First, turn off your computer completely.
  2. After that, press the Shift key on your keyboard and hit the Power button. 
  3. Continue holding the Shift key until your Mac boots up completely.  

If you are now able to use your mouse cursor normally on Safe Mode, proceed to the next method below to fix the issue permanently on your system. 

 

 

8. Change System Preferences. 

While you are in Safe Mode, take this chance to tweak some of your system settings that might have caused the issue with your mouse cursor.

First, change the cursor size in Accessibility settings:

  1. On your Mac, click the Apple logo on the top of your screen and select System Preferences

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

  1. After that, click on Accessibility
  2. Inside the Accessibility window, click on Display
  3. Lastly, click on Cursor Size and adjust it to your preference. 

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

Once done, go back to System Preferences to enable the temporary zoom function:

  1. First, on System Preferences, click on Accessibility
  2. After that, click on Zoom
  3. Lastly, go to More Options and ensure that ‘Enable Temporary Zoom’ is marked checked. 

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

Now, you can simply press the Control + Option key on your keyboard to make your cursor appear if it goes missing once again. 

Finally, enable the ‘Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate’ function on your system settings: 

  1. On your computer, click on the Apple logo located at the top-left corner of your screen and click on System Preferences
  2. After that, click on Accessibility
  3. Lastly, click on Display and make sure that ‘Shake Mouse Pointer to Locate’ is marked checked. 

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

After applying these settings on your Mac, restart it normally and observe if the problem with the mouse cursor would still occur on your system. 

On the other hand, if you are still having problems with your mouse cursor disappearing, you can proceed to the next method below to try and fix the problem. 

 

 

9. Check for Updates.  

The mouse cursor issue on your Mac could be caused by a version of macOS installed on your computer that has an existing bug or glitch. In this case, the only fix for this is when Apple actually releases an update to patch the issue. 

  1. On your Mac, click on the Apple logo at the top of your screen and select System Preferences
  2. Inside System Preferences, click on Software Update

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

  1. Lastly, click on the Update Now button if available. 

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

After installing the update, restart your computer and observe if the mouse cursor disappearing issue on Mac is already fixed. 

If you are running macOS High Sierra on your Mac, check out our detailed guide on how to fix this specific issue on your system. 

 

 

10. Ask for Professional Help. 

If none of the methods above worked in solving the issue with the mouse cursor on macOS, what we recommend you to do is to visit the nearest Apple Store in your area. 

 

mouse cursor disappearing on Mac

 

Having certified professionals to check your device would not only fix the current issue with your system but also detect any wear and tear on your hardware that can cause possible problems in the future.  

This wraps our guide on how to fix the issue with the mouse cursor disappearing on macOS. If you come across other solutions that can possibly help out other users, kindly share it in the comment section below, and we would be glad to give you credit once this article gets updated. 😀

 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Author

  • John Sixto

    John is a staff writer at Saint and comes from a SAP ABAP development background. He has a Bachelors in IT and has been writing since 2018, with over 500 posts published. He loves to build PCs and has a deep curiosity in understanding how different components and configurations work. John spends hundreds of hours at a time, researching and testing the software and apps, before he proceeds to write about it. LinkedIn X (Twitter)

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