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I recently upgraded my mid 2011 Mac mini to macOS High Sierra. I purchased the Magic Mouse 2 about a year ago, but really loathe the charging port on the bottom (unbelievably stupid design, but I digress). As such, I kept my old (original) Magic Mouse handy for when I needed to charge the Magic Mouse 2. I never had problems with this use case in OS X El Capitan.

However, today when I tried to use the old Magic Mouse, macOS absolutely freaked out and neither of the Bluetooth mice could connect. I had to use a generic Logitech USB mouse to "forget" both of them (old and new), then I could reconnect the Magic Mouse 2 after it charged.

So my question: is the original Magic Mouse unsupported in macOS High Sierra? (edit: it definitely is supported, not the issue). Or perhaps I simply can no longer use the Magic Mouse and Magic Mouse 2 interchangeably?

Update 1: Forgetting and re-pairing both of the the mice was a temporary fix. Nothing else worked, including rebooting.

Update 2: Issue has returned. I again had to fight macOS tooth-and-nail to get the Magic Mouse 2 paired after using the Magic Mouse!

Update 3: One thing I forgot to mention: when the Magic Mouse 2 has lost pairing (after using the Magic Mouse) and I plug it in and switch it on, the "Mouse" section of System Preferences goes absolutely berserk, rapidly alternating between the normal screen and the "looking for bluetooth mouse" screen.

KidACrimson
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    After your Re-pairing, when does this happen? Does it only occur after an update? Or when they are both on and/or trying to/or have connected? Do you have more than just your mice connected via bluetooth? – JayRizzo Jun 24 '19 at 22:35
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    Do either of your mice have "Drifting" issues? Where, the cursor moves when you are not? – JayRizzo Jun 24 '19 at 22:37
  • Neither seem to have any drifting issues. – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 00:20
  • The issue occurs after I stop using the MM1 and try to switch back to the MM2 - the Mac Mini "fights" me on this. It easily allows me to switch from the MM2 to the MM1, however. – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 00:21
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    Are you leaving both of the mice on when you switch? If so, try turning off the MM1 and then Switching over to MM2. Lastly, does this ever cause issues when you are using just one mouse? – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 00:24

3 Answers3

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I cannot find any Apple documentation stating that the original Magic Mouse is unsupported in newer OS versions.

Your problem is more likely to be just one of Bluetooth connectivity. Apple provides a troubleshooting document that describes the Magic Mouse and Magic Mouse 2 together. Other remedies for problems can be found here.

The Magic Mouse is not one of Apple's strongest designs, and you may prefer a third-party mouse, or the Magic Trackpad, which I find much better. (You can leave it plugged in while using it, for starters!)

user3439894
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benwiggy
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  • Thanks, Ben. I've seen the that Apple troubleshooting doc, but it's useless in my situation, unfortunately. I've tried all the obvious things multiple times. Despite the bottom charging-port, I actually strongly prefer the Magic Mouse over any other mouse or trackpad, (I would even use it on my Windows machines if I could) which is why this is so frustrating to me. – KidACrimson Jun 18 '19 at 14:39
  • I can't use two Bluetooth mice of any kind simultaneously. – Wowfunhappy Jun 23 '19 at 02:03
  • @Wowfunhappy That sounds like a different problem, so you should start your own question. However, I'd say having two Bluetooth mice at the same time is likely to cause problems. Do you really use two mice at the same time? – benwiggy Jun 23 '19 at 10:27
  • @benwiggy Not a question, I'm agreeing with you—there just isn't enough bluetooth bandwidth for two mice, I think that's what OP is describing. – Wowfunhappy Jun 23 '19 at 10:56
  • I can use both the MM1 and the MM2 simultaneously after the issue is fixed, but it keeps recurring is the thing. – KidACrimson Jun 23 '19 at 18:03
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    @Wowfunhappy, RE: "there just isn't enough bluetooth bandwidth for two mice", I have a Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and a Magic Keyboard all using Bluetooth and connected at the same time to a MacBook Pro in Clamshell Mode, and have no issues, so I don't necessarily agree with the statement "there just isn't enough bluetooth bandwidth for two mice". – user3439894 Jun 24 '19 at 23:14
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1st Answer Alt. Using The Interface Answer (Credit user3439894)

(Short Way)

Does the command line version from my understanding.

  • Open System preferences
  • Open Bluetooth Settings
  • Click on Advanced
  • Uncheck the 2nd Box "Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no mouse or trackpad is detected" Advanced Bluetooth Settings

Note: this may look different on your Mac as I am running on MBP macOS 10.14.5 Mojave

 

Fun Note: To open Bluetooth Preferences directly from Terminal run: open /System/Library/PreferencePanes/Bluetooth.prefPane

1st Answer Using Terminal/Commandline

My hypothesis, is I believe the bluetooth devices may be fighting.

If you don't mind a little terminal action, then, lets try turning off the Automatic Search for bluetooth.

Open Terminal and run: Update 2:This is not a mandatory step this will show up if you run After the write steps.

defaults find 'AutoSeek'

This for me just returned:

Found 1 keys in domain 'com.apple.systempreferences': {
    BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice = 1;
}

So, I ran:

defaults read com.apple.systempreferences BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice

This should return 1, as it does on my machine. So, let's turn this off.

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice -bool false

Doing some more research, I also found something similar, in other plist files.

defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice

But to change this is requires your admin password as it is part of the SIP protection.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice -bool false

Then, to make the changes take effect: (Thanks to user3439894 for the update from the comments.)

killall cfprefsd

Note: You may not have com.apple.systempreferences the alternative is com.apple.systempref.plist So if you run the defaults read and get an error please try the substitute.

3rd Answer

Try using blueutil and let me know.

4th Answer

Try "Reseting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac."

JayRizzo
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  • Thank you, @JayRizzo! Unfortunately I struck out on step one (I did try the command as both root and my normal user, and from ~ and / directories): MacMini:~ StndrdUser$ defaults find 'AutoSeek' 2019-06-24 18:05:32.891 defaults[89014:5450612] No domain, key, nor value containing 'AutoSeek' – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 00:08
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    Thats ok, that just means that there has not been a set value "Set". I have been going thru the PLIST files and alot of the not obvious "Options" are not set in the plist files until you run a defaults write call on the terminal. – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 00:10
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    Ok cool - I do have a com.apple.systempref.plist file... – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 00:11
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    I updated my answer to showcase that the defaults find is optional. I hope that works for you. As I am not sure if the mice are fighting over the bluetooth. – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 00:13
  • Thanks again. I have added both 0 values as described, the first is now showing, the 0 in com.apple.Bluetooth is not yet detected, but I'm going to reboot and check again (I assume that is will after the reboot, as you said). :) – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 00:20
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    The value for BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice is a boolean not an integer. - "-bool[ean] Allows the user to specify a boolean as the value for the given preference key. Value must be TRUE, FALSE, YES, or NO." - You also can just uncheck [] Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no mouse or trackpad is detected In System Preferences > Bluetooth > Advanced instead of using defaults. See: https://imgur.com/a/nYTNanI – user3439894 Jun 25 '19 at 00:50
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    Thanks for the updates @user343894 I kind of figured as much but the problem was when you do defaults read you actually end up getting back only the integer value so I was working on the idea is that they were interchangeable. – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 01:09
  • Much thanks, @user3439894, I have unchecked the Bluetooth advanced option now. Also, the issue seems to be fixed now, I believe from the terminal edits to the PLIST files. :) – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 01:51
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    Weirdly enough, the bool for defaults read com.apple.Bluetooth BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice still doesn't exist after a reboot...but I seem to be able to switch between the MM1 and MM2 (and vice-versa) so I'm calling it fixed! – KidACrimson Jun 25 '19 at 01:53
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    That is probably due to Mac's SIP. You might have to disable SIP, the make the change, then, turn SIP back on. But I am glad you are all set. Have a great one! – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 02:00
  • SIP has nothing to do with this! – user3439894 Jun 25 '19 at 02:02
  • Ok well it is for me, as modifying anything in '/Library/...' Is part of SIP. But it is a mute point since the problem has been solved. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204899 – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 02:04
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    The plist file that gets modified in this case is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist, it's not subject to SIP, and you need to run killall cfprefsd directly after defaults write com.apple.systempreferences BluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice -bool false for it to update the User's System Preferences. The easiest thing to do is just uncheck [] Open Bluetooth Setup Assistant at startup if no mouse or trackpad is detected In System Preferences > Bluetooth > Advanced instead of using defaults as it updates the system almost immediately. – user3439894 Jun 25 '19 at 02:09
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    BTW If you do not run run killall cfprefsd in this use case and instead reboot, the setting you've tried to set is overwrtten by what's already previously in memory and why unchecking the previously mentioned setting from the GUI is really the way to go here. – user3439894 Jun 25 '19 at 02:14
  • Also, you said, "But to change this is requires your admin password as it is part of the SIP protection." and /Library/Preferences/ is not protected by SIP. It's owned by root and why you need to use sudo to change a key in a plist file using defaults in that location. Using the GUI sets theBluetoothAutoSeekPointingDevice_key_ in bothcom.apple.Bluetooth` plist files. – user3439894 Jun 25 '19 at 02:49
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    Fair enough, I was wrong as I had misread the docs. Thanks for the clarification. Cheers! – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 02:52
  • Thanks Again @user3439894 I updated the answer to include your simplified way and added your note about the cfprefsd. I just like the terminal way of doing things as it makes it easier to migrate to a new mac or re-setup my profile. Please have a look and and adjust as needed. @KidACrimson Glad you are all sorted. Cheers all! – JayRizzo Jun 25 '19 at 08:03
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Well, it seems to support. I can't find any apple documents that says no. At the same time, i have both apple mouses, and it works with high serria. Hope this helps.

The Creeper
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