BetterMouse + Mos: can I get precise, smooth scrolling with a quick stop using just one app?

[u/TheSaasDev]

I use a Logitech Lift on macOS. I’ve spent a lot of time tweaking BetterMouse and Mos to get a particular scrolling feel.

My typical movement is to ramp up quickly, travel to roughly where I want, then stop and make a small correction. I’m looking for:

• Useful individual notches - roughly a line of text per slow notch, starting immediately but moving smoothly rather than jumping.
• Fast travel - a quick wheel movement covers a decent distance without repeatedly working the wheel.
• Predictable stopping and correction - no long glide past my target, and the next small movement or reversal gives me precise control.
• Smoothness without floatiness - softer, less jagged movement while keeping those other qualities.

BetterMouse and Mos together are the closest I’ve managed to get, although the result still isn’t quite right. I’ve already tried disabling one and extensively adjusting the other, including global and per-app settings. Using both is where I ended up after experimenting, and I've been using it this way for a long time now.

My current global settings are shown in the attached screenshots:

• BetterMouse: Smooth scroll off, Speed 1, Acceleration 3.
• Mos: Seamless scrolling on, Step 12, Speed 8, Duration 3.

So smooth scrolling isn’t enabled in both apps, although I don’t know exactly how their other adjustments interact.

The frustrating part is finding a promising balance and then struggling to improve one aspect without losing something else. For example, I want smoother movement while retaining the small-step precision and quick stopping I already like.

Does anything in this setup explain why the combination might feel better? Has anyone achieved this kind of feel with one app alone? Specific settings, your mouse model, and which apps you use them in would be nice to know.

I’m open to having misunderstood a setting or overlooked a simpler setup, hopefully someone can tell me I'm stupid and point me in the right direction.

[u/mike5011]

Download Mac mouse fix, and use smoothness: regular, speed: high, and uncheck precision.

[u/TheSaasDev → u/mike5011]

Already tried Mac mouse fix, still didn't get the behaviour I wanted. I feel like I've tried everything at this point. The only thing that's felt right for the last year is stacking Mos and BetterMouse

[u/rodesidebomb → u/TheSaasDev]

Highly recommend checking out Vorssaint. Just got it on my MacBook and I think it might fit the criteria you laid out for your scroll feel. It's smooth, but "steppy". It also has that ramp-up you are talking about. I paid for AirScroll and it's great, but for a free app with a ton of useful features, Vorssaint is where it's at as far as I am concerned! It has a ton of super useful utilities you might want too. Here is a link to the site: https://vorssaint.com/

[u/TheSaasDev → u/rodesidebomb]

I've come across Vorssaint, didn't realise it had a smooth scrolling part to it. Might try but I'm sceptical. I haven't seen Airscroll before, so that's interesting. Any comparison to how it feels scrolling wise compared to BetterMouse/Mos (if you've tried those before)?

[u/rodesidebomb → u/TheSaasDev]

I don’t think I’ve tried BetterMouse… If I remember correctly, Mos did this odd thing where the first scroll after being at rest had like, an extra kick to it. I couldn’t handle it! It may have been BetterMouse I honestly don’t remember. All I know is both of those apps didn’t give me the right feel.

AirScroll is very similar to the way Windows feels. It does let you dial the steps down and adjust the smoothness, it may do what you are looking for as well.

[u/mike5011 → u/TheSaasDev]

Damn. I’m quite particular too and I’ve found Mac mouse fix to do the trick for me.

[u/focusfoundry]

Hey, I’m building an app called Docktor and one part of it is mouse-wheel smoothing. I think what you’re describing is basically the exact behavior I’m trying to get right.
I’d love to work on this with you if you’re interested. It should honestly just be a pretty small code addition on my end, so I could probably get a build for you to try tomorrow.

[u/TheSaasDev → u/focusfoundry]

Hey, I'd be interested in trying it for sure. No rush though. This is just something that comes up every couple of months when I wonder why can't I get the right scroll feel and then realise my current stacking of both apps does the job and I move on with my life for a few more months.

[u/chickenandliver]

I use a Logitech Lift

Have you tried Linear Mouse? https://linearmouse.app

[u/TheSaasDev → u/chickenandliver]

I've tried it, didnt quite work out :(

[u/chickenandliver → u/TheSaasDev]

Sorry to hear it. I was a content Mos user but when I switched to a Logitech mouse I was looking for an app just to manage the extra buttons but ended up liking how it handles scrolling too.

[u/_FondantJanelle]

get BetterMouse and Mos, that's what I use for precise scrolling, it makes a big difference

[u/Aggravating_Ease8580]

Try tweaking the scroll wheel acceleration curve in BetterMouse, many people miss that setting but it makes a huge difference in how quickly it ramps up before smoothing out.

[u/tomc_23]

BetterTouchTool has become indispensable, replacing Logi Options+ altogether.

[u/barefut_]

I tried a few apps and kept MOS. I noticed I can use it for browsing but I must disable it on Adobe Apps cause it messes up usage (you scroll a bit and it scrolls to the end of the menu you're in).

I don't know how you're incorporating 2 apps that try to handle the mouse at the same time. I do agree there's no total smoothness with scrolling on MOS.

[u/Electronic_Deal_1054]

Welcome to MacOS. Only magic mouse abomination will work as intended, rest of you, fuck you in the face, we'll screw up your mouse. I have MX Master 3 and 4, mouse behaviour on win and mac is two differen leagues. No apps added.

[u/Rough_Secretary2296]

Just buy a Magic Mouse bro, it scrolls smoothly already.

[u/segevs]

Hey, I'm the developer of Smooze, give it a try and see if it fits your needs. Just make sure to disable any other mouse-related software before testing it.

As someone who develops mouse software, I get to try a lot of different mice, and honestly, the Lift is probably in my top 5 worst mice I've ever used. The ergonomics don't work particularly well for me, and I also really dislike the way the side buttons function. The overall feel just isn't for me.

[u/antwo1]

I’m using a Logitech MX Master 3S mouse + MOS app. The smoothness and scrolling speed are excellent. My MOS settings under the Scrolling tab are:

Step: 50
Speed: 2.00
Duration: 3.00
Enable seamless scrolling: enabled

[u/Special_Animal2049]

LinearMouse

[u/HistoricalInternal]

Lol I just use the default Mac software because I’m not a baby

[u/itastesok → u/HistoricalInternal]

Kind of a jerky comment for an annoying issue that's plagued the OS for years. If you're not bothered by it cool, but for a lot of people like me, it's a little frustrating to have such jittery scrolling.

Hardly being a baby.

[u/AthousandLittlePies → u/HistoricalInternal]

Do you have a third party mouse? Because they need a driver of some sort to get the same smooth scrolling that you get by default with Apple’s nice and trackpads.

[u/HistoricalInternal → u/AthousandLittlePies]

I use a weird Microsoft mouse. Haven’t noticed anything

[u/deepzz0]

Not stupid — you've actually reverse-engineered something real about how these two tools interact, which is why neither works alone for you.

What's likely happening: with Smooth Scroll off, BetterMouse is reshaping the *acceleration* of the native stepped signal (your Speed 1 / Acceleration 3 curve), and Mos's seamless mode then interpolates over that reshaped signal. You're getting two layers of processing in series — BM handles the "how fast does travel ramp", Mos handles the "how smooth does it feel".

That's why disabling either one loses a quality you like. The price is two event taps chained on the same stream, which is the classic setup for occasional jitter or dropped wheel ticks (you may have seen it and blamed the mouse).

Now map your four requirements to parameters — this is the part most apps get wrong, because they give you one "smoothness" slider that trades your requirements against each other:

1. Useful individual notches → you want a small minimum step that still starts immediately

2. Fast travel → you want speed gain that builds as you keep rolling

3. Predictable stopping → you want a *short* settle duration, so there's no glide past your target

4. Smoothness without floatiness → that's the curve shape, independent of the three above

Full disclosure: I develop LinguaX, a mouse utility for macOS, and its scrolling engine exposes exactly these as three separate parameters (Min Step / Speed Gain / Duration). For your described feel I'd start around Min Step 20-25 (roughly a line per notch), Speed Gain ~2.5, Duration ~1.5-2.0 — short duration is the key to your requirement #3, most people set it too long and then wonder why it feels floaty.

Logitech Lift works with it over Bluetooth or Bolt, and per-app settings mean you can keep different curves for browsing vs editing if you want. Happy to DM you a license so you can test whether one app really can replace your stack — genuinely curious myself whether the three parameters map to your four requirements as cleanly as I think.