How to set up a Mac for someone with a tremor
Often the person who sets up the Mac isn't the person who uses it: a son or daughter, a friend, a carer. When their hands shake, a few changes make the Mac much easier for them, and they take about fifteen minutes.
The short answer: make the pointer bigger and calmer, stop clicks that happen by accident, stop keys from repeating, then add a tremor filter and show them how to turn it off. Change one thing at a time and let them try it: what helps one hand gets in the way of another.
Which settings should I change first?
- A bigger pointer. System Settings › Accessibility › Display › Pointer size. Turn off Shake mouse pointer to locate there too, or the tremor may keep making the pointer big.
- A calmer pointer. System Settings › Mouse › Advanced… › Pointer acceleration off, then a lower Tracking speed.
- No taps that click. On a trackpad, turn off System Settings › Trackpad › Point & Click › Tap to Click.
- No folders that open by themselves. System Settings › Accessibility › Pointer Control › Spring-loading off.
- No letters typed twice. If typing doubles letters, turn on System Settings › Accessibility › Keyboard › Slow Keys, or set System Settings › Keyboard › Key repeat rate to Off.
Then watch them use it for a few minutes: accidental clicks explains which double-click speed suits which problem.
How do I install a tremor filter for them?
- Download StillMouse, open StillMouse.dmg and drag StillMouse into Applications. Open it from Applications; macOS asks once whether to open an app from the internet: choose Open.
- In StillMouse's welcome window, press Open System Settings. Under Privacy & Security › Accessibility, turn on StillMouse. macOS may ask for the Mac's password.
- Check the menu bar: a filled pointer with lines beside it means StillMouse is on, an outline means it's off.
- Balanced is on from the start. On a MacBook trackpad, try Trackpad. The one-minute test (hold still, follow a dot, click 10 targets) suggests a preset for their hand.
Turned on in System Settings but still not working? Select StillMouse in that list, remove it with −, then open StillMouse again and allow it once more.
How do they turn it off if it gets in the way?
Show them before you leave: pressing Control 5 times in a row turns StillMouse off at once, without needing the mouse. ⌃ ⌥ S turns it on or off from any app, and ⌃ ⌥ M switches to the next preset, whose name shows on screen.
What should I check after a few days?
Ask what still goes wrong: clicks beside the target, double-clicks that fail, a pointer that feels slow on long moves. A preset that feels slow can be swapped for a lighter one, and the test can be taken again on another day, since a tremor varies. If the pointer still won't settle, another kind of mouse may suit them better.