Mouse pointer not changing to hand or text cursor. MacOS 14.2

[Hessel89]

Anyone else experiencing this weird mouse behavior in macOS Sonoma? I started noticing it since 14.2, but it might have existed a bit earlier. I'm now on Beta 14.3 and they still have not fixed it.

My mouse pointer does not change based on the content it’s hovering over; It does not change to a hand or text cursor when hovering over links or text.

I am now suspecting this is a problem caused by incorrect Finder behavior.

Normally when clicking on an application window, this will make that window active and appear in the foreground.

Now when I click on a window, it will make it appear in the foreground but it will often still not be active / in focus, causing the mouse pointer to not change.

 

[Hessel89]

Here's an example of what I mean. Even though this safari window is in focus, the mouse pointer does not change to a hand when hovering over a hyperlink.

 

[frou]

Now you mention it, I have also had this occasionally in Sonoma, but it did not register that much.

 

[thisbansal]

been noticing that since I've upgraded to Sonoma last year when it was publicly released on my M1 Pro MacBook. Idk about others but to me it's quite annoying little bug. Sadly haven't been able to find a fix for it so far.

 

[MrWeenus]

You're not the only one. 14.2 made it worse. 14.3 beta fixed like 5% of it.
I'm going crazy.

 

[mikethebigo]

Yup I just recently posted about it here haha https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cursor-image-not-updating-on-hover.2414909/

In case you were wondering a fresh reinstall of the system does not help.

 

[MrWeenus]

Not fixed in 14.3 b2...

 

[kecinzer]

Here too, but very rear.
Sonoma brings lot of new bugs that is going over new version without fixes.
1) This thread pointer bug
2) Loosing focus bug (https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...bug-frontmost-app-keeps-losing-focus.2406058/)
3) Stage Manager glitches using specific display configurations
4) Safari profiles broken (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/safari-profiles-completely-broken.2403627/)
5) Always open popups in new tab in Safari sopped working few versions back

There is also issue from previous major version of macOS without fix: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...store-from-minimalization-of-any-app.2370260/

I reported every issue, still without response or fix.

 

[MrWeenus]

I'm just wondering what kind of software apple's engineers run? like... wouldn't they notice this as well?

 

[svenmany]

My mouse does occasionally stop changing to a resize one - one which you would use to drag a border to enlarge an area. You can kind of see it change, but it only does so very briefly and at most for a one pixel area. I find that I often can fix it by dragging some window from one monitor to another with a different resolution. I've also had luck fixing it by playing with mouse pointer speed. It usually stays good for a number of hours.

 

[henkej]

This happens for me sometimes. Bartender seem to be the problem, restarting it make the problem go away...for awhile.

 

[LeeW]

Yes, been a ****ing nightmare for me. There are so many complaining about it in the Apple community forums. But of course in true Apple style, it does not affect everyone.

I have found that if you turn on Stage Manager, the issue disappears. I code, it does it in Sublime Text, but not VS Code.

It is related to MacOS, I have tried different mice, wired and Bluetooth, does it with all of them.

So frustrating.

 

[zevrix]

I have a similar problem that comes up once in a while for years on various systems and machines. It's also being accompanied by an annoying cursor flickering.

Restarting solves the issue.

It happens maybe 2-3 times a year. I did report it to Apple couple of times.

 

[betweenupdates]

Same issue, I was thinking maybe I had messed up my hardware!
What is strange is that the cursor goes back to normal if I use an external trackpad, but only sometimes.

 

[svenmany]

These last few posts...Are we talking about the OP's issue or the issue I raised regarding the cursor not changing when trying to resize things?

 

[LeeW]

In my case, I am referring to this.

Strange mouse click issue after updating … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

 

[Hessel89]

These last few posts...Are we talking about the OP's issue or the issue I raised regarding the cursor not changing when trying to resize things?

Same issue probably. MacOS does not recognize that the Window you're resizing is the one in focus, so it does not change the cursor. I'm quite convinced now it's a bug in WindowManager and not in the cursor itself.

 

[thisbansal]

@Hessel89 you could be right, it kinda makes sense. I've been trying to think about what could be the culprit here but nothing came to my mind. I just hope apple does something about it.

 

[thisbansal]

Also, to the OP issue, which I have as well, I tried @LeeW strategy (turned on stage manager and yes I know what I have to live with now), cursor is behaving much better so far. Every once in a while cursor stops changing based on where I am pointing but if I change window or refresh the safari page, cursor starts to act normal. 🍻 @LeeW you're him!

 

[LeeW]

cursor is behaving much better so far.

I hate Stage Manager, but whilst I am doing basic things I just turn it on to make the mouse behave. If nothing else it proves the issue is with macOS.

 

[zevrix]

These last few posts...Are we talking about the OP's issue or the issue I raised regarding the cursor not changing when trying to resize things?

i was replying to OP.

 

[svenmany]

This happens for me sometimes. Bartender seem to be the problem, restarting it make the problem go away...for awhile.

Thanks for this tip. I finally decided to try just not running Bartender for a couple of days. The problem, which previously arose every few hours, has not happened since.

My setup is a 16" M2 left open, with two attached 4K monitors. The previous fix I was using was to some window between monitors. That would fix it for all windows.

 

[Hessel89]

Thanks for this tip. I finally decided to try just not running Bartender for a couple of days. The problem, which previously arose every few hours, has not happened since.

My setup is a 16" M2 left open, with two attached 4K monitors. The previous fix I was using was to some window between monitors. That would fix it for all windows.

I don't have Bartender. Try dragging your cursor underneath the notch. For me the problem is 100% replicable doing this.

 

[LeeW]

It's not bartender; I have never had that installed.

 

[henkej]

It's not bartender; I have never had that installed.

Completely removed Bartender, no cursor issue since. Nothing else changed. Perhaps there is some similar or totally completely different piece of shi...software you are running that messes with your cursor.