Magic Mouse Gestures for Linux

Enable macOS-style swipe gestures on Apple Magic Mouse 2 for Linux/Wayland.

Features

• Horizontal swipe gestures for browser back/forward navigation
• Works with Wayland compositors (Hyprland, Sway, GNOME, etc.)
• Lightweight Python daemon with minimal dependencies
• Automatic device detection and reconnection
• Configurable via environment variables

How It Works

The Magic Mouse 2 has a touch-sensitive surface, but Linux only exposes basic mouse functionality by default. This driver reads raw HID data directly from the device to detect touch positions and translate horizontal swipes into keyboard shortcuts.

Gesture	Action
Swipe → (right)	Browser back (Alt+Left)
Swipe ← (left)	Browser forward (Alt+Right)

Requirements

• Linux with kernel 5.15+ (built-in Magic Mouse 2 support)
• Wayland session (not X11)
• Python 3.8+
• wtype (for sending keystrokes on Wayland)

Supported Desktops

This driver uses wtype which requires Wayland. It works with:

Desktop	Wayland Support
GNOME	Default since 3.22 (2017+)
KDE Plasma	Default since Plasma 6 (2024+)
Hyprland	Wayland-native
Sway	Wayland-native

To check if you're running Wayland:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE
# Should output: wayland

Note: X11 sessions are not supported (would require xdotool instead of wtype).

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Installation

Choose one of the two methods below:

Option A: Automatic Installation (Recommended)

git clone https://github.com/brenoperucchi/magic-mouse-gestures.git
cd magic-mouse-gestures
./install.sh

The installer will:

• Check dependencies (python3, wtype, bluetoothctl)
• Install the driver to /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/
• Install udev rules for non-root access
• Reconnect Magic Mouse to apply permissions
• Install and enable the systemd user service
• Verify everything is working

Note: Do NOT run with sudo. The script requests sudo only when needed.

Option B: Manual Installation

1. Install dependencies

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S python wtype bluez-utils

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install python3 wtype bluez

Fedora:

sudo dnf install python3 wtype bluez

2. Install driver and udev rules

git clone https://github.com/brenoperucchi/magic-mouse-gestures.git
cd magic-mouse-gestures

# Install driver
sudo mkdir -p /opt/magic-mouse-gestures
sudo cp magic_mouse_gestures.py /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/
sudo chmod +x /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py

# Install udev rules
sudo cp udev/99-magic-mouse.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

3. Reconnect Magic Mouse

Disconnect and reconnect via Bluetooth to apply permissions:

bluetoothctl disconnect <MAC_ADDRESS>
bluetoothctl connect <MAC_ADDRESS>

4. Install and enable the service

mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp systemd/magic-mouse-gestures.service ~/.config/systemd/user/
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now magic-mouse-gestures

Verify it's running:

systemctl --user status magic-mouse-gestures

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Uninstall

cd magic-mouse-gestures
./uninstall.sh

This stops the service, removes all installed files, and restores default permissions.

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Configuration

All thresholds can be configured via environment variables (no need to edit code):

Variable	Default	Description
SWIPE_THRESHOLD	200	Minimum horizontal movement (pixels)
SWIPE_VERTICAL_MAX	150	Maximum vertical movement (pixels)
SWIPE_TIME_MAX	0.5	Maximum swipe duration (seconds)
SWIPE_VELOCITY_MIN	200	Minimum swipe velocity (pixels/second)
SCROLL_COOLDOWN	0.25	Cooldown after scroll before allowing swipe (seconds)
MIN_FINGERS	1	Minimum fingers for swipe gesture
MAX_FINGERS	2	Maximum fingers (ignore if more)
DEBUG	false	Enable debug output (1, true, yes)

Example: Custom configuration

SWIPE_THRESHOLD=150 SWIPE_VELOCITY_MIN=150 python3 /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py

Persistent configuration (systemd)

Edit the service file to add environment variables:

systemctl --user edit magic-mouse-gestures

Add:

[Service]
Environment="SWIPE_THRESHOLD=150"
Environment="SWIPE_VELOCITY_MIN=150"

Then restart:

systemctl --user restart magic-mouse-gestures

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Debugging

Step 1: Stop the systemd service

systemctl --user stop magic-mouse-gestures

Step 2: Run manually with debug enabled

DEBUG=1 python3 /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py

Or from the project directory:

DEBUG=1 python3 ~/Projects/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py

Step 3: Save debug output to a file

DEBUG=1 python3 /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py 2>&1 | tee ~/magic-mouse.log

Step 4: Restart the service when done

systemctl --user start magic-mouse-gestures

View service logs

journalctl --user -u magic-mouse-gestures -f

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Troubleshooting

Device not found

Make sure your Magic Mouse 2 is connected via Bluetooth:

bluetoothctl devices

Permission denied

Either run with sudo or install the udev rules (see installation).

Gestures not working

1. Check if the service is running:

   systemctl --user status magic-mouse-gestures

2. View logs:

   journalctl --user -u magic-mouse-gestures -f

3. Run with debug to see touch data:

   systemctl --user stop magic-mouse-gestures
   DEBUG=1 python3 /opt/magic-mouse-gestures/magic_mouse_gestures.py

Verify udev rules

After reconnecting the Magic Mouse, check permissions:

ls -la /dev/hidraw*

The Magic Mouse device should show crw-rw-rw- permissions.

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Technical Details

HID Data Structure

The Magic Mouse 2 sends touch data in the following format:

• Header (14 bytes): Mouse movement and button states
• Touch data (8 bytes per finger):
  • Bytes 0-1: X position (12-bit)
  • Bytes 1-2: Y position (12-bit)
  • Bytes 3-4: Touch ellipse dimensions
  • Bytes 5-6: Touch ID and orientation
  • Byte 7: Touch state (1-4 = contact, 5-7 = lift)

Coordinate Parsing

Coordinates are 12-bit values (0-4095) parsed as:

x = tdata[0] | ((tdata[1] & 0x0F) << 8)
y = (tdata[2] << 4) | (tdata[1] >> 4)

Why not libinput?

The Linux kernel's hid-magicmouse driver converts touch data into scroll events only. It doesn't expose raw multitouch data to libinput, which is why libinput-gestures doesn't work with Magic Mouse.

This driver bypasses that limitation by reading directly from the HID raw interface.

Kernel Module: hid_magicmouse

The hid_magicmouse kernel module handles scroll functionality. Our driver handles swipe gestures. Both work together.

Check if module is loaded:

lsmod | grep hid_magicmouse

Force load the module:

sudo modprobe hid_magicmouse

View module parameters:

modinfo hid_magicmouse

Current settings:

systool -m hid_magicmouse -av

Scroll Configuration

The installer copies modprobe/hid-magicmouse.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/ with optimized scroll settings:

options hid_magicmouse scroll_acceleration=1 scroll_speed=32 emulate_3button=0

Option	Default	Description
scroll_acceleration	1	Enable scroll acceleration
scroll_speed	32	Scroll speed multiplier
emulate_3button	0	Emulate middle button with 3-finger click
emulate_scroll_wheel	1	Enable scroll wheel emulation

Apply changes manually:

sudo modprobe -r hid_magicmouse && sudo modprobe hid_magicmouse

Then reconnect the Magic Mouse via Bluetooth.

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Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• Apple Magic Mouse 2 HID documentation from the Linux kernel source
• The Hyprland and Wayland communities