Locate Your Mac's Cursor Easily with These Ocular Aids

Locate Your Mac's Cursor Easily with These Ocular Aids

Losing your cursor on a cluttered screen is frustrating, right? Yet here you are, staring blankly at your Mac, cursing the invisible critter that's vanished someplace in the digital abyss. Don't wreck your reputation at work just yet. A solution—or should I say, a pair of googly eyes—lies in the form of a free app called Googly Eyes.

This invention is the brainchild of the brilliant Sindre Sorhus, a developer we've spotlighted several times on Lifehacker. Sorhus's creative repertoire ranges from sticky notes for your menu bar, tools to customize your menu bar's spacing, a nifty way to switch browsers on a whim, an app expanding Shortcuts' extension support, and a tool that transforms Finder into a Windows-esque File Explorer.

But unlike Sorhus's other creations, Googly Eyes serves a more amusing purpose: upon installation, a pair of googly eyes will materialize on your Mac's menu bar, tracking your cursor's every move. Move your mouse or swipe on your trackpad, and those eyes will lock onto your cursor with an uncanny accuracy.

Lost your cursor while typing this very sentence? No worries, just cast a glance up at the googly eyes, and let them guide you to its hiding place. Click your mouse or trackpad, and the eyes wink in acknowledgment. Yes, it's entertaining, but it's also damn handy.

Googly Eyes might as well be macOS's cure-all for wayward cursors. You can shake your cursor to make it reappear, but this feature isn't foolproof, especially when working across multiple monitors or in heavy-duty tasks. In such situations, having a pair of vigilant eyes to keep watch and hint at your cursor's whereabouts could prove invaluable.

Setting up Googly Eyes is a breeze, but Sorhus has thought ahead and provided some troubleshooting tips. If the googly eyes fail to appear in your menu bar, close down some congested menu bar apps, as macOS tends to hide such applications when there are too many open, particularly on smaller displays. If your Mac can't access the App Store, don't fret: you can download the app directly from Sorhus, but be warned, this method won't include automatic updates. Sorhus only updates the app on his website once a year.

Now, let's get those googly eyes following your cursor and ending your cursor woes once and for all! Quick, install Googly Eyes and tell your mouse to behave itself!

1. Tech prodigy Sindre Sorhus, known for various apps on Lifehacker, has developed a unique app called Googly Eyes that offers a fun solution to losing your cursor on a cluttered screen.
2. Especially valuable in situations where shaking the cursor to make it reappear isn't sufficient, such as working across multiple monitors or in heavy-duty tasks, Googly Eyes tracks your cursor's every move, represented by a pair of googly eyes on your Mac's menu bar.
3. To bring Googly Eyes into your digital life and say goodbye to cursor-related frustration, follow the installation process on Lifehacker or directly from Sindre Sorhus's website, and prepare for your menu bar to never look the same again.

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