Custom Cursor for Mac

How a custom cursor works on macOS

Windows keeps a scheme of ten .cur files in the registry, which is why the Windows pack installs with one click. macOS has no equivalent setting: the system pointer is set in code, and there is no user-facing theme picker.

That is where MaCursor comes in. It is a free, open-source app (GPL-3.0) that registers replacement images for the cursor identifiers macOS uses and keeps them applied while you work. Our macOS download is the theme file it reads: a single .cursor file holding your artwork at 32 px and 64 px, plus the click point for every state.

Nothing is written to /System, there is no SIP override and no terminal command. Reverting is one button inside MaCursor.

Install it in four steps

1. Generate your design and switch the download platform to macOS. You get a zip with one .cursor theme and a README.

2. Install MaCursor from its GitHub releases page, then open it once. If macOS says it is from an unidentified developer, right-click the app in Applications and choose Open.

3. Import the theme — double-click the .cursor file, drag it onto the MaCursor window, or use File → Import Theme.

4. Select the theme and press Apply. Install MaCursor's helper tool (Settings → General → Helper Tool → Install) if you want the theme to survive a restart or a user switch.

What the theme covers

macOS has more pointer identifiers than Windows, so the ten states in a pack expand into 27 registered cursors: the arrow, the I-beam text cursor, the link hand, the busy indicator, the crosshair, the not-allowed pointer and the six resize directions. Each keeps the click point drawn for its own shape, so a resize arrow still grabs the window edge.

Some apps paint their own pointers — a few creative tools and games do — and those stay as the app set them. The theme also cannot reach the protected spinner inside certain system surfaces.

How the Mac pack differs from the Windows pack

Same artwork, same 32 px and 64 px renders, same generation credits, same price. What changes is delivery: Windows gets .cur files plus a one-click installer that writes the cursor scheme, macOS gets a single .cursor theme that MaCursor applies.

That means one extra app on the Mac side. MaCursor is written and maintained by its own author, not by us, so a macOS update that breaks it is fixed in their releases rather than ours. Our 7-day guarantee is written for Windows installation and display problems, which is exactly why the free preview matters on a Mac: draw the arrow, look at it, then decide whether to pay.

If something does not apply

Double-clicking the .cursor file does nothing — MaCursor is not installed yet, or the file association is missing. Open MaCursor and drag the theme into the window instead.

Some pointers are still the system default after Apply — the app you are looking at draws its own cursor. Press Apply again, then check a different app before assuming the theme failed.

Cursors revert after a restart — install MaCursor's helper tool. Without it the theme only applies to the current session.

You downloaded one state that is not the arrow — MaCursor flags a theme with no arrow, because every theme needs one. Download the full set, or download the arrow alongside it.

Want the plain Mac pointer back — press the Restore button in MaCursor's toolbar.

FAQ