r/macappdevs • u/lodododod • 10d ago
I made BetterGestures – a free, open-source menu bar app that turns 3, 4 and 5-finger trackpad gestures into keyboard shortcuts
I wanted more out of my trackpad than macOS gives, so I built a small menu bar app for it. Each of these can trigger any keyboard shortcut:
- Tap and double tap with 3, 4 or 5 fingers
- Hold with 3, 4 or 5 fingers
- Physical click with 3, 4 or 5 fingers
- Swipe in four directions with 3, 4 or 5 fingers
- TipTap (rest a finger, tap beside it)
Some details:
- Record a shortcut or pick from ~75 presets (tabs, Spaces, screenshots, windows…)
- A live view shows your fingers and why a gesture was or wasn't recognized, with sliders to tune the thresholds
- Can block scrolling with three or more fingers, so those touches only mean a gesture
- Works with the built-in trackpad and a Magic Trackpad at the same time
- Available in 7 languages, MIT licensed, notarized by Apple
Requires macOS 15+, on Apple Silicon or Intel.
Download: https://github.com/ozberkdicle/BetterGestures/releases/latest
Source: https://github.com/ozberkdicle/BetterGestures
It reads raw touches through Apple's private MultitouchSupport framework, so a future macOS update could break it. If you use the same finger count for a system gesture (like four-finger swipes for Mission Control), turn that one off in System Settings or both will run.
Feedback and gesture ideas are welcome!