USB Overdrive
USB Overdrive is a macOS utility that lets you customize buttons, wheels, keys, and controls on many USB and Bluetooth input devices.
What is USB Overdrive?
USB Overdrive is a macOS utility and driver that helps users customize how supported USB and Bluetooth input devices behave. It is designed for people who want more control over mice, trackballs, keyboards, joysticks, gamepads, and similar accessories than macOS provides by default. The app lets you assign actions to buttons, wheels, keys, and other controls, with settings that can be applied globally or tailored to specific apps and individual devices. It can manage multiple supported devices at the same time, which is useful for mixed desktop setups or specialized peripherals. USB Overdrive is published by Alessandro Levi Montalcini and is intended for Mac users who rely on third-party input hardware in work, accessibility, or gaming workflows. Apple’s own Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard are not handled by USB Overdrive so macOS can preserve their built-in multitouch behavior.
Key features
- Customize buttons, wheels, keys, and other controls on supported devices
- Assign different settings for specific apps and individual devices
- Use separate configurations for multiple connected peripherals
- Map device inputs to actions such as clicking, typing, scrolling, and launching items
- Work with many USB and Bluetooth mice, trackballs, keyboards, joysticks, and gamepads
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Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
USB Overdrive is legitimate device-customization software for macOS, but it works closely with input hardware and uses a driver extension to do its job. Permission prompts and extension approval are normal for this kind of utility. Because it can take control of supported third-party mice, keyboards, and similar devices, incorrect settings may temporarily make a device behave unexpectedly until you change or remove the configuration. Keep a built-in Mac keyboard or trackpad, or another standard input option, available when changing advanced device settings.
Recommendation: Keep USB Overdrive if you actively use custom settings for third-party input devices or need per-device and per-app controls. If you no longer use it, you can remove it, but your customized button mappings and device behavior will stop working and macOS will fall back to its normal input handling.
Common paths
/Applications/USB Overdrive.app
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