Cursor AirPods

I saw a tweet from someone who said they’d turned their AirPods case into a mouse. I was hooked: could it really be done?

AirPods have motion sensors for spatial audio. If they know where you’re looking, so can the Mac.

• Point with your head. Looking straight ahead is the centre of the screen. Turn a little and the cursor follows.
• Click by holding still. A blue circle fills up and, when it’s full, it clicks.
• Right-click with a nod. A quick “yes” with your head.
• Scroll by tilting your head. Lean your head towards a shoulder and the page scrolls.
• A magnet for buttons. If you stay close to something clickable, the click lands on it.
• With “Hey Siri”. “Hey Siri, open Cursor AirPods” and you’re already moving the cursor, hands-free.
• No jitter. It’s precise when you move slowly and fast when you need it. With your head still, the cursor stays put.
• By hand, if needed. One keyboard shortcut pauses it and another recentres it.

I built it in an afternoon with Claude, testing with my own head and checking the numbers from every attempt to fine-tune it.

The first thing I learned: the case is useless. When you put the AirPods away, the Mac disconnects them and the motion stops. So the controller had to be your head.

It works, and it’s quite usable: point, hold still and it clicks. To read a whole web page, just tilt your head.

It’s for me. It isn’t for sale.

A menu bar app for the Mac. Nothing else to install: it reads the AirPods’ sensors and moves the cursor.

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