How to Rename Apple Magic Mouse in Mac OS

Dec 15, 2016 - 23 Comments

How to rename a Magic Mouse on Mac

By default Mac OS will name a Bluetooth device like an Apple Magic Mouse as “Name’s Magic Mouse”, which makes it easy to identify. Some Mac users may wish to change that and assign a different name to their Magic Mouse or to rename the Magic Mouse however, perhaps to resolve a conflict, to not confuse multiple devices synced to the same Mac, for privacy purposes, or any other number of reasons.

This quick guide will show you how to rename an Apple Magic Mouse or Magic Mouse 2 in Mac OS.

To be clear this only renames the device, it doesn’t do anything else. You do not need disconnect the device or fiddle with Bluetooth at all. And yes, this applies to other Bluetooth devices on a Mac as well, and it works in all versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X.

Renaming a Magic Mouse in Mac OS

Here’s how you can rename a Magic Mouse on a Mac:

  1. Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences”
  2. Choose “Bluetooth”
  3. Right-click (or Control+Click) on the Apple Magic Mouse and choose “Rename”
  4. Give the Magic Mouse a new name and choose the “Rename” option

Rename an Apple Magic Mouse in Mac OS

Once the Magic Mouse has been renamed it will carry through to all other locations where bluetooth device names are listed, like the Bluetooth preference panel and dropdown menu.

magic-mouse

This obviously focuses on renaming Magic Mouse, but you can also rename the Magic Trackpad and other connected mouse or accessories if need be using this approach.

As you can see, renaming a Magic Mouse is quite easy once you learn how.

The name change will persist indefinitely, unless the Magic Mouse is unpaired from the Mac.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

23 Comments

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  1. Harry says:

    If you are on Catalina and the mouse reverts to the original name, here are two workarounds from the Apple Community Forums:

    Workaround #1 (worked for me)

    1 Connect Device
    2 Go to settings, right click on device, don’t click the menu, leave it open
    3 Turn off device
    4 Select “rename” in the still open right click menu
    5 rename the device and close the pop up
    6 Turn device back on and connect

    Workaround #2 (haven’t tried it myself)

    1. Make sure the bluetooth icon is showing in your menu bar
    2. Make sure your magic keyboard is not connected to your Mac via usb, but via bluetooth only (keyboard should be paired)
    3. Hold the SHIFT and OPTION key down while left-clicking the bluetooth icon.
    4. An extra option has appeared in the bluetooth menu: ‘Debugging’, go there
    5. Click ‘Factory Reset all connected apple devices’
    6. Repair the keyboard
    7. Voila the keyboard has been reset and you can change the name to whatever you want by opening bluetooth preferences -> right click the paired keyboard -> change name -> save name. Now it works.

  2. Dill says:

    Renamed with Catalina, my Magic Mouse 1 never remembers his new name (even with above advices).
    So I installed the free evaluation version of VMWare Fusion, and I created a virtual machine with OSX 10.10 Yosemite. I tried to rename the Magic Mouse from OSX 10.10 in the virtual machine, but as the bluetooth (controler and driver) is shared with Catalina, that doesn’t work. So I plugged a USB bluetooth key and dedicated it only with the virtual machine (and also disable the option sharing of Bluetooth and USB). Remove the association of Magic Mouse with Catalina. Associate the Magic Mouse under OSX 10.10 and rename it. That’s the only way for my Magic Mouse 1 to be renamed, and now under Catalina the mouse has the new name.

  3. Walter Kailey says:

    I have done this a thousand times. I have the latest Mac OS X version as of this date (4/24/2020). The Rename command appears to work until you close the Bluetooth menu and then reopen it, and then the mouse reverts to its original name. There is apparently no way to truly rename it. This is a BUG, and you can find other cases out there on other web forums, where others are experiencing this. I am using Mac OS 10.15.4 at this writing. Apple: PLEASE fix this. I bought a used Magic Mouse on ebay (well, my son bought it), and we cannot rename it. It’s named after its previous owner, a certain “Marc B——-” (name deleted to protect his privacy)

  4. Molle says:

    I have done that a thousand times before searching for this site, guess what: It’s not working. It does not take effect when I close the “rename” box.

  5. Mark Roy says:

    I can change the name ok, but when I close and reopen system prefs, the glorious, all-powerful Apple (all bow down) has simply changed it back again

  6. Vishak says:

    Rename is not shown if mouse is being charged, FYI.

  7. Patrick says:

    The newer OS option is to Ctrl-Left Click on the device name and choose the Rename menu item from the Bluetooth Prefs Panel.

  8. Frank says:

    Nope. The only option in the new operating system when you right click is to delete.

  9. Ted says:

    Thanks a ton Paul. I have searched daily for 8 years to do this!

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