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Smooze - Smooth scrolling & mouse enhancement mac app

Smooze

Smooze

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 16, 2017
10
5
Hey guys,

Wanted to share my recently released app.

screen1new.png


Smooze animates your scroll and adds functionality to your non-Apple mouse (scroll-wheel mouse).

* Smooth Scrolling - Every app you own will have buttery smooth scrolling

* Multi Display - Set different scroll settings for each app and display you are using.

* Actions - Save time by attaching mouse buttons to actions

* Auto Scroll - You can now click a selected mouse button once to auto scroll anywhere on the screen, hands free, with buttery smooth animations!

* Gestures - Assign gestures to any button / shortcut / app

* Grab & Drag & Throw - You can now use a mouse button to grab and scroll anywhere on the screen. Throwing will animate the scrolling just like it would on a trackpad

* CPU Friendly - Highly optimized & Uses a very small percentage of your CPU, even on excessive use.

* High FPS - Smooze synchronizes its drawings to the refresh rate of your display which ensures the best scrolling experience.

Free feature:

* Remove scroll acceleration completely and control the number of lines to scroll on each tick (the app is not free but that specific feature is free and will always be free)

Video & Download

Let me know about any bug \ idea \ suggestion.

New features are added daily.

Thanks
 
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I have everything your app offers with the Logitech mouse driver that shipped with the mouse. I have 50% of what your app offers with Apple's built-in mouse driver and the Magic Mouse.

Essentially you're charging $5 to be able to customize button actions. There are free extensions to do this, and most 3rd-party mouse drivers also offer it.

In other words, you're going to have to either make your app do something useful, highly-desirable, and unavailable at the price you're asking.

If you don't or can't do more with the app, then you should at least have a professional work on your website. You really don't "sell" the app. Clicking the features navigation takes me to a useless list of 4 things that tell me absolutely nothing (the "mustache" one is cute, but considering how void of info the rest of the list is, it's not amusing in the way you think it is).

What EXACTLY and ENTIRELY does the app do? Why are those things important? How do they compare to other apps (if any available)? How useful are attaching actions to mouse buttons, and list examples.

Work on the sales pitch. Then work on adding features to the app itself.
 
Hey MacGizmo,

I'll try to address everything you wrote.

The app is for non apple scroll wheel mice - having the Magic Mouse is irrelevant here.

You mentioned "free extensions to do this". Extensions to what? macOS? I'm not sure what you're referring to here.

As far as I know, Logitech drivers doesn't offer animated scrolling, which is one of the key features in the app.
(The animations are customizable with 21 flavors to choose from)

Logitech drivers are part of the reason why I developed this app in the first place.

Among other issues I had with their drivers, my main problem was the fact that you can't disable acceleration. I wanted to scroll in a linear speed, deciding how many lines to scroll on each tick. Really missed that coming from Windows. There's no way to configure that in macOS or the Logitech drivers out of the box.

Even if i'll endure that, Logitech drivers doesn't work with other mice so I had to find another solution for my home mouse.

Regarding the price, every single app that does something similar to the above charges at least X4 than the app current price. Doing a quick google search will show that even apps that offer JUST animated scrolling charge X4 than the app current price.

Regarding the site, there's a 0:38 video that goes through all the main features. I tried to keep it simple without a lot of text. I'm not a great sales man so maybe I need to rethink this.

Thanks for your honest review.

Peace.
 
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Smooze said:
Hey MacGizmo,
The app is for non apple scroll wheel mice - having the Magic Mouse is irrelevant here.
Click to expand...
Yes. I'm aware of this. What I said was that half of what your app does is available with the MagicMouse. We can adjust scrolling/accelleration. And...

Smooze said:
You mentioned "free extensions to do this". Extensions to what? macOS? I'm not sure what you're referring to here.
Click to expand...
Extensions to customize button actions. There are plenty of mouse drivers and extensions that allow me to add actions to mouse events. Logitech drivers do it, so does Kensington. And plenty of 3rd party utilities will work with Magic Mouse.

Smooze said:
As far as I know, Logitech drivers doesn't offer animated scrolling, which is one of the key features in the app.
(The animations are customizable with 21 flavors to choose from)
Click to expand...
This is where my comments about your site come in. What is "Animated Scrolling?" What does it do? Why would I want it? If you're talking about adjusting the curve of speeding up and slowing down at the beginning and end of a scroll—I hate to break it to you, but there are other apps that also do this, and you can also do it with the Terminal.

Smooze said:
Among other issues I had with their drivers, my main problem was the fact that you can't disable acceleration. I wanted to scroll in a linear speed, deciding how many lines to scroll on each tick. Really missed that coming from Windows. There's no way to configure that in macOS or the Logitech drivers out of the box.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't see a way in Logitech drivers to do that. But there are at least 3 other apps I found quickly that do... only one of them costs more than Smooze, but it does a lot more, too.

Smooze said:
...there's a 0:38 video that goes through all the main features. I tried to keep it simple without a lot of text.
Click to expand...
I've watched the video. And I'll re-emphasize what I said previously. It doesn't tell me anything. The video shows you scrolling, then clicking some things in your app, then scrolling. I don't see any problem with the first scroll, I don't know what you were clicking in your app or why—nor do I know what it supposed to do—and I don't see any difference in the scrolling after. "Buttery smooth" doesn't tell me anything, and it's subjective even if it did. Use words. They're free. Tell us exactly what your app does, tell us why we would want it. Heck, tell us why you use it. The video is fine, but without words, there is no context.

Look, I'm not trying to slam your work. I want to like the app. But you asked for opinions, so mine is that your app offers some nice features, but I can get them with several other apps. So you're going to have to sell me on your app and what makes it better.
 
Spudboy2014 said:
Just discovered your app tonight. Way freaking cool. I'll be buying. Taking me a bit to figure out just the right settings.
Click to expand...

Glad you like it!

I just realized how much has changed since the first time I posted it here, 6 month ago.
I edited the first post to include all the recent changes but here's the before and after picture:

compare.png
 
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I think your app seems very good too. I'm going to try it out for a few days and see how it feels. Great work!
 
meady100 said:
I think your app seems very good too. I'm going to try it out for a few days and see how it feels. Great work!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I must mention that most of the recent features were suggested by the users so feel free to suggest anything that comes to mind.
 
Logitech Control Center causes a lot of problems. It installs a kernel extension that may crash macOS or prevent its startup (as it happened recently). So using a third-party app is preferred to Logitech's software and drivers. I'm not sure how Smooze works with actions on mouse buttons (i.e. back/forward buttons), but that single features is worth the $5. AutoScroll feature sounds great. Unfortunately, I'm still using El Capitan, so I can't test the app.

Would you please add some info, how long will work the trial and if all features can be tested.
 
Hey presenta,

Logitech drivers were one of the many reasons that lead me to develop Smooze.

Because some users use Logitech Options also as a Keyboard driver, I've adjusted Smooze to be able to coexist on the same machine with Logitech Options.

Logitech will control the button assignments but Smooze will handle everything else (Scroll, Auto, Grab etc')

There's a 7 days trial. All features are available during that period.
 
Hi. I was just going to buy a license after trying out a couple of similar apps. Is it correct, that the price is 20$ right now? I wish it was still 5 (or was it ever 5$ after all?), but I'm sorry, 20$ is simply too much imho.
 
Fantastic app. Made my scrolling experience with a Logitech M337 in MacOS High Sierra far more pleasant.

I'm dyslexic and can get migraines caused by the processing stress caused by reading for long periods.

Your app has removed another aspect of stress, which was the juddering of scrolling - which is a big help.

I used the trial and when it ran out my Mac looked broken!

Paid for it without hesitation.

Great work!
 
alexjholland said:
Fantastic app. Made my scrolling experience with a Logitech M337 in MacOS High Sierra far more pleasant.

I'm dyslexic and can get migraines caused by the processing stress caused by reading for long periods.

Your app has removed another aspect of stress, which was the juddering of scrolling - which is a big help.

I used the trial and when it ran out my Mac looked broken!

Paid for it without hesitation.

Great work!
Click to expand...

Hey Alex,
I'm glad you like it!
I had no idea the juddering causes stress to some users. Hearing that Smooze helps with that is amazing.
If you have any other suggestions that may help your situation please let me know.
 
Segev said:
Hey Alex,
I'm glad you like it!
I had no idea the juddering causes stress to some users. Hearing that Smooze helps with that is amazing.
If you have any other suggestions that may help your situation please let me know.
Click to expand...
No worries.

Dyslexia is like having words vibrate. It can be more stressful for us to read and we fatigue more quickly, which isn't great for productivity.

I'm actually a professional writer. Dyslexia has nothing to do with one's ability to form powerful sentences; but it does mean we get eye fatigue more quickly than most people - so these differences ultimately impact my income.

Small differences in lens prescription, font-size, screen brightness or reading conditions can have a disproportionately large impact on our reading speed, compared to most people.

Smooze is another nice optimisation in my package, alongside Flux, good monitor height, nice lighting and glasses. Each of which might add 5-10%, but which combined makes a really significant different to my ability to work.

Thanks! Very much appreciated!
 
@alexjholland That's awesome. Glad to hear that Smooze is part of your working package.

Version 1.6.1 is now out with a 30 days trial if someone wants to try it out.
 
Hey guys,

Smooze 1.8.2 was just released introducing Better Wacom support & Smart Auto Scroll.

Smart Auto Scroll - Smooze will detect if the area under the mouse is scrollable and will activate Auto Scroll accordingly. If it's not, Smooze will trigger normal button action. For example, using the middle button as the Auto Scroll button, clicking on it inside Chrome in a web area will trigger the Auto Scroll function. Clicking on the middle button in a tab area will close the tab like the default middle button action.
 
Hey Guys,

Just wanted to let you know that a new version of Smooze with M1 support was released recently. Check it out.
 
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Using a third party mouse with mac os can be a nightmare with the scroll, luckily there are some applications which work good.
The first I tried was mos, it's a freeware, I used it for about a year, it was working quite well, but I find smooze superior, especially with the scroll in docked folders in Big Sur; mos has some glitches with my mouse (microsoft wireless 800 set), smooze is working perfectly.

Apple mouse? no thanks...
 
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A few questions about licensing:

  1. "One license can be activated twice". Does this mean you can activate on two Macs? What if you have two different users? Is that one activation per user? Are the licenses tied to the computer or however many times the application calls home to activate?
  2. "The license can't be reset or transferred". Does this mean that if I do a clean install of an OS on the Mac that I lose the activation and have to purchase another one? Can I move the license to a new Mac or a new install of MacOS (if I don't want to do an update in-place)?
  3. I have two Macs at home and four at work (soon to be five). How many licenses do I need to purchase to cover them all?
  4. Your website does not include a change log showing what new improvements, bug fixes, known issues, etc. came with each of the updates. Or if there is a charge to update from an earlier to the latest version.
  5. I love how the Contact link takes you to the Features area with no email address, phone number or any way at all to contact you. So I assume there is no support at all?
 
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rpmurray said:
I love how the Contact link takes you to the Features area with no email address, phone number or any way at all to contact you
Click to expand...
In real it points to the bottom of the page, where you have twitter, reddit and email addresses.
 
@ghost82 Thanks man!

@rpmurray ,

1. An activation is per user per mac. Different users will require different activation. Different macs with the same user will also require a different activation. To be honest I'd prefer if the activation was tied to the user's Apple ID but I'm bound to what the licensing SDK (paddle) has to offer.

2. Send an email to support and you'll get the license reset as long as the frequency of doing so doesn't suggest abuse.

3. Amount of macs / 2. If you are exceeding 5 licenses you can contact support for a volume purchase.

4. When a new version is released, a change log for all versions is presented in the app. I agree that this should also be available on the website.

5. Was already mentioned - The contact link takes you to the button of the page with a few support options. Email is one of them.
 
Segev said:
5. Was already mentioned - The contact link takes you to the button of the page with a few support options. Email is one of them.
Click to expand...
It doesn't show in Safari when I do that. All I see is a big blue banner with the words "We <heart>new friends!". Under that is a black banner with the copyright notice, a Privacy link and a Terms link. These, by the way, are in dark gray on a black background so almost invisible. You may consider changing the text to white. I have my ad blockers turned off so I'm not sure what I'm missing.
 
I couldn't reproduce this with Safari on Big Sur nor Catalina.
I'll take a closer look later.
 
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