This free app is essential if you use Logitech accessories

If you own a Logitech device, you’re probably familiar with its Logi Options+ app. This is a tool for configuring settings related to your Logitech keyboard, mouse and other peripherals. There’s only one frustrating problem to fix: it’s a notoriously unreliable mess, causing buggy experiences, reduced performance, and a host of other problems. In one particular situation, Logitech mice, like the MX Master 4, stopped working on macOS because an application certificate had expired.

This is also not the first time that the software has encountered performance problems, but there is an open source and completely free alternative: OpenLogi. It doesn’t require an account, doesn’t integrate telemetry, and gives you full, granular control over your equipment. For example, you can completely remap the buttons and additional functions of your MX Master mouse from one easy-to-use visual interface. Everything you can do in Logi Options+, you can do in OpenLogi and more.

Another cool feature coming is the ability to set profiles per app, so you can customize button and device actions based on the app you’re using. OpenLogi is available for macOS, Linux, and Windows, and you can have it up and running in moments. Although you may want to stop Logi Options+ before starting OpenLogi, they tend to conflict; Let’s be real, you should probably uninstall Logitech’s software completely. You need to do the same with Solaar if you are on Linux.

Logitech makes great peripherals, with the MX Master 4 being the best mouse on the market. Some users even say that their Logitech mice lasted a while, but when you take into account the annoying software experience of Logi Options+, there are some problems with the brand’s software. OpenLogi is a completely different tool for continuing to use these devices as intended without the headaches and frustrations they would otherwise cause.

Logi Options+ is a relatively large package, over 200 megabytes in size, with root-level access, built-in data telemetry, and other unnecessary features, when it should be a simple device driver. It is not just bulky software, as it also contains potentially compromising functions. Some important features or tools are also disabled when you log out. OpenLogi pretty much removes all of that.

It requires no account, works on multiple platforms including Linux and macOS, and is both free and community-developed. OpenLogi also works locally, without access to the cloud, so your privacy is better preserved. You can access Logitech-exclusive features like SmartShift, button remapping, DPI presets, and more. The biggest downside is that tracking bugs and issues on the OpenLogi GitHub repository is quite extensive, so there’s a lot to fix, but that’s pretty common for new software applications like this.

Through Logi Options+, Logitech supports a unique feature called Logitech Flow. This is a system that allows you to connect your laptop and computer seamlessly, swapping between them while using a single mouse and keyboard setup. You can’t make it work without Logitech’s software, so the next relevant question is whether OpenLogi will support it or not. Technically OpenLogi already supports it, but not everything Flow offers. You can enjoy easy switching hosting via HID+++, which means your mouse and keyboard will follow the host when switching, just like in Flow.

However, Flow also lets you use a cross-computer clipboard and pointer system, so you can transfer files between connected devices and copy-paste content displayed on one of them to an entirely separate machine. The OpenLogi team says this feature is on the future roadmap, but it may be a while before it is supported. This is a significant trade-off if you use Flow regularly for professional or personal projects. Only you can decide if switching to OpenLogi is the best option for you, but it’s good to know that the feature will (hopefully) arrive at a later date.