xGestures is now freeware and updated for macOS 10.12

Well, here we are... another blog post nearly two years after my last one. Sufficed to say that I haven't really had the time to maintain this blog, as I've been completely absorbed in my work and personal life for the last decade or so. But I do have some new news.

First, I've updated xGestures to version 1.77. The update should fix some bugs that come up in macOS 10.12, namely that it was impossible to install the software, and it should make it easier to make xGestures one of the apps that's allowed to control your computer.

Second, xGestures is now freeware. Given that I don't have the time to update it any longer, almost no one is buying it anymore (I've been getting one registration every two weeks or so), and also given that it only costed five dollars, I figured the right thing to do was to make it freeware from here on out.

I'd like to take this moment to thank everyone that paid $5 for xGestures over the years.

🎈🎉🎊🎈 Thank you! 🎈🎉🎊🎈

You all helped support me, particularly towards the beginning of xGestures' life when I was still in the sketchy early years of my adulthood, back around the time I was still in college or recently graduated, and I was more or less broke. I originally made xGestures just for myself and my own sanity, since prior to xGestures there wasn't any good mouse gestures app for macOS / OS X / Mac OS X / whatever, and I simply couldn't live without mouse gestures. It was very encouraging for me to see so many other people fall in love with xGestures and find it to be the same indispensable tool that I do.

Without any further ado, here is the link to xGestures 1.77: xgestures177.dmg

So that leaves a big question... what's next for xGestures? The rather sad answer is, not much.

As long as there isn't another mouse gestures app for macOS that's as good as xGestures, I will continue to update it for the latest version of macOS. It is an indispensable tool for me, after all, so if it should stop working, I'll pretty much have no choice but to fix it. But as of now, I have no plans for adding in any new features.

I had a dream some time ago of making a new version of xGestures, completely rewritten from the ground up to be something even better and more powerful than it was before. But these days, my time is very valuable, and I don't have the time to work on a big project like that alongside everything else that's earning me money. xGestures was always a niche utility, and in the age of Magic Trackpads it's even more niche than it was before, making it not viable as a commercial product. Maybe some day I'll find the time and inclination to make a freeware (or perhaps even open source) brand spankin' new mouse gestures app, but that's not happening in the foreseeable future.

(I'd just like to throw in that BetterTouchTool may be a suitable replacement, although I don't personally feel that its drawing feature is quite the right replacement for the Opera-style mouse gestures that xGestures provides. But it's close! You may like it, and all of the other great features it provides.)