This is an opinion piece. It sets out the view of NerdBible's editors; the facts it relies on are sourced below.
Our view is simple. A gaming mouse or keyboard should keep its settings on the device itself, and you should be able to change those settings without an account, without an internet connection and without a background app that has to keep working for as long as you own the hardware. Buyers should treat onboard memory and account-free setup as something to check before paying, and makers should treat them as the baseline, not a bonus.
The week a certificate switched off people's mice
In early January 2026, Logitech let a security certificate expire, and its two configuration apps on macOS, Logi Options+ and G HUB, stopped working. MacRumors reported that users were left unable to reach their custom scrolling, button mappings and gestures, and that many found their peripherals had reverted to default settings. The certificate had been used to secure communication between parts of the software, so the apps could not start, in some cases looping endlessly. A Logitech spokesperson wrote on Reddit: "We dropped the ball here. This is an inexcusable mistake."
The fix made the point for us. Because the same expired certificate also broke the apps' built-in updaters, Logitech told users they would have to download and install a patched version by hand, and warned them not to uninstall the app first. BleepingComputer noted that, before the patch, some users had resorted to setting their computer's date back or blocking the app's internet access to get it running again. Logitech said profiles and customisations would survive the patch. Nobody's mouse broke. What broke was the layer of software between the owner and a device they had already paid for.
A pattern, not a one-off
This is not about one company having a bad week. The industry has spent years moving control of peripherals into companion software, and each step has carried its own costs.
- Accounts. Razer's Synapse 3 software originally required a Razer ID. When the company introduced a guest account in May 2019, it described it as "quick access to select Razer software without creating a Razer ID", adding that you would "still need to create a Razer ID in order to enjoy full access".
- Security. In August 2021 a researcher showed that plugging a Razer mouse or dongle into a Windows PC caused Windows to fetch and run the Synapse installer with SYSTEM privileges, which a local user could abuse to gain full control of the machine. BleepingComputer confirmed the bug and reported that Razer said it would issue a fix. Software that installs itself because you plugged in a mouse is software that can go wrong because you plugged in a mouse.
- Business models. In 2024, Logitech's chief executive was asked on The Verge's Decoder podcast whether she could envision a subscription mouse and answered "possibly". Logitech then told MacRumors that "there are no plans for a subscription mouse" and that the idea was "a peek into provocative internal thinking". We take the company at its word. But the fact that the question could be asked at all shows where the value is assumed to live: in the software and services, not in the object on your desk.
What the better model already looks like
None of this requires new technology. Logitech itself offers an on-board memory mode on its gaming mice that support it. Its support page explains that you can store some settings on the device and "carry the settings (for example, the mouse DPI) to another computer without needing to install G HUB." That is exactly the right idea, and it should be the default way these products are sold and set up rather than a toggle in a settings menu.
Keyboards show the next step. Keychron describes its Launcher as a free web application that runs in Chrome, Opera or Edge, remaps keys, records macros, configures layers and flashes firmware on its QMK and ZMK boards. No installer, no account, nothing running in the background once you close the tab.
And on 29 July 2026, Keychron announced ZGM, open-source firmware for gaming mice built on the Zephyr real-time operating system. As PC Gamer reported, the company's announcement said: "Every gaming mouse on the market runs firmware you can't read, can't audit, can't change." The public repository is licensed under GPL-3.0, and PC Gamer reported that the firmware is planned for the first quarter of 2027, starting with Keychron's G6 HE mouse. Whether ZGM succeeds or not, it is a mainstream peripheral maker saying publicly that the closed model is a problem worth fixing.
The strongest argument against us
The fair counter-argument is that companion software does real work. It switches profiles automatically when you launch a game, it handles complex macros and lighting that a mouse's small memory cannot hold, and it delivers firmware updates that fix genuine bugs. An account lets your profiles follow you to a new PC. Onboard storage is limited: when a user asked for an offline option on Razer's forum, a Razer representative replied that most Synapse 3 era devices store five profiles on the device for use where Synapse is not installed, but asked how anyone would create such profiles without the software in the first place. Logitech's own documentation adds that G HUB cannot make changes while on-board memory mode is on, and that only some Logitech G mice work with its separate Onboard Memory Manager.
Open alternatives are not finished either. Keychron's ZGM repository describes itself as being in an "early setup phase", with firmware sources and flashing instructions "still being prepared". Browser configurators have limits too: Keychron's own guide tells users to open its Launcher in Chrome, Opera or Edge.
We accept all of that. Our argument is not against software. It is against software being the only place your settings live. Configure the mouse once, write the result to the mouse, and the app becomes optional: useful when you want to change something, irrelevant when it fails, and no longer a reason to keep an account, a background process or an internet connection alive for the life of the hardware.
What to check before you buy
- Does the mouse or keyboard store DPI, button mappings and polling rate on the device, and how many profiles?
- Can you configure it without creating an account, and does the tool work offline?
- Is there a browser-based or open configuration tool, or only a Windows and macOS app?
- Can firmware updates be installed without signing in?
- If the maker stopped supporting the app tomorrow, would the device keep working the way you set it up?
The January outage was fixed quickly, and settings came back. The next one may not be as kind. Peripherals last longer than software support often does, and the safest place for the settings you depend on is the device you bought.
