Hi! You've got a Squirm. It's a small gadget that pretends to be a Bluetooth mouse and quietly nudges your cursor every now and then. Screensaver: defeated. "Away" indicator: forever green. Stretch break: yours to take.
The next 30 seconds tell you everything you need to start using it. The rest of this guide is here for when you want to rename your Squirm, fiddle with how it behaves, or chase down something weird.
Squirm-XXXX (where XXXX is unique to your device), and pair it.Done. Your cursor will twitch by one pixel every 25 to 45 seconds, forever, until you unplug it. Walk away from your desk and live your life.
Want to rename it, change the nudge timing, or set an auto-stop timer? Squirm hosts a Wi-Fi setup network the whole time it's running — connect from your phone any time. See Want to tinker? below.
A Squirm pretends to be a Bluetooth mouse. Once paired, it gives your cursor a one-pixel bump every 25 to 45 seconds. Your computer thinks someone's at the keyboard, so it never goes idle, never locks itself, never flips your status to "away".
The cursor doesn't actually wander off — Squirm nudges it one way, then nudges it back. So your mouse pointer stays roughly where you left it while still satisfying every "is this person idle?" check your operating system runs.
Tiny enough to leave plugged into a USB battery in your bag, or a phone charger on your desk forever.
Squirm hosts a Wi-Fi setup network the whole time it's running — it doesn't matter whether you've just plugged it in or it's been jiggling for hours. Connect any time, change settings, save.
Squirm-XXXX.letsquirm.http://192.168.4.1.Just plug it in. That's it. Plug in, wait a minute, you're working.
The setup Wi-Fi is always available alongside the Bluetooth — you never have to hurry, hold a button, or unplug to retune. Whether you want to extend an auto-stop timer mid-meeting or rename a unit you just gave to a coworker, it's right there.
Once you're on the setup page, you've got four knobs to play with:
What your Squirm shows up as in your computer's Bluetooth list. 1 to 20 characters. Defaults to Squirm-XXXX with a unique code per device. Name it whatever you like — Squirm-Office, Cursor-Wrangler, Definitely-Not-A-Jiggler. You do you.
The shortest gap between nudges, in seconds. Default: 25. Range: 1 to 3600 (one hour).
The longest gap between nudges, in seconds. Default: 45. Must be at least as big as the min.
How the interval works: for each nudge, Squirm rolls a random number of seconds between min and max, then waits that long. The randomness keeps the pattern from looking robotic. Set min and max to the same number if you want a fixed interval — but the variability is part of the magic.
An auto-stop timer. After your computer has been continuously connected for this many minutes, Squirm quietly stops nudging. Bluetooth stays paired (your computer doesn't see a disconnect), but the cursor stops moving and the light switches to a slow on/off pulse — a little "be back later" sign. To restart the timer, either unplug and replug, or just hop onto the setup Wi-Fi and save any change — Squirm reboots and starts over. Set to 0 to disable the timer entirely.
Pro move: Set this to your meeting length. "60 minute team sync" → Run for: 60. Squirm jiggles for exactly the meeting, then politely stops on its own. Want to extend mid-meeting? Hop on the setup Wi-Fi and bump it.
When you're happy with the settings, tap Save & Reboot. Squirm restarts and your computer reconnects. You're done.
When a new release comes out, you can flash it over Wi-Fi — no USB cable needed.
firmware.bin from us.http://192.168.4.1/update. The Wi-Fi connection stays put, and the file picker works there. The OTA page itself will remind you with an orange callout.Your renamed device, your custom intervals, and your Bluetooth pairing all carry over. If something goes wrong (truncated file, corrupted download, etc.) Squirm rejects the upload and stays on the old version — there's no way to brick it from the upload page.
If the upload stops partway — Safari got closed, your laptop went to sleep, the Wi-Fi blipped — Squirm throws the half-uploaded data away and keeps running the old firmware. You won't get the "OTA OK · Rebooting…" page; instead Safari will hang, time out, or show an error. Just reload the upload page and try again. Nothing is in a weird half-flashed state. Tip: keep the Safari window in the foreground until you see the success page; switching away mid-upload is the most common reason these aborts happen.
| What you see | What Squirm is up to |
|---|---|
| Slow blue/yellow pulse every 2 sec | Looking for a computer to pair with |
| Solid green/yellow | Paired and quietly working |
| Three quick white/yellow blinks | Just nudged the cursor |
| Slow on/off (1 sec on, 1 sec off) | Auto-stop timer expired — retune over Wi-Fi or power-cycle |
The colors above describe the RGB version. If your Squirm has a single yellow LED, every color collapses to "yellow on / yellow off" but the patterns work the same way.
After the third nudge, the light dims to about 20% brightness so it's not a beacon on your desk.
Match the interval to your screensaver. If your screen locks after 5 minutes, set max interval to something safely shorter (4 minutes = 240 seconds). The default of 45 seconds is already well under any common screensaver timeout, so you're probably fine without changing anything.
Use the auto-stop for meetings. Set "Run for" to your meeting length. Squirm jiggles for exactly that long, then stops. To run another session, unplug and replug — fresh timer.
More than one Squirm? Name them. Every device has a unique default name from its hardware ID, so two won't collide in a pairing list out of the box. Rename them by person or location (Squirm-Alice, Squirm-Conference-Room) so it's obvious which is which.
Travel-friendly. A small USB battery pack will run Squirm for days on a single charge. The chip uses next to no power.
The cursor doesn't actually drift. Squirm nudges by one pixel and reverses direction once it's drifted three pixels from where it started. So the cursor effectively stays put while still convincing the OS that something is happening.
After renaming, your computer might still show the old name. Forget the device on your computer side, then re-pair. Squirm already wiped its half of the bond when you saved — you just need to do the same on the host side.
Squirm-XXXX in my Wi-Fi list."The setup Wi-Fi is always on while Squirm is plugged in, so this is almost always a range or interference issue. Move your phone closer to Squirm and rescan. If you've got a lot of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi nearby (apartment buildings, offices), the setup network can get drowned out — try walking a few feet away from your home router.
Some phones don't show the captive portal popup — looking at you, iPhones on a Wi-Fi network you've connected to before. Just open any browser and go to http://192.168.4.1 by hand.
Macs and Windows cache Bluetooth device names. Two-step fix: forget the device on your computer (Mac: System Settings → Bluetooth → click ⓘ → Forget Device. Windows: right-click → Remove). Then re-pair. The new name should show up.
You probably set a Run for (minutes) value at some point and the timer just hit zero. Check the light: a slow on/off blink (about one slow pulse per second) means "I'm done." Either unplug and replug for a fresh timer, or hop on Squirm-XXXX and save any change — Squirm reboots and the timer starts over. If you don't want a timer at all, set "Run for" to 0.
Check the light first. Solid = paired and ready. Still pulsing = pairing didn't actually complete (forget the device on your computer and re-pair).
If the light is solid but you don't see anything move, wait at least 45 seconds — Squirm only nudges every 25 to 45 seconds, and the nudge is one pixel. Easy to miss. Park the real mouse pointer in a corner of the screen and watch it carefully on the next cycle.
Bluetooth gets flaky over distance, through walls, or near busy 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi (which is most Wi-Fi). Move Squirm closer to your computer — within a few feet, line-of-sight, is ideal. The light goes back to slow pulsing when disconnected and solid when it reconnects. Squirm reconnects automatically.
Squirm prevents your computer from going idle, not from going to sleep based on a fixed timer. If your power settings say "sleep after 30 minutes regardless of activity," Squirm can't override that. Check your computer's power settings and look for "prevent sleep when active" or similar.
Power-cycle Squirm (unplug, plug back in). If still no luck, factory-reset (next section) and re-pair from scratch.
You can only pair Squirm with one computer at a time. To switch: forget the device on the old computer, then pair with the new one. Or factory-reset Squirm to wipe everything.
To return Squirm to its out-of-the-box defaults — original name, 25–45s interval, no timer, no Bluetooth pairings remembered:
Squirm-XXXX from a phone or laptop (password: letsquirm).You'll need to re-pair from your computer after a factory reset.
Will Squirm work with my [Mac / PC / iPad / Steam Deck / Linux box]?
If it pairs Bluetooth mice, it pairs Squirm. No drivers, no special software, no rituals required.
Can I have more than one Squirm at a time?
Absolutely. Each one has a unique default name, and you can rename any of them. Different computers can pair to different Squirms simultaneously without crosstalk.
Does it work in airplane mode?
Bluetooth still works in airplane mode on most devices once you re-enable Bluetooth in airplane settings. Squirm itself doesn't know or care.
How much power does it use?
Almost nothing. A 10,000 mAh USB battery pack will run it for many days. A standard phone charger keeps it going indefinitely.
Will my IT department notice?
Squirm appears as a generic Bluetooth HID mouse — same kind of device as any wireless mouse. How your workplace's policies feel about that is between you and them.
Why is the setup page so… colorful?
Because we like it. We hope you do too.
letsquirm, same on every Squirm), always available alongside BluetoothEnjoy your Squirm.
May your status indicators stay forever green.