Natural vs. reverse scrolling: Which scroll direction to use

Editor’s note: This article was updated by Chinwike Maduabuchi on 10 February 2025 to provide more insights into the different pros and cons of natural vs. reverse scrolling, explain scenarios where one option might be better for your digital product over the other, and answer common questions about scrolling direction.

Understanding scrolling directions

Picture this scenario: A teacher is lecturing using a fancy touchscreen whiteboard with slides that change vertically. At one point, a student calls out, “Sir, I missed the last slide on the screen. Could you please go back? I need it for my notes.” So, the teacher places their hand on the board and swipes up.

But to the teacher’s shock, the content moves up and the next slide is shown. Some students laugh. The teacher wonders: “Why did it go the opposite way?”

This moment of confusion reveals a cognitive problem we face when navigating digital devices today.

See, it’s not entirely the teacher’s fault. They could have thought swiping up would bring the content above the screen back into view. After all, doesn’t scrolling up on a mouse wheel do just that? This is a design loophole we’ve created for ourselves, and it has birthed the debate of natural vs. reverse scrolling.

In this post, we’re going to dive into the philosophy of natural and reversed scrolling, explore their history, and learn their differences so we can decide what option to pick for ourselves and our users.

Key differences: Natural vs. reverse scrolling

When trying to explain and differentiate these two types of scrolling, it’s important to keep two things in mind:

1. The direction of the input or gesture (scrolling up, swiping down, etc.)
2. The direction the content moves after the input is applied

The key difference between the two scroll modes lies in how content responds to your input:

• Natural scroll — The content moves in the same direction as the input applied. For example, if you perform a swipe-up gesture on a document, you will see the content of the document visibly go up and new content is revealed at the bottom of the screen
• Reverse scroll — The content moves in the opposite direction of the input applied. This is demonstrated when using a scrollbar: by dragging the scrollbar down (down input) you can see the content of the document visibly go up and new content is revealed at the bottom of the screen

In other words, with natural scrolling, you swipe or scroll downward and the content moves down (while the scroll bar moves up). With reverse scrolling, you swipe or scroll downward and the scroll bar moves down (while the content moves up):

Let’s imagine the teacher in our scenario to be an elderly man who doesn’t own a touchscreen device. He navigates digital content on his laptop using a mouse, mainly for school-related tasks. Recently, the school introduced him to a digital whiteboard as part of its initiative to modernize the learning experience.

His first attempt to scroll followed the method he’s used to: reverse scrolling. He assumed that swiping up on the touchscreen would move the content down to reveal older material at the top. However, he quickly learned that modern devices don’t work that way. Almost all devices today support natural scrolling, where swiping up will move the content (in the same direction) up to reveal new information.

This shift impacts cognitive load and muscle memory. If you’re accustomed to reverse scrolling with a mouse, switching to natural scrolling on a touchscreen can feel daunting — your brain expects the content to move in the opposite direction. Additionally, switching between devices with different scrolling methods demands extra mental effort as you adjust to the change.

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The device type also plays a big role. Mouse and scroll bars typically use reverse scrolling whereas touchscreens and trackpads are gesture-based and employ natural scrolling to reduce strain and make interaction more intuitive by aligning your gestures with the content movement.

Benefits and drawbacks of natural vs. reverse scrolling

Generally speaking, natural scrolling is ideal for touchscreens and creative tasks, while reverse scrolling suits legacy systems and traditional workflows. However, switching between devices with different methods can impact productivity.

Benefits of natural scrolling:

• Better for touchscreens — Natural scrolling mimics the way we interact with content, making it ideal for touchscreen devices where swiping feels more intuitive
• Ideal for creative tasks — In activities like graphic design or video editing, natural scrolling aligns with the user’s expectations, promoting smoother navigation and interaction with content
• Consistency across devices — macOS uses natural scrolling across all its devices, ensuring a uniform experience when switching between platforms

Drawbacks of natural scrolling:

• Learning curve for some users — Users accustomed to reverse scrolling might struggle with natural scrolling, especially when transitioning between devices.
• Potential productivity drop on non-touch devices — On desktops or devices without touchscreens, natural scrolling can feel less precise and harder to control

Benefits of reverse scrolling:

• Preferred for legacy systems — Users accustomed to older operating systems or traditional workflows may find reverse scrolling more familiar and comfortable.
• Works well for traditional workflows — Reverse scrolling aligns with older applications and interfaces, making it ideal for those working in environments that rely on legacy systems

Drawbacks of reverse scrolling:

• Inconsistency across devices — Switching between devices, particularly when moving from a non-touch system (like Windows) to a touchscreen (like iOS), can create confusion and hinder productivity.
• Adjustment period for users — Users who are used to natural scrolling may experience difficulty transitioning to reverse scrolling, leading to a decrease in productivity during the adjustment phase.

When designing your product, consider your users’ devices and workflows to choose the scrolling method that provides the smoothest, most efficient experience.

How to change scroll direction on macOS and Windows

In case you’re stuck trying to reverse how you scroll, or perhaps you want to remind yourself of the differences before we move on, here’s how you can change the scroll direction:

Windows 11:

1. Open Settings:
   • Press Win + I to launch the Settings app
2. Navigate to Bluetooth & Devices:
   • Click on Bluetooth & devices in the left sidebar
3. Access Mouse Settings:
   • Select Mouse from the list of devices
4. Change Scrolling Direction:
   • Look for an option labelled “Scrolling direction”. It’s a dropdown menu with two options — down motion scrolls down (natural) and down motion scrolls up (reversed).
5. Note: If this option isn’t available, you may need to modify the system registry or use third-party software, as some mouse drivers do not provide a direct setting for reversing the scroll direction.

macOS (Ventura and later):

1. Open System Settings:
   • Click on the Apple menu in the top-left corner and select System Settings.
2. Access Mouse or Trackpad Settings:
   • Choose Mouse or Trackpad from the sidebar, depending on your device.
3. Adjust Scroll Direction:
   • In the Scroll & Zoom section, toggle the “Natural Scrolling” option to enable or disable natural scrolling.
4. Close the window to save your changes

From ancient scrolls to modern screens: How scroll directions evolved

In ancient times, scrolls were long and designed to be read in segments. While reading, only a portion of the scroll was visible at any given moment. By holding the scrolls at both ends, the thickness of the rolled-up sections provided a clear sense of reading progress.

Fast forward thousands of years, and while the medium for interacting with information has transformed — from physical scrolls to digital screens — the user experience remains fundamentally the same:

Now, let’s explore how reversed scrolling — once rooted in the mechanics of ancient scrolls — got overthrown by the gesture-based natural scrolling we experience on today’s devices.

The birth of the scrollbar

In the late 1960s, the first text editors introduced new ways to interact with on-screen content, leading to innovations in cursor movement and viewport control. Among these was the trackball, an input device that allowed users to scroll through content by rotating a ball embedded in a fixed base.

Though modern trackballs are smaller and less commonly used, the core scrolling behavior they introduced remains the foundation of how we navigate digital content today. This invention set the stage for the creation of the scrollbar — a visual tool that would become essential for managing longer documents and understanding a user’s position within them:

The scrollbar emerged to address a fundamental challenge: helping users move through and track their progress as they interacted with a document.

While the first computer mouse prototype was built in 1964, it reached personal computers much later. The Xerox Alto was one of the first computers designed for individual use in 1973 and was the first one to support a mouse:

In 1981, the Xerox Star was shipped with a mouse and with the navigation adapted for it. That includes the scrollbar. This new scrollbar was quite a misleading one, trying to combine natural and reverse behavior. That pattern was quickly changed to the reversed one, which is still the convention for the scrollbars on every device.

One more invention appeared: arrow buttons. They allowed users to navigate through the files in a reversed manner, corresponding to the direction of the movement. Arrows have come a long way to become what we’re familiar with today:

The modern era: Touchscreens

In the late 1990s to early 2000s, touchscreens became more common. Companies first introduced them with PDAs, and later with smartphones and tablets. Some of these devices presented two options for scrolling — either by manipulating the content if you touch the content part (the “natural” way) or by touching and manipulating the scrollbar (the “reverse” way).

While we quickly adopted the common behavior and it remains unchanged today, scrollbars on touch interfaces were slowly evolving to almost complete extinction. When you encounter them today, they’re often in an updated form:

2011’s great divide: Apple’s shift to natural scrolling

In 2011, Apple took a major leap in its UX strategy by introducing natural scrolling as the default behavior in OS X 10.7 Lion — a change that disrupted 15 years of conventional reversed scrolling.

Apple’s decision to introduce natural scrolling was largely influenced by its vision of unifying interactions across its ecosystem with the touch-based gestures users had become familiar with on devices like the iPhone and iPad. On these devices, scrolling in the direction of content (up to move the content up, down to move the content down) had already become the norm.

By aligning the desktop experience with touch-based scrolling, Apple aimed to create consistent interaction design across all its devices. The idea was to make scrolling more intuitive, much like the way users interact with their smartphones and tablets, where natural scrolling feels more instinctive.

Natural scrolling eventually gained acceptance as users adapted to the new behavior, and it has since become the standard across Apple’s devices. This early flexibility set Apple apart from other platforms like Windows, which would introduce this feature much later:

FAQs about scrolling directions

1. What is reverse scrolling?

Reverse scrolling happens when the content in focus moves in the opposite direction of the applied input or gesture.

2. How do I fix inverted scrolling?

To fix inverted scrolling, you can usually adjust the setting in your device’s system preferences or control panel. On macOS, go to System Settings> Access Mouse or Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom and toggle “Natural Scrolling” On Windows, go to Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Mouse and look for the “Scrolling direction” option.

3. Which scrolling mode is better for touchscreens?

Natural scrolling is typically better for touchscreens, as it mimics our interaction with physical objects providing a more intuitive experience.

4. Can I switch between natural and reverse scrolling?

Yes, most devices allow you to toggle between natural and reverse scrolling in the system settings.

5. How does switching between natural and reverse scrolling affect productivity?

Switching between scrolling methods can create confusion, especially for users who frequently switch between devices or operating systems. It may take some time to adjust, which can temporarily impact productivity.

6. Which scrolling mode is better for creative tasks?

Natural scrolling is typically better for creative tasks like graphic design or video editing, as it feels more aligned with the user’s physical movement when navigating large canvases or timelines.

7. Can reverse scrolling work well on touchpads or mice?

Yes, reverse scrolling can work on touchpads or mice, but it might feel unnatural for some users accustomed to natural scrolling, especially on gesture-based devices.

8. Is natural scrolling always the better choice?

Not necessarily. Natural scrolling is ideal for touchscreen devices and creative tasks, but reverse scrolling might be better for users familiar with traditional workflows or older systems. When choosing a scrolling method, it’s important to consider the specific needs of your users and their devices.

Conclusion: Finding the right scroll direction to use

Choosing between natural and reverse scrolling boils down to user preference, device type, and context. Here are the key takeaways from this discussion:

Natural scrolling:

• Best suited for touchscreen devices and creative tasks, where gestures feel more intuitive
• Promotes consistency across modern devices, making navigation smoother for users accustomed to smartphones and tablets

Reverse scrolling:

• Familiar to users of traditional systems and legacy workflows
• Works well with non-touch devices like mice and scrollbars, offering precision in navigation

Ultimately, there is no universally “correct” scrolling method, though natural scroll is increasingly becoming the norm. The best approach depends on the user’s habits, device usage, and specific tasks.

If you’re deciding which option to use in your digital product design, test out both options with your users, switching the scroll direction on different devices to see how it feels. Does natural scrolling make navigation smoother? Is sticking with reverse scrolling more comfortable?

Feel free to share your experiences and opinions in the comments below!

Header image source: IconScout