DockMute

Switch what your Dock shows, one preset at a time.

Your Dock doesn't have to show the same apps all day. Keep a few presets, say Work, Writing and Gaming, and switch the Dock between them with one click or one shortcut. No menu bar icon, no Dock icon, and nothing running in the background while you aren't using it.

Download(.dmg) How to install

macOS 14 Sonoma or later / free

Dock for the Work preset: mail, calendar, charts, chat, terminal

See it move

DockMute demo: switching presets with a card click, reordering the shelf by drag, and opening the mini Dock with ⌃⌥D
Click a card to switch, drag the shelf to reorder, ⌃⌥D for the mini Dock. That's pretty much it.
The launch video with sound (55 s, in Japanese). Nothing loads until you press play.

What it does

  • Presets

    Give it a name and an emoji, then line up the apps you want.

  • One click, or ⌃⌥D

    Click a card, or use the shortcut from anywhere. You can change the keys.

  • Your current Dock stays as Default

    It's saved as-is on first launch, and you can always go back to it.

  • Edit in place

    Drag to reorder, × to remove, + to add.

  • Light (0% CPU at idle)

    Nothing runs while you're not using it. The whole app is 1.5 MB.

  • No network

    There's no network code at all. Nothing leaves your Mac.

Also: launch at login · English / Japanese · hide the Dock's recent apps

What it can't do

Better to say it up front. Mostly down to how macOS works.

  • Apps that are running but not kept in the Dock can't be hidden. macOS always shows them while they run.
  • The Dock flickers for a moment when you switch. DockMute restarts the Dock to apply the change. If nothing changed, it doesn't.
  • Apps you pin by hand are dropped on the next switch. Add them to the preset instead.
  • It can't be on the Mac App Store. It writes another app's (the Dock's) preferences and restarts it, so it can't be sandboxed.

Install

  1. Download

    Get the latest DockMute.dmg with this button.

    Download(.dmg)

  2. Drag it to Applications

    Open the dmg and drag DockMute onto the Applications folder next to it. Launch at login works best from /Applications.

  3. Opening it the first time

    To be upfront: DockMute isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID or notarized. It's ad-hoc signed only, so the first time you open it macOS shows a warning and won't open it as is. Use one of these:

    Option 1: Finder

    Right-click DockMute in Applications → Open, then Open again in the dialog.

    If that doesn't work, try opening it once, then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and press Open Anyway near the bottom.

    Option 2: Terminal

    Remove the "downloaded from the internet" flag (the quarantine attribute):

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DockMute.app

  4. That's it

    The settings window opens on launch. There's no menu bar icon, so to bring it back later, launch DockMute again from Spotlight or Finder.

FAQ

Is it free?

Yes, it's free.

Can I get my original Dock back?

Yes. Your Dock from the first launch is kept as the Default preset, so apply that, or use Restore original Dock in the gear menu. Every write is backed up to ~/Library/Application Support/DockMute/Backups/ first.

You can keep your own backup too:

defaults export com.apple.dock ~/dock-backup.plist             # back up
defaults import com.apple.dock ~/dock-backup.plist && killall Dock   # restore
There's no menu bar icon?

That's on purpose. Launch DockMute again while it's running (Spotlight, Raycast, Finder, open -a DockMute…) and the settings window comes back. Closing the window doesn't quit it, and the shortcut keeps working. Quit from the gear menu.

Can I change the shortcut?

Yes. Press Change in the settings header and type a new combination. It needs at least one of ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥. Delete resets it to ⌃⌥D.

Which macOS versions?

macOS 14 Sonoma or later (LSMinimumSystemVersion 14.0).

Where is my data stored?

On your Mac only:

  • Presets and settings: ~/Library/Application Support/DockMute/ (state.json, hotkey.json)
  • Dock backups: ~/Library/Application Support/DockMute/Backups/