Turn the Mac Dock Into an App Switcher

If you came from Windows, the Dock feels backwards: its taskbar showed you what was open, while the Dock shows you a fixed row of buttons whether the apps are running or not. You can make the Mac behave the familiar way. One hidden setting turns the Dock into a pure switcher — it lists only apps that are open, so a single glance tells you what's running and a single click jumps to it.

Make the Dock a switcher

The relevant preference is static-only. Set it and the Dock stops showing pinned shortcuts and shows only live apps, exactly like a taskbar. Run this in Terminal (Applications → Utilities):

# Dock lists only running apps
defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true
killall Dock

Now the Dock grows as you open apps and shrinks as you quit them. Each icon is a running app you can click to bring forward. To go back to a normal, pinned Dock at any time:

# Back to a normal Dock
defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool false
killall Dock

The command works identically on macOS 13 Ventura through 15 Sequoia, and switching it off restores your pinned apps in their original order — nothing is lost in between.

Two switchers that work together

The Dock-as-switcher pairs naturally with the keyboard switcher you already have, and they cover different moments:

• Cmd+Tab is fastest when you're switching between the last two apps or cycling by feel without looking.
• The Dock wins when you want to see everything open and pick a specific one — it's spatial, so the same app stays in roughly the same place.
• Click and hold a Dock icon (or right-click it) to jump to a specific window of a multi-window app, which Cmd+Tab can't do on its own.

Because the Dock now contains nothing but running apps, there's no hunting past a dozen shortcuts you never click — every icon is a live target.

Getting the ergonomics right

A switcher you glance at constantly should be easy to reach and quick to read. Two adjustments make it noticeably better:

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock and turn on Automatically hide and show the Dock so the switcher stays out of the way until you push the pointer to the edge. If the reveal feels sluggish, our guide on speeding that up helps.
2. In the same panel, drag Size down a little. With only open apps in it, the Dock is short, so a smaller size keeps icons crisp without wasting screen space.

The result feels less like classic macOS and more like a tidy taskbar: what's open is what you see, and everything you don't need is one Spotlight search (Cmd+Space) away when you want to launch it. If you decide the taskbar life isn't for you, the undo command above returns the familiar Dock instantly.

More ways to move between apps

The Dock switcher is one tool; the keyboard has more. See Command-Tab tricks on Mac for hiding apps as you switch, quitting from the switcher, and cycling windows within a single app.