Make the Mac Dock smaller and add magnification

A smaller Dock means more room for your work. A larger magnification factor means icons are still easy to identify when you hover. Here's how to tune both to the exact size you want.

Resize by dragging

The fastest way to resize the Dock without any settings panel:

1. Hover your cursor over the thin divider line in the Dock (between your apps and the recent items / Trash section).
2. The cursor changes to a vertical resize arrow.
3. Drag up to make the Dock larger, or drag down to make it smaller.

This works whether the Dock is at the bottom, left, or right of the screen. It's the quickest way to roughly set the size, but it doesn't give you an exact pixel value.

Resize via System Settings

For a slider-based approach: open System Settings → Desktop & Dock and drag the Size slider. macOS limits this slider to a range it considers reasonable for your display, which is usually 16–128 pixels. You also get the magnification toggle and its slider here.

Set an exact size via Terminal

If you want a precise pixel value — useful when you're trying to match a specific workflow — Terminal gives you exact control:

# set Dock tile size in pixels (valid range: 16–128)
defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 36
killall Dock

Common values: 36 is compact, 48 is the macOS default, 64 is large. To reset to the default:

# return to default Dock size
defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 48
killall Dock

Enable magnification

Magnification makes icons enlarge as your cursor passes over them — useful when the Dock is small and you want to confirm which app you're about to click. Enable it in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → turn on Magnification, then drag its slider.

Via Terminal:

# enable magnification
defaults write com.apple.dock magnification -bool true
# set the magnified size (must be larger than tilesize)
defaults write com.apple.dock largesize -int 80
killall Dock

To disable magnification:

# turn off magnification
defaults write com.apple.dock magnification -bool false
killall Dock

Good starting values

If you're not sure where to start, these combinations work well on most screens:

• Compact: tilesize 32, largesize 72 — keeps the Dock very small, magnification makes it usable.
• Balanced: tilesize 40, largesize 80 — slightly smaller than the default, with a satisfying hover effect.
• Large display: tilesize 56, largesize 96 — good on a 27-inch or larger monitor where you sit further away.

On a MacBook with a Retina display, icons at tilesize 36 are still crisp because the screen resolution is high. On an external 1080p monitor they may look slightly rough at that size — go to 40 or 44 in that case.

Undo everything

To return to macOS defaults for both size and magnification:

# restore all Dock size settings to defaults
defaults delete com.apple.dock tilesize
defaults delete com.apple.dock magnification
defaults delete com.apple.dock largesize
killall Dock