A Mac Dock alternative that comes to your cursor
Why the Dock is slow on a big screen, the alternatives Mac users reach for, and a Dock that opens around the pointer instead of at the bottom of the screen.
The Dock is the first thing anyone learns on a Mac, and for a lot of people it stays the main way to switch apps. That works on a laptop screen. On a big display it turns into a trip: down to the bottom of the screen, find the right icon in a row of twenty, click, then all the way back up to your work.
If you’re looking for a Dock alternative, it’s usually because of one of these:
- It’s far away. Your work is near the middle of the screen; the Dock is at the edge. Every switch is the longest trip the pointer makes.
- The targets are small. Twenty icons in a strip means aiming, and magnification makes them move as you aim.
- It shows apps, not windows. Clicking Safari brings back Safari, not the Safari window you meant.
- It takes space. A row along the bottom of every screen, or a Dock that slides up when you didn’t want it.
The alternatives people use
⌘Tab. Built in, and fast once it’s habit. It lists apps, not windows, and it’s a keyboard tool: if your hand is on the mouse, you reach over, switch, and reach back.
A launcher like Spotlight or Raycast. Type a few letters and press Return. Great for opening apps you don’t use often; for switching between the same five apps all day, typing is slower than it sounds.
A window switcher like AltTab, which brings Windows-style ⌥Tab to the Mac, with every window and a thumbnail. Excellent if you live on the keyboard.
A taskbar, for people who prefer the Windows way: a bar of windows along the edge of the screen. It fixes “apps, not windows”, but it’s still at the edge.
Mission Control. Every window at once, then click one. Good for finding something you’ve lost, a lot of visual noise for a quick switch.
Each of these is good at something. None of them fixes the trip for someone whose hand is on the mouse.
A Dock that comes to you
That’s why I built Beckon. Instead of a strip at the edge of the screen, your apps appear in a ring around the pointer, wherever it is. Hold ⌥Space (or press the middle mouse button), flick toward an app, let go.
Only the direction counts, so you don’t aim at an icon: a short flick toward Safari is enough, and every app is the same short distance away. The apps stay in your Dock’s order, so after a few days your hand knows where they are.
The other things the Dock does come with it:
- Windows, not just apps. Reach an app with several windows and they fan out with live thumbnails. Carry on to the one you want and that exact window comes forward, with the pointer moving to it.
- Pinned apps, running or not, plus folders and the Trash.
- The Dock’s right-click menu: an app’s windows, New Window, Show All Windows, Hide and Quit.
- File drops. Start dragging a file, call the ring, drop it on an app, a folder or the Trash.
And once you don’t need it, one switch hides the macOS Dock for good, and puts it back exactly as it was if you change your mind. (If you’d rather do that by hand, here’s how to hide the Dock for good.)
Who it’s for
If your hands are on the keyboard all day, keep ⌘Tab, and look at AltTab or Raycast: I wrote an honest comparison. Beckon is for when your hand is on the mouse or trackpad: reviewing designs, reading, editing, clicking through whatever you’re building.
It runs on macOS 14 or later, uses about 20 MB of memory, and doesn’t need an account. Every download starts with 14 days of Pro; after that the ring for your open apps stays free for good, and Pro (the Dock replacement) is $19 once at launch (then $24), on up to 3 Macs.