How to show only open apps in the Dock on a Mac

Make the Dock work like a list of what is running, with one Terminal setting. How to turn it on, undo it, and keep the dots that show which apps are open.

Guide · Updated 22 October 2026

How do I see which apps are open in the Dock?

Open apps have a small dot under their icon. If you see no dots, turn on Show indicators for open applications in System Settings, Desktop & Dock.

How do I show only running apps in the Dock?

Run this in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true && killall Dock

The Dock restarts with only open apps, plus the Trash and anything on the right side. Pinned apps that are closed vanish from it until you open them.

How do I undo it?

defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool false && killall Dock

Your pinned apps come back in the order they were in.

How do I open apps that are not in the Dock?

Press ⌘ Space, type the first letters of the name, and press Return. See open apps with the keyboard.

More Dock tweaks: lock the Dock, reset the Dock, and every Desktop & Dock setting.

Checked on 22 October 2026 on a MacBook Air (M1) running macOS 27.0.1: the static-only setting is still present in the Dock, and Show indicators for open applications was read from Desktop & Dock.

Questions

Can the Mac Dock show only running apps?

Yes. Run defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true, then killall Dock.

Why are there no dots under my Dock icons?

Turn on Show indicators for open applications in System Settings, Desktop & Dock.

How do I get my Dock apps back?

Run the same command with false instead of true.

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