How to Hide the macOS Dock Permanently (and What to Use Instead)

You can permanently hide the macOS Dock by going to System Settings → Desktop & Dock, enabling "Automatically hide and show the Dock", and setting the "Automatically hide and show the Dock" delay to maximum — but the Dock will still appear whenever you move your cursor to the screen edge. There's no macOS setting that disables the Dock entirely, though third-party tools can replace it with something better and suppress the native one completely.

Why "auto-hide" isn't really permanent hiding

When you turn on auto-hide (System Settings → Desktop & Dock → toggle "Automatically hide and show the Dock"), the Dock disappears from view — but it still activates the moment your cursor drifts near the screen edge. If you use the bottom of your display for anything — a browser window, a text editor, a video — the Dock will pop up uninvited, obscuring what you're working on.

There's also no way to set the Dock's "show delay" long enough to make it practically invisible. You can slow it down with a Terminal command:

bash defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 10 killall Dock

That sets a 10-second delay before the Dock appears, which makes it less intrusive during normal work. But it's still there — and it still appears. If you want to undo this:

bash defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay killall Dock

For most people who want to "permanently hide" the Dock, the real goal isn't to lose dock functionality — it's to stop the native Dock from cluttering their screen and appearing at the wrong moment. That's a different problem, and it has a better solution.

What actually removes the native Dock from your screen

The only reliable way to make the macOS Dock stop appearing entirely is to replace it with a third-party dock that takes over, then suppress the native one. Dockish — a full dock replacement for macOS — has a one-click "Hide macOS Dock" option built in. When you enable it, the native Dock is suppressed completely: no edge trigger, no pop-up, no interference. Dockish runs in its place, showing on whichever monitors you choose.

This is fully reversible. Toggle the option off in Dockish's settings and the native Dock returns exactly as you left it.

If you want to hide the Dock without replacing it at all — no dock on screen whatsoever — the Terminal delay trick above is your only real option, and it's imperfect. Most people who go looking for "permanent hide" actually want the native Dock gone but dock functionality preserved, which is what a replacement handles cleanly.

What Dockish gives you that the native Dock doesn't

Hiding the native Dock and switching to Dockish isn't a sideways trade — it's an upgrade. A few things the native Dock can't do:

Multi-monitor docks. macOS shows the Dock on one screen at a time; it jumps to whichever display your cursor is on, which is disorienting on two or three monitors. Dockish shows a dock on every connected display simultaneously, either mirrored or with independent app sets per monitor.

App folders. Drag one app icon onto another and Dockish creates an iPhone-style folder with a 2×2 preview grid and auto-generated name. The native Dock has no equivalent — you're stuck with a flat list of 25 icons you scroll past looking for the right one.

Hover window previews. Move your cursor over an app icon in Dockish and you see live previews of all that app's open windows. Click one to jump straight to it. Scroll over the icon to cycle through windows. The native Dock gives you a static bounce and nothing else.

Reliable minimised window behaviour. Clicking a minimised app's icon in the native Dock often just focuses the app rather than restoring the window. Dockish handles this correctly — clicking a minimised app brings back the window, every time.

Icon size flexibility. The native Dock's size slider goes from "small" to "large". Dockish lets you set icon size anywhere from 24px to 96px, with separate spacing and magnification controls.

Dockish is $6.99 (one-time, no subscription) with a 7-day free trial, and it requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later. The trial is the easiest way to see whether a full replacement suits you before committing.

If you only want to reduce Dock interruptions, not replace it

If replacing the Dock feels like more than you need, there are a few lighter approaches:

Move the Dock to a side edge. Going to System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Position on screen → Left or Right puts the Dock somewhere your cursor is less likely to wander. Most work happens horizontally, so a side dock interferes less.

Reduce the Dock's size and magnification. A smaller Dock is less visually disruptive when it does appear. System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Size → drag left.

Remove everything you don't need. Right-click any app icon → Options → Remove from Dock for apps you launch via Spotlight instead. A Dock with six icons is far less painful than one with thirty.

These all reduce friction without hiding anything. If the goal is genuinely suppressing the Dock, the Terminal delay or a full replacement are the only real paths.

What about Sequoia's changes to the Dock?

macOS Sequoia (15) didn't meaningfully change the Dock's customisation options. Window tiling was the headlining feature, but the Dock itself got no new settings — same size slider, same position options, same auto-hide behaviour it's had for years. If you were hoping Sequoia added a "disable Dock" toggle, it didn't.

Common questions

Can I hide the macOS Dock on just one monitor?

No — macOS treats the Dock as a system-wide element. You can't hide it on one display while showing it on another using native settings. A third-party dock like Dockish gives you per-monitor control: you can show a Dockish dock on your secondary display and suppress the native Dock entirely, which achieves the same outcome.

Does hiding the Dock with Terminal break anything?

The auto-hide delay Terminal command (defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay) only affects timing — it doesn't disable the Dock or remove any functionality. It's fully reversible with defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay && killall Dock. Nothing is broken; the Dock just takes longer to appear.

Will the Dock come back after a macOS update?

The auto-hide delay set via Terminal can reset after major macOS updates, since updates sometimes restore default Dock preferences. If you're using Dockish's "Hide macOS Dock" toggle, that setting is stored in Dockish's own preferences and should persist across updates — but it's worth checking after any major update that the suppression is still active.