How to Get Your Mac Dock on Both Monitors (All Four Methods)

macOS does not show the dock on multiple monitors at the same time — it moves to whichever screen your mouse is nearest the bottom of. There is no System Settings toggle to change this. If you want a persistent dock on every display, you need either a third-party app or a workflow workaround.

Why does macOS only show the dock on one screen?

Apple's dock is designed to appear on the screen where it's needed, on demand. Move your cursor to the bottom edge of any monitor for a second and the dock slides over to that screen. It works — but it means the dock is never on a screen, it's just visiting it. For anyone doing focused work on a secondary display, that distinction matters: you have to deliberately interrupt what you're doing and mouse to an edge just to launch something.

This behaviour has been this way since Apple introduced multi-monitor support. macOS Sequoia didn't change it.

Method 1: The built-in hover trick (free, no install)

This is worth knowing even if you go further. To summon the dock on any monitor:

1. Move your cursor to the very bottom edge of the screen you want the dock on.
2. Hold it there for about half a second.
3. The dock slides over.

That's the entire native experience. It works on all monitors, including ultra-wides and vertical displays. The limitation: the dock disappears again once you start working, and there's no way to pin it to a specific screen.

If you use auto-hide (System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Automatically hide and show the Dock), the same hover gesture works — just expect a short delay.

Method 2: Set a preferred screen by positioning (partial workaround)

You can nudge macOS toward keeping the dock on a particular monitor more consistently:

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
2. Set Position on screen to Bottom, Left, or Right.
3. Move your cursor to that edge on the monitor you want the dock on, and leave it there for a moment.

macOS remembers which monitor last triggered the dock and tends to leave it there until you hover on a different screen's edge. It's not a lock — it will still drift — but if you work primarily on one display and rarely move your cursor to the bottom of others, this reduces unwanted dock-jumping.

Method 3: Use BetterDisplay or a mirroring workaround (advanced, free)

BetterDisplay (free tier available) can mirror displays in software, which as a side effect can keep the dock visible on both screens. This is a heavy-handed solution for a simple problem: you're reconfiguring your display stack to solve a dock placement quirk. It also introduces input lag on the mirrored display and doesn't support independent dock contents per screen.

Not recommended unless you already use BetterDisplay for other reasons.

Method 4: Dockish — a permanent dock on every monitor (the proper fix)

The cleanest solution is Dockish, a full dock replacement for macOS that shows a real, persistent dock on every connected monitor simultaneously.

Unlike the native dock, Dockish docks don't move. Each monitor gets its own dock, always visible, no hovering required. You can configure them independently — different icon sizes per display, mirrored or independent app sets, whatever fits your setup. When you plug in or unplug a monitor, Dockish detects the change and adjusts automatically.

A few things worth knowing before you try it:

• Requires macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
• 7-day free trial, then $6.99 one-time — no subscription
• On first run, you'll want to hide the native macOS dock (Dockish has a one-click toggle for this that's fully reversible)
• Icon size is adjustable from 24–96px, with spacing and magnification controls

The multi-monitor dock is the feature I get asked about most, and it's the reason most people find Dockish in the first place. macOS leaving you with one dock for three screens is a real daily friction point — not an edge case.

Which method should you use?

| Situation | Best option | |---|---| | You occasionally need the dock on another screen | Built-in hover (Method 1) | | You work on one primary screen 90% of the time | Position preference (Method 2) | | You want a permanent dock on every monitor | Dockish (Method 4) | | You want something free and don't mind complexity | BetterDisplay workaround (Method 3) |

If the dock-on-one-screen limitation is annoying you daily, Method 4 is the only one that actually solves it. The native workarounds manage the symptom.

What else Dockish does while it's there

Because Dockish replaces the dock entirely rather than patching around it, you get the other quality-of-life fixes at the same time:

• iPhone-style app folders — drag one app onto another to group them, with a 2×2 preview grid and auto-naming. The native dock has no equivalent.
• Hover for live window previews — hover over an app icon to see thumbnails of its open windows.
• Scroll an icon to cycle windows — scroll the mouse wheel over a running app to flip between its open windows without opening Mission Control.
• Click minimized apps and they come back — the native dock's behaviour of doing nothing (or bouncing unhelpfully) when you click a minimized app is fixed.
• Themes — glass, dark, light, or custom tint. Dividers and spacers for visual organisation.

None of this requires extra setup. It's all part of the same app.

Does hiding the native dock cause any problems?

No — and Dockish makes it easy to undo. When you click "Hide macOS Dock" in Dockish settings, it runs the same defaults write command you'd run manually in Terminal. It's fully reversible: one click in the same settings panel brings the native dock back. Nothing is deleted or permanently modified.

If you ever uninstall Dockish, re-enable the native dock first. The app prompts you to do this.

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Common questions

Can you keep the Mac dock visible on a second monitor all the time without extra software?

No. macOS only shows the dock on one screen at a time and there's no System Settings option to change this. The dock moves to whichever screen your cursor approaches the bottom of. A third-party dock replacement is the only way to have a persistent dock on multiple monitors simultaneously.

Does Dockish work if I add or remove a monitor while my Mac is running?

Yes — Dockish detects monitor changes automatically. When you plug in an external display, a new dock appears on it. When you unplug, that dock disappears. You don't need to relaunch the app or change any settings.

Will a dock replacement app slow down my Mac?

Dockish is a native Swift app built for macOS 14 and later. It uses the same system APIs as the native dock and runs as a lightweight menu bar process. In practice, the performance difference is not measurable for everyday use.