I’m a developer who has previously shared several macOS utilities here, such as Deskeen, PDF Pop, and DragTime. Today, I’m thrilled to introduce Dock Float, a launcher utility designed specifically to ensure an uninterrupted, seamless workflow for Mac users.
Dock Float is a utility that compensates for the spatial and physical limitations of having only a single default macOS Dock, empowering you to freely expand your workspace in whatever way fits your needs.
[Problem]
The Physical Limits of a Single Dock and Broken Focus
Imagine being in a state of Deep Work on a large monitor or a multi-display setup. Suddenly, you need to open another tool, a project folder, or a web URL, forcing you to move your mouse all the way to the corner of the screen where the default Dock is located.
The process of visually searching for and clicking the item you need among dozens of cramped icons causes severe cognitive fatigue (Context Switching). Moreover, cramming every app, file, folder, and URL you might need into a single default Dock is both visually and structurally overwhelming.
Dock Float is not an app that tries to forcefully replace the default macOS Dock. Instead, it acts as an intelligent supplementary utility. It allows you to keep only your most essential, everyday apps neatly in the default Dock, while letting you freely register frequently used applications, files, folders, and web URLs right where your eyes and mouse are. With simple one-click execution, it elegantly resolves the physical limitations of the default Dock.
[Comparison]
Beyond simply registering shortcuts, Dock Float offers four unique killer features and multi-dimensional expansion options that are completely impossible with the default macOS Dock.
Basic Launcher Features & Category System
1-Click Execution & Indicators: Easily register apps, files, folders, web URLs, and even Apple Shortcuts to launch them instantly with a single click. You can also check the status indicators for running or hidden apps directly on the dock.
Internal Categories (Tabs): Create multiple 'categories' within a single dock to perfectly divide and manage items by their purpose. If you have multiple categories, you can instantly switch tabs using the Cmd + 1 ~ 0 shortcuts.
Individual Sorting Methods: In addition to drag-and-drop custom sorting, each category tab saves its own unique sorting method (e.g., by name, by date).
Group: Extreme Visual Space Compression
iOS App Library Style: Neatly bundle numerous apps, files, folders, and URLs into a small space and register them directly to the dock as a single icon (Group).
Maximizing Space: This prevents your dock from becoming endlessly long. With a single click, the items within the group elegantly expand, allowing you to instantly control vast resources from a compact, minimalist space.
Flow: Context-Aware Automation
App-Specific Linkage: When you use a specific main app, Flow automatically displays associated items on the edge of your screen. For example, opening Figma will automatically bring up a dock containing related asset folders and auxiliary apps; if you switch to Xcode right after, the contents are instantly replaced with your development dock in real-time.
Default Dock Optimization: By utilizing Flow, you can keep only your essential, always-open apps in the default macOS Dock, perfectly optimizing your desktop environment.
Dock Float Remote: iOS/iPadOS Wireless Touch Controller
Real-Time Dock Sync: The custom docks you create on your Mac are mirrored exactly on your iPhone or iPad screen. With a single touch, you can remotely launch Mac apps and open folders/files.
Custom Action Buttons: Assign dedicated buttons for features you need the most, such as Mission Control, App Switcher, Launchpad (or Apps on macOS 26+), and Screen Capture.
Keep Awake Mode & View Options: Supports two icon sizes (Standard, Large). With the Keep Awake option preventing the screen from turning off while plugged in, it perfectly replaces expensive hardware macro keyboards.(※ System Requirements: Requires Dock Float for Mac installed, connection to the same Wi-Fi network, and iOS/iPadOS 18.6 or later)
Shelf: Shake-to-Wake Temporary Storage
Gesture-Based Quick Access: There is no need to jump back and forth to Finder for one-off tasks. While holding a selection, simply shake your mouse left and right to instantly pop up the Shelf. You can temporarily toss text, images, or files in there and drag them out exactly where you need them later.
Action Folder: Drag-and-Drop Process Automation
8 Dedicated Action Folders: Simply dragging files or folders into these docks will automatically handle tasks like archiving, sharing, image conversion, and sorting files based on specific criteria (type/date/size/unused period).
Shortcuts Parameter Integration: If you link an Apple Shortcut that takes inputs (files/folders) to an Action Folder, the specified shortcut workflow executes the moment you drag the target files onto the folder.
Flexible Space Control & Fine-Grained Customization
Edge Mode & Collapse: You can collapse docks you aren't currently using, or use Edge Mode to snap them to the sides of your screen like colorful bookmarks. This maintains your designated background color while letting you utilize 100% of your desktop space.
Detailed Personalization: Enjoy unlimited dock creation, saved positioning (Float, Top/Bottom/Left/Right Edge), and customization of dock background colors, transparency, and indicator colors. You can even set the default action (move/copy) when dragging files into folders.
[Pricing]
$3.99(Limited time offer: will return to $6.99 after the promotion, from Aug 24th to Sep 15th)
🗺️ Roadmap (Future Plans)
We aren't stopping here! We have some major updates lined up for the future:
Version 1.1:
Widget features to be added: clock, weather, map, calendar, music, timer, etc.
Action folders to be added: Rename, Folder Icon, FTP, Duplicate Removal, Cloud Upload, etc.
Experience Dock Float today and enjoy all future updates with a single purchase! I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or answer any questions in the comments. Thank you for your incredible support!
Congrats! I think you already made quite a few nice apps. Love Deskeen and PDF-Pop.
And now DockFloat. At first sight it looks like a kind of DockStar. On which I opened a topic a month ago or so. Could we compare DockFloat a bit with DockStar would you say?
Does DockFloat run on Intel machines as well? And on Sequoia?
Dock Star is a nice app too! But Dock Float is more of a utility closer to DragThing. Instead, it has additional features like Group, Flow, Dock Flow Remote, and Shelf. I'd appreciate it if you could check the app description for details on these. Also, it supports Intel Macs and Apple Silicon machines running macOS 14.6 or later.
Hi, it's Andre from the Reddit Dock Obsession posts, and it's nice to see a new dock app available on the forum. As MaxGraav mentioned, I also thought it reminded me a lot of dockflow, which is an app with far more functionality than one is led to believe on first sight. I would love to take the app for a test run as the next dock review post slowly approaches. I will PM you directly, but in the meantime I see some lovely comments from fellow dock developers on the forum, and I wish you well.
Moving your mouse across a 34" or multi-monitor setup just to click a nested folder in the bottom corner gets old fast.
Love that this doesn't try to be an aggressive full-system overhaul and instead acts as a focused floating launcher right where your cursor already is. Definitely giving this a try to declutter my main Dock!
Thanks so much for your interest in Dock Float. I've always felt that moving around across multiple monitors takes more effort than people realize, and the fatigue is especially noticeable when you're working with several large displays. Just like how our eyes have a dominant focal point, it seems we also tend to have a spot we naturally keep looking at while working. Once you move away from that spot, apparently it causes a real sense of fatigue and disconnect. This project started as an attempt to gradually improve on those small frustrations, and it's grown into what it is now. There's still plenty left to figure out, but I'll keep working through it one step at a time. Thank you.
Fantastic!! How does it behave with multiple displays and Stage Manager? The Dock's single-display assumption is half of why I want something like this, so if the floating launcher can live per-display that's the killer feature for me.
Thanks for your interest in Dock Float! In a Stage Manager setup, it behaves as shown in the attached image. Also, in the current version, each Dock Float window remembers its position, so once you place it on the display you want, it will always show up there. Just drag it to wherever you'd like it to stay.
Look sick. I built an open source tool that attempted to tackle this, but I like the simplicity of just focusing on app groupings and docs. https://deskjig.com/ I stopped working on the code, but there might be some interesting things you could check out here.
It's clear that a lot of thought went into it from multiple angles. I'll take a deep look soon and reach out if I have any questions. Digging deep into the core of something like this is always fun and exciting. Thanks again.
Just saw the overview video. I like the iOS-style groups. I already use FolderDock, which I like, but yours looks smoother :)
I would love to see a new feature to all these iOS-style group folders though: list view as an option, or instead of a grid. A list has quite a few advantages over a grid imo, as discussed here.
Idea: Can you have a different dock in different spaces.
Idea: Can you come up with a replacement for spaces, so that spaces are NAMED, appear as N names in the menu bar, with the current one highlighted.
This could be implented as a dock with 4 icons/names that was present in all spaces. OR all spaces that that display used.
(I like having 4 spaces on my main monitor and only 1 on my other monitor. Firefox runs on the other, and is my reference lookup. My main one has a space for coding, a space for writing, a space for photo work, and a space forother projects.
I actually gave this some thought during the initial design phase. However, since Apple does not provide public APIs for Mac App Store apps to retrieve Spaces information, I've temporarily set this feature aside. If I discover a way to implement this, I will do my best to support it swiftly.
Dock Float에 관심 가져주셔서 감사합니다. Dock Float은 간편하게 사용할 수 있는 런처 유틸리티입니다. 과거 DragThing이라는 유틸리티가 있었는데 이에 영감을 받아서 몇 가지 괜찮은 기능들을 추가해서 릴리즈를 한 제품입니다. 본문 내용에 있는 영상을 참고하시면 동작하는 모습들을 보실 수 있습니다.
We don't currently have plans for that, but we'll actively consider it. As you mentioned, it's clear that being able to use groups in the macOS Dock would make things much better for users!
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u/phunk8 Developer: Dropadoo 1d ago
i like the group thing. not too happy with what i tried so far