Command+Tab alternative for macOS
Every app gets a fixed position and a fixed key, so switching becomes muscle memory instead of a search.
Free · macOS Sonoma 14.0 or later
Prefer the Mac App Store? Get Spatial Dock · Compare editions
You usually know which app you want. Finding it is the slow part.
The native macOS switchers keep moving your apps around: Command+Tab sorts them by what you used last, and the Dock shifts as apps open and quit. So the apps you use all day are somewhere different each time you switch.
Spatial Dock EX never reorders anything. Each app keeps its position and its letter, running or not, every session. Learn it once and build muscle memory.
Windows of the selected app
Primary dock
Secondary dock
Dimmed icons are non‑running apps.
Windows (top): the selected app's open windows, on number keys.
Primary dock (middle): your everyday apps, on letter keys.
Secondary dock (bottom): every other app, under the divider.
Dimmed icons are non-running apps.
Your everyday apps, each on a letter you choose. The same key launches the app or brings it forward, so you never check whether it is running.
Every other app you use, a , away. Move with its letters, the arrow keys, or Tab, and show more rows or only running apps.
Can't remember where an app is? Search finds it by name, without breaking the layout you have learned.
The selected app's open windows sit above the dock, each on a number key. Press the app's letter, then a number, to go straight to that window.
Each app keeps the same position across sessions. After a few days your hand finds it the way it finds a letter when you touch-type, without looking.
The grid mirrors your keyboard layout, so an app's key is where the app sits on screen. The shortcuts are easier to learn and harder to forget.
Command+Tab makes you read a row of icons and press Tab until you land. Your main apps have their own key instead: one press, the same one every time.
There are several ways to open Spatial Dock EX. Your apps stay in the same place, and their letter shortcuts work with every method.
Spatial Dock EX can replace the macOS switcher. The gesture is the same: hold Command, press Tab to cycle recent apps, release to switch. The difference is that apps stay in fixed positions, and you can press a letter instead of cycling.
Off by default. Needs Accessibility permission.
Hold Right Command, or another modifier you choose, and press an app's letter.
Cycle recent apps with Tab and Shift+Tab, with optional numbers showing the order. No permission needed.
Any key combination, including Caps Lock remapped with a tool such as Hyperkey.
Spatial Dock EX also gives you direct access to app windows. With a Supporter license, the same fixed-position approach applies to windows: press a shortcut to reach the one you want, without cycling.
An app's open windows are visible in the overlay, each with its own number-key shortcut. The third Finder window is Right ⌘ F 3, with no cycling through the others.
An editor with three projects open is one icon hiding three contexts. Project Groups gives each project its own dock entry and key, so you switch to a project as directly as to an app.
Projects are recognized from window titles, using a preset or your own pattern.
Both need macOS Accessibility permission, used only to read window titles and to act on windows when you ask.
Not sure where an app or window is yet? Search finds it by name and shows the keys that reach it directly.
Matching is fuzzy and covers every app, running or not: f i finds Finder, Firefox and Find My.
Window titles match too, so you can reach a document, a page or a project by name. Press Tab on an app to list its windows.
Every result shows its direct shortcut, like Right ⌘ F for Finder. Search gets you there today and teaches you the key for tomorrow.
Pick the shape that suits your screen. Each one keeps every app in a fixed place.
Apps sit on a grid that mirrors your keyboard, each on the key that selects it.
It follows your layout, including AZERTY, QWERTZ, Colemak, Dvorak, split keyboards and Cyrillic, with your own key labels if you want them.
Apps line the edges of the screen, so your windows and desktop stay visible while you switch.
One column of up to 50 fixed slots, each with its own key, along the side of the screen. Apps without a slot wait in the Arrivals area at the bottom.
With Window Switcher, each app can show up to nine fixed window columns beside it.
Choose what the overlay holds and how it looks. Items markedSupporter need a Supporter license.
Too many apps open? Switch to close mode and each app's key quits it instead of switching to it, so you can clear your Mac in a few keystrokes. You can also quit any app from its hover action bar.
An app switcher should not get in your way.
The overlay is drawn the moment you hold the key. Response time is measured on every release and kept fast, including on older Intel Macs.
It uses very little memory and CPU while it waits in the menu bar between switches.
Spatial Dock EX does not track how you use it, carries no analytics or advertising SDKs, and needs no account. It goes online only to check for updates and, with a Supporter license, to activate and check that license.
Full detail in the Spatial Dock EX privacy policy.
I love how the app makes every switch feel instant because the fixed spots and direct keys let muscle memory take over without any thought.
Spatial Dock is much faster than any other task switcher I've tried, which is a huge plus since pressing the key combinations is quick.
Committed to your app after only half a day, and nine months after using an alternative.
Works better for me than any of the similar apps I have tried.
One app. It is free without a license; a Supporter license, or the 14-day trial, unlocks the rest in place.
Free, no account
US$14.99, one-time
One trial unlocks the complete Supporter feature set. No account, no payment card, nothing to cancel.
The app returns to the free edition and keeps working. Supporter features are paused, not removed, and your settings stay where they are.
The Supporter license is a one-time purchase, not a subscription, entered under Settings → License. It unlocks the copy you already run.
Purchases made before version 1.5.0 redeem a Supporter license for free; 1.5.0 and later are credited in full against the Supporter price. How redemption works →
Built for people who switch apps all day and want switching to feel direct, predictable, and easy to learn. Start with the free edition; upgrade only if you want windows and projects too.
Spatial Dock on the Mac App Store is the sandboxed edition, reviewed by Apple and bought and updated through the App Store.
The sandbox does not allow the Accessibility access that the Window Switcher, Project Groups, and the Command+Tab override rely on, so those stay in Spatial Dock EX.
