50

Is there a way to toggle and hide or un-hide the application window and the dock icon of one specific active app in OS X?

Improve this question
3
  • Solution may very well be app specific, so it would be good to know the app you are trying to hide.
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Sep 28, 2015 at 18:33
  • its a 3rd party app called morphvox
    – bouncingHippo
    Commented Sep 28, 2015 at 18:54
  • 4
    ⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ WARNING - this question & answer is circa 2015 and while the procedure listed below USED to work, it SHOULD NOT BE TRIED in modern versions of macOS as it will likely make it so that you apps cannot launch.⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️
    – TJ Luoma
    Commented Mar 6, 2021 at 19:45

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
72

⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️ WARNING - this answer USED to work and should on macOS Mojave 10.14.6 and lower.

THIS BREAKS APPS in modern versions of macOS as most will not launch even if you can make these changes. Make a backup of apps (or the whole system) before trying this now.

⚠️ ⚠️ ⚠️

This solution worked for me, but it might depend on the application in question. I tried it with a 3rd party app called "Burn" and it worked.

  1. Go to your applications folder and right click (control-click) on the app you wanna hide from the dock.

  2. Click on Show contents. You should now be able to see "inside" the app's files.

  3. Open the Info.plist file in the Contents folder with TextEdit (right click -> "Open with...")

  4. Go to the very bottom of the file and find the last two lines which should say:

</dict>
</plist>

  1. Now insert this before these two lines and save the file.

<key>LSUIElement</key>
<true/>

After this the app's dock icon will not be shown anymore. Keep in mind that you will need to use the Activity Monitor or Terminal (killall <appname>) to quit the app if you close the window.

If closing the window quits the app, you can press cmd + h to hide the window. This should make your app completely invisible.

To make it visible again, just remove those two lines again and the app should behave like before.

Source: Link

Improve this answer
6
  • Sandbox registration failed: The code signature is not valid: The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error -67030.) It seems some 3rd-party tools based on this don't work in Sierra, either. It crashed.
    – Itachi
    Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 5:29
  • 1
    Ah, code signing.
    – SilverWolf
    Commented Jan 23, 2018 at 20:16
  • 5
    Does work on 10.13.5, after the change, you have to restart the app.
    – Alexander Kim
    Commented Jul 17, 2018 at 17:36
  • Just noticed, after OS restart, my apps hidden from the dock won't start at all. So i have to delete these LSUIelement keys from .plist
    – Alexander Kim
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 6:48
  • 1
    Tested and works well for XQuartz, macOS Mojave 10.14.6. Thanks.
    – Libin Wen
    Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 12:59
32

Use native PlistBuddy command to do it:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Add :LSUIElement bool true' /Applications/[AppName].app/Contents/Info.plist

Don't forget to change the [App Name].

If you wish gonna back, run command:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete :LSUIElement' /Applications/[AppName].app/Contents/Info.plist
Improve this answer
6
  • Didn't work for hiding slack icon on Mac os Mojave 10.14.6
    – user674669
    Commented Mar 24, 2021 at 6:35
  • 1
    Works on Big Sur as well if you add "sudo" in front and restart the app (will show icon briefly at start).
    – Altair7852
    Commented Aug 2, 2021 at 18:42
  • 2
    Did not work for me on Big Sur even with sudo and restarting the app. The app kept on quitting unexpectedly so I suppose it is also dependent on the particular app.
    – deeeeekun
    Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 11:49
  • Works for me on Monterey with Viber.app.
    – Lóránt Pintér
    Commented Nov 3, 2021 at 10:01
  • Works on 12.0.1, thanks! It's also a good idea to drag an app onto an empty terminal tab beforehand to see its name and path
    – ZenBerry
    Commented Oct 26, 2022 at 7:28
20

Just to save others from wasting their time here:

This appears to be impossible in macOS Monterey onwards

macOS Monterey 12.0.0 was released October 2021, so around then was probably when this functionality was removed

I've gone through all the suggestions listed here:

  • Add the LSUIElement set to true in the Info.plist file
  • Remove the code signature from the application
  • Dock Dodger (actually it doesn't even run anymore)
  • GhostTile

None. Of. Them. Work.

I've also searched other internet forums: Reddit, Google, etc. And nobody seems to have a solution for this that works for macOS Monterey 12.3+.

As far as I can tell, this is no longer possible.

Improve this answer
10

Recently I came across an app called GhostTile and it does exactly this. I tried dock dodger and it didn't work but this one definitely worked and is pretty awesome.

http://ghosttile.kernelpanic.im/

Improve this answer
6
  • Ended using this app either. Is there any benefits by using paid version vs trial?
    – Alexander Kim
    Commented Jul 25, 2018 at 7:54
  • From what I can tell just the occasional annoying pop-up that says you're using an unlicensed copy of it.
    – Art Geigel
    Commented Jul 23, 2020 at 23:30
  • 1
    Not working for me on 11.2 (Big Sur). I tried to hide multiple apps and for each it just says it's "not yet supported!"
    – cody.codes
    Commented Mar 1, 2021 at 19:51
  • Didn't work for hiding slack icon on Mac os Mojave 10.14.6
    – user674669
    Commented Mar 24, 2021 at 6:35
  • It always says "it's not yet supported!"
    – MOHRE
    Commented Apr 17, 2022 at 12:09
6

A 3rd party drag-and-drop application called Dock Dodger removes an Application from the Dock and command + tab sequence for you. This way an application is still actively running but completely hidden.

It works for most applications on Mac. However, when updating a hidden application, it might undo your change, so you might have to run it through Dock Dodger again.

Steps to follow:

  1. Download Dock Dodger (for example: download from Apponic)
  2. Start Dock Dodger (you might have to allow opening this app from your macOS Security Settings because it's an unidentified 3rd party developer.
  3. Drag-and-drop the Application you want to hide on the Dock Dodger window
  4. Quit Dock Dodger
  5. Simply (re)start the Application you want to hide.

There is one 'but...'

When starting the application you just set to be hidden, it will show the application Window.

  • Click anywhere in the Application window to have it come to the front and have focus
  • Press command + H on your keyboard to hide the Application Once hidden, most applications will stay hidden.

To quit a hidden app:

  • Open Activity Monitor
  • Find the name of your hidden Application in the list
  • Quit or Force Quit

or:

  • Find the hidden Application in Finder (usually in your Applications folder)
  • Start the hidden Application
  • For most applications, this will unhide the Application window and bring it to the front
  • You can now Quit the Application from the macOS menu or press command + Q

One downside of using Dock Dodger:

Is this reversible? Dock Dodger doesn't help you to undo this change. To reverse it:

The upside of using Dock Dodger

  • It's a very easy one-step drag-and-drop action.

I've successfully used it to hide the apps Wacom Desktop Center and SpamSieve on macOS Sierra. I noticed the official Dock Dodger download location went offline, so I added an Apponic download link.

Improve this answer
2
  • Awesome. You also can open running app with Command+up and you normally can quit app with Command+Q
    – Vaibhav Saran
    Commented Jul 18, 2019 at 16:43
  • 1
    Not working on Big Sur (11.6.2, Intel Core i7)
    – Anton Gorbunov
    Commented Jan 10, 2022 at 14:42
2

You can still hide specific app icons from dock, at least it worked for me on macOS Big Sur 11.2.3.

  1. Remove app signature first:

    sudo codesign --remove-signature /Applications/<App name>.app/Contents/MacOS/<App name>

  2. If you get an error like

    xcrun: error: invalid active developer path

    then run:

    sudo xcode-select --reset

    and then repeat Step 1

  3. Option 1: You may perform procedures as described in https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/207944/96748, as I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work, since it is pretty much what second option does. However, I haven't tested this approach.

    Option 2: Alternatively (this one I have tested and it worked) it might be a little more convenient to just run script from GitHub repo FirePanther/MacOS-Hide-Dock-Icon as described in README.md with

    sudo php <path to hideDockIcon.php>/hideDockIcon.php

    (You obviously need to download this file first)

Improve this answer
2
  • I tried option 1 and it worked for me. However, it should be noted that removing app signatures cannot be undone; you would have to reinstall the app if you want to restore the signature.
    – deeeeekun
    Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 11:56
  • Worked perfectly with MacOS 11.5.1
    – samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz
    Commented Aug 4, 2021 at 20:28
-3

Unfortunately, the solutions already answered did not help me under macOS 11 But I have found a solution how I can no longer make apps visible with a graphical user interface from the Dock and from Exit immediately This can be useful if this app only has background services but is still not displayed as nicely in the dock.

There is no way to hide a running app from the macOS operating system if it cannot authenticate itself with an Agent (LSUIElement) or Background Application (LSBackgroundOnly)

Since the agent application unfortunately didn't work for me, I would like to introduce one that has always worked for me.

To solve this problem you have to write another keyword in the Info.plist Namely LSBackgroundOnly

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Add :LSBackgroundOnly bool true' /Applications/[AppName].app/Contents/Info.plist

Since the background application key now exists and is set to "YES" Launch Services only runs the application in the background.

The app must now be restarted. You will still see that this app has a graphical interface, but when you click away the app is no longer in the dock and is no longer available when you exit immediately. You would have to end this process with the terminal or with the activity monitor.

To remove the key just enter the following command:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Delete :LSBackgroundOnly' /Applications/[AppName].app/Contents/Info.plist
Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    You mean MacOS 11.0?
    – anonymousaga
    Commented Jul 28, 2021 at 14:26

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .