It’s the Fastest Way to Run Apps on Your Mac
There are many ways to launch apps on your Mac – you can pin apps to the dock for starters, or use Spotlight to find and open apps. However, there is an even faster way to launch applications: using a floating dock.
There are several applications that allow you to quickly open the dock wherever the mouse cursor is. Whether you’re using a large monitor or using a trackpad to navigate your MacBook, these floating dock apps will save you time by using keyboard shortcuts to launch apps. You can especially appreciate this if you are among the users who complain that Spotlight searches get slower over time: even if you replace it with a better alternative , manually entering app names will take longer than using a floating dock app .
If that sounds appealing, try downloading Charmstone or Orbital . These apps have a similar feature set and they are equally good for launching apps quickly.
amulet
Charmstone is available on the Mac App Store, and the free version lets you pin up to four apps to the floating dock. You can unlock more slots (up to 16 apps) by paying a one-time fee of $10. Launch the floating dock by typing Command + Option and moving the cursor in any direction. You don’t need to click again to launch apps. Move the cursor to the right and release it to launch the application pinned in that direction. Similarly, you can quickly launch apps pinned in any direction.
When you first launch Charmstone, you will only see eight apps because the app has two modes – near and far. Use the activation key combination and move the cursor slightly to open apps pinned in near mode. To see the remaining “far” applications, use the keyboard shortcut and drag the cursor a little further.
You can also change the keyboard shortcut required to activate the application – any combination that includes Command, Option, Shift, Function, and Control combined with mouse cursor movement.
orbital
Orbital requires less setup because it mimics your docking station; it will pick up the applications in the dock in the same order. For example, if you set Orbital to show eight apps, it will select the first eight apps from your dock.
You can also launch Orbital a little faster because it can be launched with a keyboard shortcut (Alt + X) and doesn’t require you to move your mouse cursor. Orbital lets you pin up to six apps for free and costs about $12 to unlock all 20 slots. You can also change the icon size.
Orbital isn’t as customizable as power users would like, but that’s also part of its appeal. It is literally a floating dock whereas Charmstone is more of a customizable app launcher. Since both apps have a decent free version, you should try both before deciding which one is best for you.