How to Use the Mac Terminal to Change the Dock Auto-Hide Delay

The macOS Dock is an essential part of navigating your Mac, but keeping it visible at all times takes up valuable screen real estate. While you can easily set the Dock to automatically hide itself, many users find the default animation delay slightly too sluggish for fast-paced workflows.

By using a few simple commands in the Mac Terminal, you can completely remove the delay, making the Dock appear and disappear instantaneously the moment your cursor hits the edge of the screen.

How to Remove the Auto-Hide Delay

To speed up the Dock, you need to modify its hidden settings using the Terminal app.

1. Open Terminal (you can find it in Applications > Utilities, or by searching for it via Spotlight).
2. Copy and paste the following command exactly as written, then press Return:
   defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0
3. To apply the change, you must restart the Dock process. Copy and paste this second command, then press Return:
   killall Dock

Your screen will flash briefly as the Dock restarts. Now, when you move your cursor to the edge of the screen, the Dock will slide into view without any hesitation.

How to Speed Up the Animation Itself

The previous command removed the waiting period, but the sliding animation itself still takes a fraction of a second. You can speed up the sliding animation to make it feel even snappier.

1. In the Terminal, paste this command and press Return:
   defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.15
2. Restart the Dock again by typing:
   killall Dock

This sets the animation duration to 0.15 seconds (down from the default of 0.5 seconds).

How to Restore the Default Settings

If you find the instantaneous Dock too jarring and want to return to Apple’s default delays and animations, you can easily delete your custom modifications.

1. In the Terminal, paste this command to delete the custom delay rule:
   defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay
2. Paste this command to delete the custom animation speed rule:
   defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier
3. Finally, restart the Dock one last time:
   killall Dock

Your macOS Dock will now behave exactly as it did when you first bought your Mac.