Dashboard (macOS)

Dashboard is a discontinued feature of Apple Inc.'s macOS operating systems, used as a secondary desktop for hosting mini-applications known as widgets. These are intended to be simple applications that do not take time to launch. Dashboard applications supplied with macOS included a stock ticker, weather report, calculator, and notepad; while users could create or download their own. Before Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, when Dashboard is activated, the user's desktop is dimmed and widgets appear in the foreground. Like application windows, they can be moved around, rearranged, deleted, and recreated (so that more than one of the same Widget is open at the same time, possibly with different settings). New widgets can be opened, via an icon bar on the bottom of the layer, loading a list of available apps similar to the iOS home screen or the macOS Launchpad. After loading, the widget is ready for use. Dashboard was first introduced in Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. It can be activated as an application, from the Dock, Launchpad, or Spotlight. It can also be accessed by a dashboard key. Alternatively, the user can choose to make Dashboard open on moving the cursor into a preassigned hot corner or keyboard shortcut. Starting with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, the Dashboard can be configured as a space, accessed by swiping four fingers to the right from the Desktops either side of it. From OS X 10.10 Yosemite onward, the Dashboard was disabled by default, with the Notification Center becoming the primary method of displaying widgets. Dashboard was removed in macOS 10.15 Catalina. Widget support outside the Notification Center was reintroduced in macOS Sonoma, released in 2023.