The App Store might suggest a useful app from time to time, but you can’t always rely on it to discover new apps. Meanwhile, places like Reddit communities or Product Hunt could be very broad for what you are looking for. So a team of engineers at Basedash, a startup that helps companies connect their databases to admin panels, made a product called Dockhunt that lets you discover new Mac apps by looking at other people’s docks.
The idea is simple: People post their Mac docks on the site and others can look at them like they are exploring their own dock. The Dockhunt site also has a list of top apps that shows how many users have that app pinned in their docks. The app makers told TechCrunch they are considering adding a filter that will weed out popular apps like Chrome, Slack and Spotify so users can discover indie apps.
Floored by the response to @dockhuntapp since launching this morning.
Of course, we're using @Basedash as an internal admin panel to manage app information and to feature docks on the home page. pic.twitter.com/L5BDEHXlEW
— Max Musing (@MaxMusing) January 31, 2023
The team at Basedash said that designer Tom Johnson had the idea of creating a tool that lets users browse a Mac dock on the web. A few engineers pitched in to build Dockhunt, which was eventually released late last month.
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If you want to post your own dock, you will have to download the Dockhunt app and run it. Alternatively, you can also use a command line method to post the dock.
Notably, Dockhunt only captures pinned apps and not apps that are open but don’t have a permanent spot in your dock. At the time of writing, more than 1,100 people had posted their docks on the site.
Currently, the site shows the dock associated with a username or a Twitter handle. The Dockhunt team is also considering a mode that will let people post their docks anonymously.
