How to Switch Between App Groups on Mac

You use one set of apps for design, another for communication and another for development, but macOS shows them all at once. There is no built-in "app group" on a Mac. You can approximate one with Spaces for windows and with a launcher that keeps a named set of apps together.

Short answer: the best app for keeping named groups of apps one click away, in my opinion as its developer, is Jetty: it adds up to four extra docks to the edges of your screen, or floating anywhere, each with tabs of one-click tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts. It is a $9.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 14 or later.

Disclosure: I build Jetty.

What macOS offers

Command-Tab lists open apps in one row, ordered by how recently you used them. It does not know which apps belong together.

Mission Control and Spaces let you spread windows over several desktops. That helps you keep a design desktop apart from a chat desktop. But it organizes windows, so it does not help you launch an app that is not open yet.

Stage Manager groups windows on one screen and puts your recent window in focus. It is about arranging open windows, not about launching.

All three work with what is already running. None gives you a named list of the apps you want for a given task.

Another approach swaps whole sets of the macOS Dock; see Jetty vs Dock Spaces.

Named groups you define

In Jetty, a tab is a named group of tiles. A bar can have several tabs, for example "Design", "Comms" and "Dev". When the bar has more than one tab, a tab strip appears, and you click the tab you want. Right-click a tab to rename or remove it.

To set it up:

1. Create a bar and add a tile for each app by dragging apps from Finder onto it.
2. Add a second tab and fill it with the next group.
3. Name the tabs to match how you think about your work.

Arranging the windows of a group once it is open is a different job; see Stage Manager not enough?.

Switching is a click on a tab

When you move from design to communication, you click the other tab and see exactly those tiles. You do not scan a long Command-Tab row or remember which Space has what.

Launching a group, one tile at a time

Click a tile and that app opens, whether or not it was running before. If you want to start your whole "Dev" setup, you click each tile in turn. Jetty does not launch a group with a single click.

If you want an automation that starts several things at once, you can build a shortcut in the Shortcuts app and add it as a tile. Jetty can run a named shortcut from there.

Your layout is saved

Jetty keeps your bars and tabs in a local file on your Mac, so they are there after a restart. There is no account and no sync between Macs.

What Jetty does not do

Jetty does not list your running apps or windows, and it does not switch between them. It is a launcher, not a window switcher. For switching between open apps, keep using Command-Tab, Mission Control or Stage Manager, and use Jetty for the launching side.

Bars also sit on your main screen, not on every screen you have connected.

You can read more about organizing around projects in how to organize Mac apps by project, and compare other tools in Dock apps compared.

How we checked

Jetty's details on this page were checked against the app's source code and its App Store listing on 2026-10-10 and are collected on the facts page; I build Jetty. For built-in macOS steps, Apple's Mac User Guide is the reference for your version of macOS.

FAQ

Can I create app groups on a Mac?

Not natively. You can use Spaces to group windows, or an app such as Jetty to keep named tabs of apps, folders and files.

How do I switch between apps quickly on Mac?

For open apps, use Command-Tab or Mission Control. For launching a set of apps, click a tile on a bar.

Does Jetty switch to apps that are already open?

It opens the app when you click its tile. It does not show window lists or manage windows.

Are my groups saved after a restart?

Yes. Jetty stores your bars and tabs in a local file on your Mac, so they are there when you start it again.

Get Jetty on the Mac App Store. $9.99 one-time purchase, macOS 14 or later.