Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Confirms Dashboard is Going Away After 14 Years

Apple has removed Dashboard support from WebKit, not long after it was discovered that the feature has been completely dropped in macOS Catalina, according to a changelog spotted by Japanese blog Mac Otakara.

goodbye dashboard
While this news is not entirely surprising, it eliminates any slim hope that Dashboard might have returned in a future beta of macOS Catalina. The feature has already been disabled by default since OS X Yosemite, but it can still be manually enabled within Mission Control in System Preferences as of macOS Mojave.

Dashboard, first introduced in OS X Tiger in 2005, was effectively a secondary desktop on the Mac that housed a variety of customizable widgets, ranging from sticky notes and the weather forecast to a clock and a calculator. These widgets have relied on Safari's open source WebKit engine for rendering.

Dashboard appears to remain functional in macOS Mojave for now, although it is clearly a legacy feature and some widgets do not work. After over 14 years, the feature is about to ride off into the sunset for good.

Related Forum: macOS Catalina

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

macpro2000 Avatar
89 months ago
It’s a useful resource. I still use it all the time.
Score: 59 Votes (Like | Disagree)
89 months ago
Honestly I forgot it was even still there.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
89 months ago
Steve demoing Dashboard for the first time in 2005.

It's kind of odd to think that it was a precursor to Steve's iPhone vision. Originally, he intended for the iPhone to run web-apps rather than have an App Store, and Dashboard was a collection of glossy, skeuomorphic, web-apps with rounded rectangular icons and charming-but-cheesy animations.

Two years before we had this:



We had this:



Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 45 Votes (Like | Disagree)
89 months ago
Deleted.
Score: 42 Votes (Like | Disagree)
89 months ago
Now just waiting to get rid go Launchpad
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
89 months ago
Very sad! I use it multiple times a day to quickly check on stocks, weathers, packages at a click of a side button on my mouse to have it slide in as an overlay and back out in seconds. Will be something that may make me hold back updating along with the quick editing features of QuickTime 7.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)