How to Swipe Between Apps on a Mac

Co-authored by Mitch Harris

Last Updated: July 28, 2022 Tested

Enabling the Gesture

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Swiping Between Apps

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Expert Q&A

To swipe between full-screen apps on your Mac, place four fingers on your trackpad or two on your Magic Mouse. Swipe them left or right to move between full-screen apps. Apps will need to be in full-screen view for the gesture to work.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Enabling the Gesture

1
Click the Apple menu.
2
Click System Preferences. Click Show All at the top of the window if you don't see the main System Preferences options.

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3
Click the Trackpad or Mouse option. Choose Trackpad if you're using a MacBook or a Magic Trackpad. Click Mouse if you're using a Magic Mouse.
4
Click the More Gestures tab.
5
Check the Swipe between full-screen apps box. The number of fingers the gesture uses will be displayed below.
6
Click the menu underneath. If you're using a trackpad, you can change the number of fingers the gesture uses.
7
Click the number of fingers you want to use. You can switch between three fingers or four fingers for the gesture.^{[1]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Swiping Between Apps

1
Place four fingers on your trackpad or two on your magic mouse. If you set your trackpad to use the three finger gesture instead, just use three fingers.
2
Open some apps in full-screen view. This gesture only works if you have two or more apps open in full-screen view. You can switch apps to full-screen view from their View menus or by pressing Ctrl+⌘ Command+F.
3
Swipe left and right to switch between your full screen apps. Swipe all of your fingers at once to switch between your open full-screen apps.

Expert Q&A

Question

What are some different ways to switch between apps on a Mac computer?

Mitch Harris
Consumer Technology Expert
Mitch Harris is a Consumer Technology Expert based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mitch runs his own IT Consulting company called Mitch the Geek, helping individuals and businesses with home office technology, data security, remote support, and cybersecurity compliance. Mitch earned a BS in Psychology, English, and Physics and graduated Cum Laude from Northern Arizona University.

Mitch Harris

Consumer Technology Expert

Expert Answer

A first way is to hold down Command and press tab. Otherwise, you can go to the dock at the bottom and look for any app that has a little dot located underneath it. Those are your running apps. Simply click on one of those and it will open up.
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Community Answer

Tap the book icon at the bottom hotbar, then on the option labeled "History." There you'll be able to surf through your past websites and delete any of your choosing.