Coming soon · Mac

Dumpling Dock.
Go on, squish it.

A soft 3D dumpling lives in your Mac Dock. Click its icon and it squashes flat, springs up tall, wobbles, and settles back down looking mildly annoyed. A two-second break when work gets heavy.

Mac only. Rolling out in the coming weeks.

Dumpling Dock is a separate little app from the makers of My Dock Buddies. It is not a buddy and not part of a My Dock Buddies plan.

Tell me when it’s out ↗Read the story ↗

Dumpling Dock: a soft ivory 3D dumpling with five pleats pinched at the top, glossy bead eyes, worried eyebrows, pink cheeks and two tiny arms — Try it: click the dumpling, or tab to it and press Enter or Space. A web preview of the Dock squish, about a second and a half.

How does Dumpling Dock work?

One click, one squish, about a second and a half from click to rest.

1

Keep it in your Dock

Open Dumpling Dock and its icon sits in your Dock like any other app: a resting dumpling, perfectly still.

2

Click the icon

It notices, squashes wide and flat with a shocked little mouth, then springs up into a tall stretch.

3

Watch it settle

It wobbles left, then a smaller wobble right, settles with a mildly annoyed look and goes back to resting. No window opens.

Click again mid-wobble and it squishes again from wherever it is. However fast you click, it never lines up a queue of squishes, and it always ends back on its resting icon.

Eight key poses of the click reaction: resting, noticing, squashing down, the flattest squash with a shocked face, a tall stretch, a wobble to the left, a smaller wobble to the right, and back to rest looking mildly annoyed — An early look at the eight key poses of one squish, read across the top row and then the bottom: rest, notice, squash, maximum squash, stretch, wobble left, wobble right, recover. This is concept art, so the finished icon may squash a little less.

Why does squishing a dumpling help?

Because a long stretch of work sometimes needs a two-second break that asks nothing of you. A soft thing that squashes when you poke it is about the simplest stress buster there is: click, squish, wobble, back to work. The squish is short on purpose, so the fiftieth click is as fun as the first rather than a distraction.

Between clicks the icon is a still picture. Dumpling Dock does not keep an animation running in the background while it waits for you.

What Dumpling Dock is not

An icon, not a 3D playground. The squish is a short animation made in advance, so you can’t spin the dumpling around or drag its pleats and arms.
No physics in the background. Nothing simulates between clicks; the dumpling simply waits for the next one.
Quiet. The first version has no sound, so it is safe in meetings.
It stays in the Dock. No menu-bar pet, no desktop overlay and no window floating on top of your work.
Just the dumpling. No hats, outfits, filling, plate or steamer basket. It is a dumpling, and that is plenty.

Is it Mac only?

Dumpling Dock is for Mac only: its whole trick happens in the macOS Dock. It is rolling out in the coming weeks, and we will share the details when it is ready.

Is it part of My Dock Buddies?

No. It is a separate little app from the same makers, and the first of our stress busters. Dumpling Dock is not a buddy, it does not appear in the My Dock Buddies app, and it is not part of a plan.

Dumpling Dock in six views: front, left side, a plain rounded back, right side, top with its five pleats meeting at one pinch, and front three-quarter — An early look from every side: five pleats, a plain back and a flat, bottom-heavy base.

Close-ups of Dumpling Dock: the soft pleats at the top pinch, the face with bead eyes and a small open mouth, a tiny arm joined to the body, and the broad, soft base — Up close, from the concept art: soft pleats, bead eyes, tiny arms and a base squashed by its own weight.

Rolling out in the coming weeks

Tell me when it’s out.

No spam, just a note when Dumpling Dock is ready for your Mac.

Dumpling Dock.Go on, squish it.