I prefer to keep my macOS desktop completely clean and organized while I work. I found a privacy app that works well, but it always keeps a large icon active in my system dock whenever it is running. I would much prefer it to live exclusively as a small icon in the top menu bar, out of sight. Is there a way to hide the main interface window from the dock on a Mac while keeping the protection active?
I completely get your preference, a cluttered dock can be really distracting when you are trying to focus on work. Fortunately, many well-designed macOS applications offer a menu bar-only mode specifically for this reason. It allows the app to run silently in the background as a simple status icon at the top of your screen, completely freeing up your dock space. You can download a sleek, minimalistic client that supports this layout at https://toggle.org/download-macos-vpn for your machine. Once installed, just open its preferences and look for a setting called hide dock icon or status menu mode. After enabling it, the main window will disappear from your dock, but your internet connection will remain fully encrypted. You can still easily toggle the connection or change server locations by simply clicking the small icon in the top menu bar whenever you need to, keeping your workspace perfectly clean.