Why does my Mac keep switching desktops, and how do I stop it?

macOS calls the extra desktops you make in Mission Control spaces. It moves you between them on its own in a handful of situations, and each one has a setting. Match what you see to its cause, then change that one setting; the rest can stay as they are.

Find your cause

Switching to an app jumps to its Space

By default, when you switch to an app, macOS moves you to a desktop that has open windows for it. Apple's example in its guide to spaces: you create a new TextEdit document in Desktop 3, but TextEdit windows are already open in Desktop 2, so your new document opens in Desktop 2. The same happens whenever you switch to an app whose windows are all on another desktop, whether you use ⌘Tab or click its icon in the Dock.

1. Open Desktop & Dock settings

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, then click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar. You may need to scroll down.

2. Go to Mission Control

   Scroll to the Mission Control section, near the bottom.

3. Turn the setting off

   Turn off When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application. It has the same name on macOS 14 Sonoma through macOS 27.

With it off, the desktop no longer scrolls to an app's windows when you switch to that app. The app comes to the front, but its windows on other desktops stay where they are, so you may see the app's menu bar with none of its windows. To get to them, open Mission Control with ⌃↑ and click the desktop in the Spaces bar along the top, or move one desktop at a time with ⌃← and ⌃→. If you'd rather keep the jumps, leave it on: it's often the quickest way back to an app's windows.

Spaces rearrange themselves

If your desktops and full-screen apps aren't in the order you left them, or ⌃→ no longer takes you where it did yesterday, the cause is Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. Apple describes it as giving you quicker access to the desktops you used most recently, which it does by changing their order as you work. It's on by default, and it's in the same Mission Control section of Desktop & Dock settings.

Turn it off if you set your desktops up in a fixed order, say mail on the first, a project on the second and chat on the third, and move between them with ⌃← and ⌃→ or a swipe. The order then stays the way you left it. Leave it on if you mostly jump between two desktops and never think about their order. The two settings are independent: you can keep either one and turn off the other.

Apps assigned to a desktop

An app can be tied to a desktop. When you have two or more desktops, Control-click the app's icon in the Dock, choose Options, and look under Assign To. Apple lists four choices:

• All Desktops: the app opens in every space.
• This Desktop: the app opens only in the current space. If you use it in full screen, it gets its own space.
• Desktop on Display and a number: the app opens in the current space on that display, when you have more than one.
• None: the app opens in whichever space you're using at the time.

An app set to This Desktop keeps opening on that desktop, wherever you are when you open it, so opening it can take you to another desktop. If you set that up long ago and forgot, it looks like a random jump. Choose None to have it open where you are. All Desktops suits a small app you want everywhere, such as a music player or a notes window: it never pulls you to another desktop, because its windows are on all of them.

Full-screen apps

An app in full screen, and a pair of apps in Split View, each get a space of their own, shown as thumbnails in the Spaces bar. Its window isn't on your desktop any more, so getting to it always means leaving your desktop for that space, and none of the settings above change that. Press ⌃⌘F to use or stop using an app in full screen (Mac keyboard shortcuts).

If you want a big window that stays on your desktop, fill the screen instead of going full screen. On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, press Fn-⌃-F or choose Window › Fill: the window expands to fill the desktop, and the menu bar and Dock stay put (Apple's tiling shortcuts). On macOS 14, choose Window › Zoom in most apps. The difference is in full screen vs maximize, and moving between full-screen apps on purpose is in how to switch full-screen apps.

Swipes and dragged windows

Two gestures change desktop by design, and both are easy to trigger by accident:

• A sideways swipe. Swiping left or right with three or four fingers on a trackpad, or two fingers on a Magic Mouse, moves to the next space. It's the same swipe that moves between full-screen apps, and its setting is Swipe between full-screen applications in System Settings › Trackpad › More Gestures (Apple's Trackpad settings guide), or in System Settings › Mouse for a Magic Mouse. Despite the name, Apple says it moves between desktops and full-screen apps (Apple's Multi-Touch gestures guide). If you trigger it by accident while scrolling, change the gesture there or turn it off.
• A window held at the edge. Drag a window to the left or right edge of the screen and keep it there, and after a moment it moves to the next desktop, taking you with it. Let go sooner, or drag it back, and you stay put. On macOS 15 and later, dragging to an edge also tiles the window; see how to tile windows.

For every other way to move between desktops on purpose, see how to switch desktops on a Mac, and for a tour of the Spaces bar, how to use Mission Control. With more than one display, each one may have desktops of its own: what Displays have separate Spaces does.

With Flick

Flick, the window switcher we make, works with windows rather than apps. Hold ⌥ and tap Tab, and windows from every desktop are in one list; a row for a window on a desktop you can't see carries an Another Desktop icon. When you let go, Flick takes you to the desktop that window is on and brings that window forward, rather than going to whichever desktop macOS picks for the app. Flick changes desktop only when you pick a window on another one. If you make ⌘Tab Flick's trigger, ⌘Tab opens Flick's list instead of the app switcher (choose your trigger).

If you'd rather see only what's on the desktop in front of you, turn on Show only the active Space in Flick's Settings › General: the list then leaves out windows on other desktops (a window whose desktop Flick can't tell stays in), and a full-screen app counts as a space of its own. Flick doesn't change any of the macOS settings above, and it never adds, removes or reorders desktops, so the rearranging is still up to macOS. The free version switches between your 5 most recent windows, wherever they are.

How Flick handles desktops and full-screen apps