These two reactions are off by default, because they need your permission. Everything they read stays on your Mac.
Meeting reminders
What it does: from 5 minutes before a timed event until it starts, your pet hops and says the title, like “‘Design review’ in 5 min”, every 30 seconds.
To turn it on:
- Go to Settings › Reactions and turn on Remind me before meetings.
- When macOS asks, allow access to your calendar.
What it reads: the titles and start times of upcoming events, whether they’re all-day, and whether you’ve declined them. macOS calls this full calendar access, but DockPal reads no more than this and changes nothing. A title can appear in your pet’s speech bubble. Titles aren’t saved.
Not working? Check that the reaction is on, and that DockPal is allowed in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Calendars. During a Focus, it stays quiet.
Download digging
What it does: when a download or AirDrop finishes, your pet digs at the Dock and comes up with a page in its mouth. It says “Ooh, your download’s here!” or “Ooh, an AirDrop for you!”, at most once a minute.
To turn it on:
- Go to Settings › Reactions and turn on Dig up new downloads and AirDrops.
- When macOS asks, allow access to your Downloads folder.
What it reads: to spot a new arrival, DockPal compares the list of file names in the folder, in memory, and checks the tag macOS puts on downloaded files. Files you put there by hand don’t have that tag, so they don’t count. Files are never opened and names are never saved.
Turning them off
Switch either reaction off in Settings › Reactions. To remove the permission as well, use System Settings › Privacy & Security. The Privacy Policy has the full details.