The Fitness Dependent Optimizer (FDO) is a recent metaheuristic algorithm that was developed in 2019. It is one of the metaheuristic algorithms that has been used by researchers to solve various applications especially for engineering design problem. In this paper, a comprehensive survey conducted about FDO and its applications. Consequently, despite of having competitive performance of FDO, it has two major problems including low exploitation and slow convergence. Therefore, a modification of FDO (MFDO) is proposed for solving FDO issues. MFDO used two methods to enhance the performance of FDO: firstly, optimizing the range of weight factor between 0 and 0.2 which is used for finding fitness weight. Secondly, using sine cardinal mathematical function to update fitness weight and pace which is referred to the speed of the bees. To evaluate the performance of MFDO, 19 classical benchmark functions and CEC2019 benchmark functions are used. MFDO compared against all the enhancement of FDO and also it is compared with Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO), Chimp Optimization Algorithm (ChOA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), and Butterfly Optimization Algorithm (BOA). Statistical results proved that MFDO achieved significant performance compared to other algorithms. Finally, MFDO is used to solve three applications: Welded Beam Design (WDB), Pressure Vessel Design (PVD), and Spring Design Problem. Results proved that MFDO outperformed well in solving these applications against FDO, Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), GA, and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA). .