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DeskPet

Download DeskPet

Free, for any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later. One download runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel.

Download for Mac
Version
0.2.0
Released
September 27, 2026
Size
3.9 MB
SHA-256
ee3e79e65c0c6694a0e97221d707b7a9d1610bb4138c1b8023ca14792ea71910
The DeskPet app icon: a ginger cat waving

Installing

Takes a minute. The Settings step is only needed once.

  1. Open the download

    Double-click DeskPet.dmg in your Downloads folder.

  2. Drag DeskPet to Applications

    Drop the DeskPet icon onto the Applications folder in the window that opens.

  3. Open it once

    Open DeskPet from Applications. macOS stops it with a message that it can't verify the app. Click Done.

  4. Allow it in System Settings

    Open System Settings, go to Privacy & Security and scroll down to the message about DeskPet. Click Open Anyway and confirm when macOS asks, with your password or Touch ID. On macOS 14 you can instead Control-click DeskPet in Applications and choose Open.

  5. Find the paw

    DeskPet lives in the menu bar, not the Dock. The adoption window opens on first launch; after that, click the paw icon at the top of your screen to care for your pet.

Why macOS warns you

Apple asks developers to send apps in for notarization, an automated malware check tied to a paid Apple Developer account. DeskPet hasn't been notarized yet, so macOS can't vouch for it and blocks the first launch until you allow it.

To check that your download is the one published here, run this in Terminal and compare the result with the SHA-256 above:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/DeskPet.dmg

Updates are signed too, and DeskPet checks that signature before installing one.

Updating

DeskPet checks for a new version once a day and asks before installing it. Updates skip the Open Anyway step. To check now, right-click the paw icon and choose Check for Updates…, or use the button in Settings. Every version is listed in the changelog.

Uninstalling

  1. If you turned on Launch at login, turn it off in DeskPet's Settings.
  2. Right-click the paw icon and choose Quit DeskPet.
  3. Drag DeskPet from Applications to the Trash.
  4. Optional: to forget your pet and its memories too, delete ~/Library/Application Support/DeskPet and ~/Library/Preferences/dev.akash.deskpet.plist.