Desktop pets for Mac and Windows: what still works in 2026
A desktop pet for your Mac or Windows computer lives on top of every program, not just inside your browser. There are four kinds today: pets that keep you company, pets you look after, pets made from your own photos, and the classic shimeji. Here are ten that run on current systems, with where to get each one.
We make a browser pet, Pawsome Family, not a desktop one, so the list below is of other people’s work. We have not tested them. What we say about each one comes from its own website or store page, checked on October 14, 2026. Pages change, so look before you install.
Pets that keep you company
These wander, climb, and nap, and ask for nothing.
- Pets Therapy. A large set of animated characters, from cats to dinosaurs, that move around your screen. You can feed them and give them toys, and you can design and import your own. For Mac from the Mac App Store, and for Windows from the Microsoft Store or Steam. Free, with a supporter tier that adds extras such as pets talking to each other.
- Desktop Goose. A goose that grabs your mouse pointer, tracks mud across the screen, and drops notes and memes on you. Company of a sort. For Windows and Mac. Pay what you want, including nothing.
- Desktop Pets on Steam. Small pets that idle, play, and interact with each other, with eggs to hatch for new ones. Windows only. Free to play, with paid items inside.
Pets you look after
These are a small game. The pet gets hungry or bored and lets you know.
- Luna Desktop Dog. A dog who starts as a pup and grows up over days and weeks. You feed her, play fetch, and let her doze, and she can fall ill if ignored. There are five small games and two art styles. For Mac, Windows, and Linux. Free, with no account and no ads.
- My Desktop Cat on Steam. A cat that wanders, rests, and plays while your other windows stay in front. You feed, water, and pet it, and unlock more cats as you go. It pauses by itself when a full-screen program is running. Windows only. Free to play, with paid items inside. Released October 1, 2026.
Pets made from your own photos
You add a photo or three, and the app draws a character that looks like your animal.
- Peekoo. Works from one photo of a pet or a person. You choose an art style, and the character walks your screen, climbs window edges, and naps when you step away. For Mac (macOS 14 or later) and Windows 10 or 11, with one purchase covering both. Free to download with basic moves, and a monthly, yearly, or lifetime price for the full set.
- MomoPlanet. Works from three clear photos of the same dog or cat. For Mac and Windows. The free version includes two actions, and paid packs add more.
- DeskPet. You give it a short moving clip of your pet, as a video or a GIF, and it puts that clip on your desktop. For Mac only. Free to download.
The classic: shimeji
- Shimeji-ee. The English version of the Japanese original. A small character walks, climbs, and plays on the screen, and you can pick it up with the mouse. It is open source, needs Java, and officially runs on Windows. Mac versions exist as community projects and can be fussy on recent systems. Thousands of fan-made characters are available for it. See what a shimeji is, and how to get one.
- Shimeji Browser Extension. Not a desktop app, but the easiest way to get the same idea on a Mac. The characters live inside Chrome instead of on the desktop. Listed as free.
Desktop app or browser extension?
A desktop pet walks on top of every program. A browser pet, such as ours, lives inside your browser tabs. Which is better depends on where you spend the day.
- Choose a desktop pet if you work in many programs, or want the pet on the desktop itself when nothing is open.
- Choose a browser pet if most of your day is in a browser, or if you cannot install programs on your computer. An extension installs in a minute, needs no admin password, and is removed just as fast.
Whichever you pick, look for the same four things: a way to hide the pet on demand, a way to keep it out of full-screen video and presentations, a way to change its size, and a clear note on what the program can see. For browser pets there is one more thing, the install warning, which we explain in what “Read and change all your data on all websites” means.
A pet of your own dog or cat, in your browser
Pawsome Family is a Chrome extension that turns 1 to 5 photos of your dog or cat into a small animated pet that walks, sits, and naps along the bottom of every tab. It works the same on a Mac and on Windows, because it lives in Chrome. See an example black labrador or siamese cat.
One pet is free for 30 days, with no card needed.