Desktop pals are back. The viruses aren't.
Remember the little characters that lived on your screen in the early 2000s? They wandered about, popped up with tips nobody asked for, and came bundled with who-knows-what. Desktop Pals bring back the fun part – and only the fun part.
- No viruses or malware
- No accounts
- No tracking
- No ads
- No crypto mining
Just a bit of fun to make your day brighter. Free, for Mac and Windows – and Linux with PalPlayer.
What a desktop pal does
They wander
Your pal strolls along the bottom of your screen, stands about, looks around, and now and then wanders off to explore. It sits on top of your windows, but clicks go straight through to whatever's underneath.
They talk
Every minute or two a speech bubble pops up with a tip, a joke or a grumble – with Yes please / No thanks buttons and a “Don't show me this tip again” link that (obviously) doesn't work.
They beg
Try to close one and it slides in from the edge of the screen, looks heartbroken and asks if you're sure. You are always allowed to say yes.
Poke, drag, drop
Click your pal and it jumps. Pick it up and put it somewhere else. Poke it too often and it'll tell you about it.
Light & dark
Follows your computer's light or dark mode – or pick one from its menu.
Quiet when you need it
“Quiet for 30 minutes”, stop it wandering, or close it. It'll cope. Eventually.
Pick a pal. Or two. Or a herd.
Each pal is its own little app with its own personality, animations and things to say. Click one to see everything it does – and to download it.
Podcast pals
Tips, jokes and news of new episodes
Dot
The Modern .NET Show's roving co-host. Wanders your desktop with a microphone, 500 .NET hot takes, and news of every new episode.
Meet Dot
The Cynical Developer
James's podcast, in pal form. Sunglasses on, optimism off: 500 weary truths about sprints, estimates and Friday deploys – plus a phone, headphones and a microphone.
Meet The Cynical DeveloperCreatures pals
Pixel-perfect creatures from the Creatures games – completely offline
Norns
The curious, cuddly stars of Creatures 1 and 2 – all 30 breeds – babbling in Norn, dancing, napping and saying hello to each other across your desktop. Up to eight at once.
Meet the Norns
Grendel
The green troublemaker of Creatures 2. Grumbles, growls, kicks things, wants buttons pressed – and gets lonely too. Comes as the classic Grendel or the Eryx Grendel.
Meet the Grendels
Ettin
The gadget-obsessed desert dwellers of Creatures 2. Small, curious and forever looking for machines to fix – or take.
Meet the EttinsCreatures, Norns, Grendels and Ettins are from Creatures 1 & 2 by CyberLife Technology / Creature Labs. Fan-made breeds by their creators, credited on each pal's page.
All the nostalgia. None of the nasties.
Back in the day, “free desktop buddy” often meant adware, spyware, or worse. So here's exactly what these pals do and don't do – checked against the code, in plain English.
They don't
- Collect your data. No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reports, nothing uploaded. Ever.
- Need an account. No sign-up, no email address, no licence key.
- Mine cryptocurrency, show ads, or install anything else.
- Run in the background when you've closed them, or start themselves when your computer starts.
- Read your screen, files or keyboard. They only know where your mouse pointer is, so they can look at it.
They do
- Dot and The Cynical Developer read one public podcast feed – about once an hour – so they can tell you about new episodes. You can switch it off from the menu.
- The Creatures pals never go online at all.
- Open a web page only when you click a link they offer, in your own browser.
- Remember a few settings (like light/dark, sound, and which episodes they've mentioned) in a small file on your computer.
- Come signed and notarised on macOS by WhiteFish Creative Limited.
Three steps. No sign-up.
Pick a pal
Have a look around. Each pal's page shows its animations, what it says, and what (if anything) it connects to.
Download it
For Mac (Apple silicon or Intel) or Windows (installer or portable). Mac versions are signed and notarised, so they open without warnings.
Say hello
Your pal walks on, introduces itself, and gets to work being mildly unhelpful. Right-click it for options.
Made by WhiteFish Creative
We rescue software projects for a living. Desktop Pals are what happens when we have a free afternoon.