DeskMop documentation
Stage a spotless desktop for screenshots and screen recordings. Set the resolution, sweep away icon clutter, swap the wallpaper, tidy the menu bar, and place your window exactly — then put everything back with one toggle.
Installation
DeskMop is available three ways. The direct download from bendansby.com/apps/deskmop is a .dmg — open it and drag DeskMop.app to your Applications folder. The Mac App Store version installs and updates the usual way. The Setapp version is a one-time purchase, not part of a Setapp Membership subscription; it installs through the Setapp client, with no separate license key and no trial.
Requires macOS 13 Ventura or later on Apple Silicon or Intel. The builds are notarized and signed with the standard Developer ID.
Permissions
DeskMop asks for permissions on first launch. What it needs and why:
| Permission | Why | Build |
|---|---|---|
| Screen Recording | To read the pixels behind the menu bar so Hide bar and Hide items blend in seamlessly, and to snapshot your wallpaper so DeskMop can put it back exactly — both only work if DeskMop can read what's already on screen. Nothing is recorded or transmitted, and the wallpaper snapshot stays on your Mac. | Both |
| Accessibility | To move and resize other apps' windows, and to read menu-bar item names for the hide-items list. | Direct download only |
Grant each permission in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording (and → Accessibility for the direct-download build). DeskMop only reads pixels; it never records or stores screen content.
Quick start
- Launch DeskMop. It lives in the menu bar — look for the icon at the top right of your screen.
- Click the icon to open the staging panel.
- Check the Enabled toggle at the top to activate staging. All effects become live.
- Adjust resolution, background, icons, and menu bar to your liking.
- Take your screenshot or recording.
- Uncheck Enabled — or quit DeskMop — to restore everything exactly as it was.
Resolution
The Resolution section shows every display mode your Mac's panel supports, laid out as preview thumbnails. The current resolution is highlighted; click any other to switch to it immediately.
Common capture sizes (like 1920×1080, 1280×800) appear as their own clearly labeled entries. Choose one to make sure your screenshots come out at the exact pixel dimensions you need.
Click Restore Original to go back to whatever resolution was set before DeskMop changed it. Quitting DeskMop with Enabled on also restores the original automatically.
Background
The Background section has three modes:
Keep
Leave your existing wallpaper alone. On macOS 26 and earlier, or with Reduce Transparency turned on, Hide items adds a seamless tint band behind the menu bar so the recomposited items blend in — the rest of your desktop is untouched. On macOS 27 the menu bar shows the wallpaper straight through, so no band is needed.
Color
Replace the wallpaper with a solid color. Click the color swatch to open a color picker — choose any color you like. The desktop updates live as you drag the picker.
Image
Drop your own image as the wallpaper. There are separate wells for a Light-mode image and a Dark-mode image — DeskMop shows whichever matches the system appearance. Click either well to pick a file, or drag an image directly onto it.
Use the swap button between the two wells to exchange the Light and Dark images in one click.
Desktop icons
The Hide desktop icons toggle makes every file, folder, and stray download on the desktop vanish from sight. Nothing is moved or deleted — they come back exactly where they were the moment you uncheck the toggle or quit.
On the direct-download build, DeskMop hides icons by briefly relaunching the Finder with a CreateDesktop preference set. On the Mac App Store build it paints a wallpaper-matched overlay over the desktop icon layer — the visual result is identical.
Menu bar
The Menu Bar section has three modes. Switch between them from the pop-up in the panel:
Keep
Leave the menu bar as-is. No overlay, no hiding.
Hide bar
Hide the entire menu bar so the top edge of your screen is completely bare.
On macOS 26 and earlier, the direct-download build flips macOS's own "Always hide menu bar" setting (the same switch as System Settings → Control Center → Automatically Hide and Show Menu Bar → Always) — the bar genuinely slides away, and the original setting is restored exactly when you switch modes, disable staging, or quit. On macOS 27, and in the Mac App Store build, DeskMop instead covers the bar with the matching strip of your wallpaper, so the screen shows wallpaper right up to the top edge. The covered bar includes the app menus on the left, just as a hidden one would.
Hide items
Keep the menu bar visible but hide individual status items — the right-side cluster of icons. Choose exactly which items to hide from the list in the popover.
On the direct-download build, DeskMop finds the items and their names through Accessibility, so the list shows "Wi‑Fi" instead of "Control Center 3". On macOS 26 and earlier it can also locate items from the window server without that permission. The Mac App Store build can't use Accessibility: on macOS 26 and earlier it lists items by position only, and on macOS 27 — where items are no longer separate windows — it can't list them at all.
After you select which items to hide, DeskMop recomposes the bar: the remaining items pack together with no gaps and the whole strip is replaced by a pixel-matched overlay so it looks like a real, fully populated bar — just tidier. On macOS 27 the region is rebuilt on your actual wallpaper, so nothing behind the bar changes.
Window placement Direct download only
The Window section lets you snap any open window to an exact position and size. Click the Window picker to choose which app window to act on, then use the arrangement buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Left half / Right half | Fills exactly half the screen, edge to edge. |
| Top half / Bottom half | Fills exactly the top or bottom half. |
| Top-left / Top-right / Bottom-left / Bottom-right | Fills one quarter of the screen. |
| Full screen | Fills the full display, excluding the menu bar. |
| Center | Centers the window at its current size. |
| Exact size | Resize to a custom width × height, centered. |
| Hide | Minimizes the window out of sight. |
Window placement uses Accessibility, which Apple doesn't allow in the Mac App Store sandbox. The entire Window section is absent from the Mac App Store build.
Enable / Disable
The Enabled toggle at the top of the panel is a master switch for all staging effects. Unchecking it in one step:
- Restores your original wallpaper
- Shows desktop icons again
- Removes all menu-bar overlays and restores any hidden bar
- Restores any resolution change
Checking it again re-applies every setting exactly as you had it. You can toggle as many times as you like without re-configuring anything.
Quitting DeskMop does the same restore — nothing is left behind after the app exits.
DeskMop also has a Launch at login preference (DeskMop → Preferences…) and a Restore on launch option to re-apply your last staging configuration the moment the app starts — useful if you stage the same setup regularly.
Updates
The direct-download build uses Sparkle to check for updates automatically. You can also check manually via DeskMop → Check for Updates…. The Mac App Store build updates through the standard update mechanism.
License Direct download only
The direct-download build includes a free trial with every feature fully unlocked — no watermark, no nag on launch, no time limit to take your shots. After the trial ends, clean exports require a license.
Buy via DeskMop → Buy License…; activate via Enter License…. Activation needs the internet briefly, then works offline. Once activated, the license key stays valid as long as you're within the allowed activation count. Refunded or revoked keys stop working on the next background revalidation.
The Mac App Store build doesn't use license keys — Apple handles the purchase. On Setapp, the app is a one-time purchase — bought outright, not part of a Setapp Membership subscription — and there’s no license key to enter; Setapp handles the purchase and delivers updates automatically.