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How to Customize Your Mac Desktop: Wallpaper, Icons, Widgets and Docks

By Eduard Bruch, developer of Jetty ·

Customizing a Mac desktop comes down to six things: the wallpaper, the system appearance and icon style, widgets, how files sit on the desktop, the Dock, and how you launch apps. macOS covers the first five in System Settings. For the last one, the Dock is all you get, so this is where an app helps.

Short answer: set the look in System Settings (Wallpaper, Appearance, Desktop & Dock), add widgets by Control-clicking the wallpaper and choosing Edit Widgets, and turn on Stacks to tidy files. For the launch side of your desktop, our pick, in my opinion as its developer, is Jetty: it adds up to four extra docks to the edges of your screen, or floating anywhere, each with tabs of one-click tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts. It is a $9.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store, macOS 14 or later.

Disclosure: I build Jetty.

1. Wallpaper

Open System Settings and click Wallpaper. Apple's guide lists Dynamic Wallpapers, which "brighten and darken, based on the time of day", your own photos (click Add Photo, then Choose from Photos or Choose File), and landscape and aerial categories (Apple Support).

2. Appearance, colours and icon style

System Settings > Appearance sets Light, Dark or Auto, the colour for buttons, pop-up menus and other controls, and the text highlight colour. On current macOS it also has "Icon & widget style": Default, Dark, Clear or Tinted, where Tinted shows icons in the colour you pick, plus a Folder color option for Finder (Apple Support). To change one item's icon, see how to change app icons on Mac.

3. Widgets on the desktop

Control-click the wallpaper and choose Edit Widgets, then click or drag a widget from the gallery onto the desktop (Apple Support). Clock, weather, calendar and reminders are the usual picks.

4. Files: Stacks or a clean desktop

Turn on Stacks (click the desktop, then choose View > Use Stacks; Apple Support) to group loose files by kind, or hide desktop items altogether in Desktop & Dock settings. The full routine is in how to organize your Mac desktop, and if apps and shortcuts are what's scattered, Mac desktop with apps all over?.

5. The Dock

Desktop & Dock settings change the Dock's size, magnification, position (left, bottom or right), auto-hide and the minimize effect (Apple Support). Every setting and the unsupported Terminal tweaks are in how to customize the Dock on Mac.

6. Extra docks for your apps: our pick, Jetty

The Dock is one bar, on three edges, holding everything. A customized desktop usually wants the opposite: a few launch points in the places you choose, grouped the way you work. Jetty adds that:

  • Up to four bars, on the top, bottom, left or right edge, at the start, centre or end, or unlocked and floating. The top edge works too, which the Dock can't use; see move the Dock to the top or side of the screen.
  • Tabs per bar, for example "Work", "Design" and "Personal".
  • Tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts, each with the app icon, an SF Symbol or an emoji, and a label you choose.
  • A look that matches the system: Liquid Glass on macOS 26 Tahoe, translucent material on macOS 14 and 15. Three tile sizes, 1 to 6 rows or columns, labels on or off, auto-hide per bar.

Honest limits: Jetty's bars are on the main display only, you can't set a keyboard shortcut to open a bar, and an auto-hidden bar comes back from Jetty's menu-bar item, not when you move the pointer to the edge. It has no window list and does not restyle the macOS Dock.

A desktop setup that works

  1. A calm wallpaper and the Tinted or Clear icon style if you like a uniform look.
  2. Two or three widgets in one corner.
  3. Stacks on, or desktop items hidden.
  4. A short macOS Dock on the left or bottom for the apps you always have open.
  5. A Jetty bar on the top edge with a tab per area of work, and the rest of your apps off the Dock.

How we checked

On 2026-10-10 we read Apple's Mac User Guide pages on wallpaper, Appearance settings, widgets and Desktop & Dock settings; each step above links to its page. Jetty's details come from its source code (facts); I build Jetty.

FAQ

How do I customize my Mac desktop?

Change the wallpaper in System Settings > Wallpaper, the colours and icon style in Appearance, add widgets with Control-click > Edit Widgets, and tidy files with Stacks. For launching, our pick, in my opinion as its developer, is Jetty: extra docks on your screen edges with tabs of one-click tiles.

How do I customize my MacBook home screen?

A Mac has no home screen; the desktop plays that role. The steps are the same: wallpaper, Appearance, widgets, Stacks and Dock settings. For a launch bar, our pick is Jetty.

Can I put widgets on my Mac desktop?

Yes. Control-click the wallpaper, choose Edit Widgets, and click or drag a widget onto the desktop.

What is the best app to customize the Mac desktop?

For the launch side, in my opinion as its developer, the best pick is Jetty: up to four bars with tabs on any edge or floating, one-time on the Mac App Store. Wallpaper, icon style and widgets need no app; they are in System Settings.

Get Jetty on the Mac App Store. $9.99 one-time purchase, macOS 14 or later.