Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Menu Bar Utility

A clean desktop,
one keystroke away.

DesktopVeil hides every desktop icon from your menu bar for clean screenshots, recordings and screen sharing. Click the icon or press the hotkey, Control-Option-Command-D by default.

Download for macOS View on GitHub

Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release

DesktopVeil menu bar menu with Hide Desktop Icons option

Features

Small app. Tidy desktop.

Everything you need to hide desktop clutter on demand, and nothing that needs your data or permissions.

Wallpaper cover, Finder untouched

A borderless window per display draws your current wallpaper over the icons. It follows fill, fit, stretch and center scaling, and needs no permissions.

Global hotkey toggle

Toggle from anywhere with Control-Option-Command-D, or record your own shortcut in Settings. You can also clear it.

Per-display control

Choose which displays get covered. Covers are rebuilt when displays or Spaces change, and the wallpaper is re-read every minute for rotating wallpapers.

Auto-reveal timer

Have your icons come back by themselves after 5 minutes, 15 minutes or 1 hour, so you never forget they are hidden.

Hide while screen sharing

Keep an editable list of app bundle identifiers, such as Zoom or a screen recorder. Icons hide when one launches and return when the last one quits.

Two methods, safe recovery

Switch to the Finder preference method if you prefer it. If the app quits uncleanly in that mode, the next launch offers to restore your icons.

Screenshots

See it in action.

DesktopVeil Settings window — Settings let you record the toggle hotkey, choose the hiding method, pick which displays to cover, and auto-hide while screen-sharing apps run.

DesktopVeil menu in the Icons Hidden state — With icons hidden, the menu shows the current state and offers Show Desktop Icons to bring them back.

Install

Up and running in a minute.

DesktopVeil is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.

Download DesktopVeil-macOS.zip and unzip it.
Move DesktopVeil.app to your Applications folder.
Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
```
xattr -cr /Applications/DesktopVeil.app
```
No special permissions are required if your wallpaper is in a protected folder, macOS may ask for file access once.

Download

Get DesktopVeil for macOS

Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.

Download for macOS All releases

DesktopVeil-macOS.zip · GitHub Releases

Not notarized: on first launch right-click DesktopVeil.app → Open.

macOS 14 Sonoma+
Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
MIT licensed · open source
No ads, no accounts, no telemetry

FAQ

Questions, answered.

Is DesktopVeil really free and open source?

Yes. It is released under the MIT license, with no accounts, no analytics and no network access. If it saves you time, there is an optional Support button in the app.

What permissions does it need?

None of the privacy permissions. It does not use Accessibility, Screen Recording, Microphone or Camera. The hotkey uses a Carbon API that needs no Accessibility access, and the cover only reads your wallpaper path through NSWorkspace.

Where is my data stored?

Settings are kept locally in macOS user defaults on your Mac. Nothing is sent anywhere. In Finder mode, the app also changes Finder's own CreateDesktop preference and restores it when you quit.

Why isn't the app notarized?

Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, and this is a free project. Right-click the app and choose Open once to run it, or build it from source with Xcode and XcodeGen.

Support ❤️

Built by one person, given away for free.

DesktopVeil is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.

☕ Support Or on Ko-fi

A clean desktop,one keystroke away.