8 Fun Mac Apps That Do Nothing Useful (and Why You Want Them)

Quick answer: The best fun Mac apps that do nothing useful are desktop pets, menu bar toys and joke apps that use your MacBook's sensors. Good picks today: Desktop Goose, Pets Therapy, Dockitty and BongoCat for pets, RunCat Neo and Googly Eyes for the menu bar, and SlapMac and LidAngleSensor for the jokes.

Your Mac already does plenty of useful things. It syncs, backs up, nags you about updates and holds forty browser tabs open in case you need one of them in 2029.

None of that has ever made anyone smile, whereas a cat sprinting across the menu bar or a goose dragging a meme over your spreadsheet might. This roundup covers eight toy apps you can still download for macOS today, with prices and requirements checked against each app's own page.

What counts as a fun Mac app that does nothing useful?

A toy app is one you would miss for the mood, not the function. Delete it and your work carries on exactly as before. You just notice the screen feels a bit emptier.

Some of these do have a sliver of usefulness. RunCat Neo is technically a CPU monitor and Dockitty can delete files. Nobody installs a running cat for the system statistics, so they count.

Which desktop pets are worth having on a Mac?

Desktop Goose

Desktop Goose is the famous one. In the developer's words, the goose will "nab your mouse, track mud on your screen... leave you a message, deliver you memes". It is name-your-own-price on itch.io, so free is allowed.

The catch: the Mac build is version 0.22, behind the Windows build at 0.31, and the page says mods are not supported on Mac yet. It still downloads, and the page lists macOS 10.10 or later, so treat it as a lovingly preserved antique with a beak.

Pets Therapy

Pets Therapy puts pixel pets on your desktop to roam, nap and snack, and the listing promises more than 75 of them, including a llama. It is free on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 12 or later. In-app purchases include a $12.99 lifetime option and a $5.99 year of pets.

Dockitty

Dockitty is a pixel-art cat that lives in your Dock as the app icon. You can pet it, bath it and feed it files, and Walking Mode lets it leave the Dock and wander the screen. It is free with optional extra cats, needs macOS 14.6, and has a Trash Mode that deletes what you feed it. We cover that side of it in fun ways to delete files on a Mac.

BongoCat

BongoCat is the internet's drumming cat, rebuilt as an open-source desktop companion. It follows your mouse and slaps along to every key, mouse button and gamepad button you press. Version 2.3.1 shipped on 13 October 2026 with DMGs for both Apple Silicon and Intel on its releases page. It is free, and the README says it collects no data and works offline.

Which menu bar toys are fun on a Mac?

RunCat Neo

The original RunCat has been replaced by RunCat Neo, which the developer calls "the next generation of RunCat". A cat runs in your menu bar, faster when your CPU is busy. It can also show memory, storage, battery and network, and you can swap in your own PNG animation as the runner.

It is free, with two optional in-app purchases that are, delightfully, hot cocoa. It needs macOS 26 or later, so older Macs miss out.

Googly Eyes

Googly Eyes by Sindre Sorhus adds a pair of eyes to your menu bar that follow your cursor and blink when you click. That is the entire app. It is free, the listing reports no data collected, and it needs macOS 26 (the developer's site has a version for macOS 15).

Which joke apps use your MacBook's hidden sensors?

SlapMac

SlapMac uses the MacBook's accelerometer to notice when you hit it, then plays a sound scaled to how hard you did. It has more than 150 clips across nine voice packs, a lifetime slap counter, and a USB mode that reacts when you plug something in.

It is a $9.99 one-off purchase from the developer's site, not the App Store. It needs macOS 14.6 and an M1 Pro or later MacBook. Intel Macs cannot play, and neither can desktops, which have nothing to slap.

LidAngleSensor

LidAngleSensor by Sam Henri Gold reads a sensor most people never knew their MacBook had: the lid hinge. It shows the lid angle and, if you switch audio on, plays a wooden door creak when you open the lid slowly.

It is free and open source, installs with brew install lidanglesensor, and version 1.1 came out in March 2026. The README warns it does not work on some M1 and M2 models, so check the list before getting attached to the creak.

How do these fun Mac apps compare?

"None listed" means the app's own page does not name a macOS permission prompt. An app that reacts to keys you press in other apps may still ask for one when it first runs. Our permissions explainer covers what Accessibility and Automation actually allow.

Are toy Mac apps safe to install?

The App Store ones come with a privacy label you can read before downloading. Pets Therapy and Dockitty both report collecting some analytics data not linked to you. RunCat Neo and Googly Eyes report collecting none. Apple notes on each listing that these labels are not verified.

The direct downloads ask for more trust. Two of them are open source, so the code is public. For any of them, download from the link on the developer's own page, not a mirror, and be suspicious of a toy that asks for Full Disk Access.

Building a silly Mac in five minutes

1. Pick one menu bar toy. RunCat Neo if you are on macOS 26, Googly Eyes if you want something even smaller.
2. Add one pet, not five. A single cat is charming. A desktop full of llamas is a cry for help.
3. Read the listing first. Check the macOS version and, for SlapMac, the chip, before you pay.
4. Turn the sound down at work. SlapMac, LidAngleSensor and the goose are all funnier at home.
5. Keep the Dock tidy around them. Our guide to customising the Dock on a Mac shows how to make room.

One of ours: a cauldron for the Dock

If you have read this far, you clearly like a Mac that has a bit of personality. Here is the one app on this page that is ours, so weigh this section accordingly.

Spellbin is our own small paid Mac app: a pixel-art cauldron that sits in the Dock beside the Bin. Drop a file on it and a green flame carrying the file's thumbnail rises out and dissolves, and by default the file goes to the real Bin underneath. Think Cookie Clicker where the click is a drop: there are 19 achievements, 14 cauldron skins to unlock on top of the default, stats and streaks. It won't clean your Mac or speed it up. It makes deleting things more fun, and that is all it is for. It is a one-off purchase with a 14-day money-back guarantee. If you want more ideas in that spirit, try how to gamify your Mac.

A useful app earns its place by saving you time. A toy earns it by making you look at your screen and grin.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Desktop Goose available for Mac?

Desktop Goose is available for Mac as a name-your-own-price download on the developer's itch.io page. The Mac build is version 0.22, older than the Windows build, and the page says mods are not supported on Mac yet. The listing says it supports macOS 10.10 or later, and you can pay nothing.

What replaced RunCat on the Mac App Store?

RunCat Neo replaced the original RunCat on the Mac App Store. The developer describes it as the next generation of RunCat. It is free with optional in-app purchases, needs macOS 26 or later, and adds memory, storage, battery and network readouts alongside the running cat that speeds up with CPU use.

Does SlapMac work on every MacBook?

SlapMac does not work on every MacBook. The developer's site says it needs macOS 14.6 or later and an M1 Pro or later MacBook, because it reads the built-in accelerometer. Intel MacBooks are not supported. It is a $9.99 one-off purchase sold directly from slapmac.com rather than through the Mac App Store.

Are there free desktop pets for Mac?

Several desktop pets for Mac are free to download. Pets Therapy and Dockitty are free on the Mac App Store with optional in-app purchases, BongoCat is free and open source on GitHub, and Desktop Goose lets you pay nothing on itch.io. Check each listing's macOS version before installing.

Final Takeaways

• Start with one menu bar toy. RunCat Neo or Googly Eyes, depending on your macOS version.
• Check the requirements. Two apps here need macOS 26, and SlapMac needs an M1 Pro or later MacBook.
• Read the privacy label on App Store toys before you install them.
• Download direct apps from the developer's own page, never a mirror.
• Let a toy be a toy. It does not need to earn its place by being productive.