Four Unofficial Ways to Customize MacOS
MacOS is great in every way, but it’s far from the most customizable operating system. While it’s not as limited in its capabilities as iOS and iPadOS, compared to Linux and even Windows, macOS doesn’t allow for as much customization of its appearance and behavior.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to customize the operating system—you just need to know where to look. Here are a few third-party tools that will let you customize macOS to your liking.
Use a custom cursor
Changing the mouse pointer’s appearance in Windows and Linux is fairly easy—you just need to dig into the settings. On macOS, you can only change the pointer’s size.
Unless you install the free and open-source Mousecape . This application allows you to create a cursor and use it instead of the default system ones. You can also install cursors created by others. Unfortunately, there’s no centralized cursor collection for this, but I found an interesting selection on Github , several Wii cursors , and a decent collection on DeviantArt . You can also try creating your own set.
Please note that Tahoe users will need to download the updated version to use Mousecape—the main build is currently unavailable. At the time of writing, you’ll need to install the preview version .
Use any website as wallpaper
macOS has several great wallpapers, including dynamic ones. You can also use your own photos. However, macOS doesn’t offer custom animated wallpapers.
Meet Plash . This free app lets you turn any website into a macOS wallpaper , opening up a wealth of interactive possibilities. Some sites let you look into a random stranger’s window, check a real-time weather forecast, or admire animated pixel art, but you can use any website you can think of. It’s a lot of fun to play with.
Clear the menu bar
The macOS menu bar is a bit confusing. In Windows, icons can be hidden quite easily by dragging them to the secondary area. Apple didn’t offer anything like this until Tahoe, which introduced the ability to disable any icon in Settings. The problem is, it’s all or nothing. Hide an icon in Settings, and there’s no quick access to it except to go back to Settings and enable it again.
For this, you’ll need a third-party app. I personally recommend Ice , the best free menu bar cleaner . My colleague Pranay recommends Barbee, another excellent option . Both apps make it easy to hide menu bar icons in a secondary panel accessible by clicking the icon, similar to how it works in Windows. Every Mac user should install a program like this.
Change folder icons
This isn’t exactly an unofficial tool, but it’s so hidden from prying eyes that it might as well be. You can change the icon of any folder, document, or even application by right-clicking it, selecting “Get Info,” and dragging the image onto the icon in the window that opens. Strange, right? But it works, meaning you can customize the appearance of folders to your liking. I covered this in a more detailed article .
It’s a lot of fun to install Fancy Folders , a free app shown in the image above that lets you create folder icons in any color, complete with text or an icon of your choice. It’s a lot of fun to play with and can be very useful for visually organizing things.