Shoal Try it live

Keep a fish tank on your Mac

Shoal is a live aquarium wallpaper. The fish swim behind your icons while you work and race for the food you drop.

Try the live aquarium

Coming soon to the Mac App Store

Shoal isn't on the Mac App Store yet in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK or mainland China.

  • Free to download, with an optional one-time upgrade to Shoal Pro
  • macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon and Intel
  • No account, no tracking

Four habitats

Riverscape is Shoal's own aquarium. Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta come from Deskworlds, the open-source project Shoal is built on. All four are free. Switch between them from Habitat in the fish menu, or in Settings › Scene.

  • Riverscape by day: bloodfin tetras over a planted riverbed, among tall grass, stones and driftwood
    Riverscape Free

    A school of fish over a planted riverbed, with names, visitors and a tank that grows as you feed it.

  • Coral Reef: clownfish around a host anemone on live rock, with corals and small reef fish above pale sand
    Coral Reef Free

    Three clownfish keep to their anemone while small shoals and two cleaner shrimp work the rock.

  • Koi Pond: koi of several colours seen from above in a dark garden pond, with lily pads toward its edges
    Koi Pond Free

    Koi glide through a dark garden pond, seen from above, between clusters of lily pads.

  • Betta: a red and blue halfmoon betta against black, lit like a studio portrait
    Betta Free

    A red and blue halfmoon betta against black, lit like a studio portrait and curious about your cursor.

In every habitat the fish react to your pointer and to Feed, and you can share a picture or a clip. Names, visitors, a tank that grows, the seasons and what Shoal Pro adds to the fish and the light are Riverscape's.

Meet the fish

Riverscape starts you with 24 bloodfin tetras. Shoal Pro adds five more kinds, up to 48 fish in all.

Six kinds of fish swimming together at High quality, among tall grass and driftwood
Shoal Pro
  • A tiger barb, golden with black bands and red-tipped fins
    Tiger barb Shoal Pro
  • A neon tetra with a bright blue stripe and a red back half, beside the driftwood
    Neon tetra Shoal Pro
  • A harlequin rasbora, coppery pink with a black wedge on its side
    Harlequin rasbora Shoal Pro
  • A zebra danio striped blue and white from head to tail, beside the driftwood
    Zebra danio Shoal Pro
  • A rummy-nose tetra with a red head and a black and white striped tail
    Rummy-nose tetra Shoal Pro
  • A bloodfin tetra, silver with bright red fins, in front of tall grass
    Bloodfin tetra Free

Watch for visitors

Now and then a visitor swims into Riverscape for a few minutes. The menu lets you know, and Your Tank keeps a log of the ones you've spotted.

  • A red betta swims through the tall grass among the bloodfin tetras
    A betta
  • A white koi with red patches swims past the bloodfin tetras
    A koi, around Lunar New Year

Three cherry shrimp and a golden mystery snail visit too.

Feed them and they grow

With Shoal Pro's living tank, Riverscape's fish get hungry in real time and grow on every day you feed them. Keep them hungry and they get thin, then weak and sick. Turn on Game Mode and each fish has a weight and a health too, and overfeeding makes them plump. With sensible feeding they get better, and they never die.

A school of young tiger barbs in a grown-in tank
Young fish, just moved in Shoal Pro
The same tiger barbs after 40 days fed, about a third bigger
40 days fed, and they're up to 40 % bigger Shoal Pro
The same tiger barbs gone very thin, their bellies pinched in
Kept hungry, they get thin Shoal Pro
The same tiger barbs gone plump, their bellies round
Overfed, they get plump Shoal Pro
The same tiger barbs sick: pale, with their fins folded in
Pushed too far, they fall sick Shoal Pro

The tank grows in too

Every day you feed the fish counts, in any habitat, even if you skip some. In Riverscape, a snail and the first plants move in at 7 days, moss at 30, and by 100 days the tank is grown in. It's all free.

A corner of the free tank on day 1: driftwood, a big dark stone and bare sand under the bloodfin tetras
The tank on day 1 Free
The same corner after 7 days fed, with a small snail on the sand and a young stem plant by the stone
A snail moves in, and the first plants Free
The same corner after 30 days fed, with moss on the stone and a stem plant half grown, pink at the top
Moss grows in, and the plants fill out Free
The same corner after 100 days fed, with a tall, bushy stem plant in front of the stone and a big fern on the wood
Grown in, after 100 days Free

Light that follows your day

Riverscape's daylight is free. Shoal Pro adds dawn, dusk and night, and Follow the Clock moves the light with your day.

The tank at dawn, in soft, pale morning light
Dawn Shoal Pro
The tank by day, bright green under light shafts from above
Day Free
The tank at dusk, in warm amber light
Dusk Shoal Pro
The tank at night, dark blue, with the fish faintly lit
Night Shoal Pro
Three pumpkins on the sand, one carved with a face, under the school of fish

The seasons show up too

Three pumpkins sit on Riverscape's sand from 17 to 31 October, and snow drifts down in December. You can turn them off in Settings › Scene.

More to play with

Shoal's fish menu: a status line, Feed and Show Desktop each saying it hides your open apps, Show Desktop with its shortcut Control-Option-Command-D, Pause, the Lighting & Sound section with the lighting presets, Follow the Clock and Ambient Sound marked Pro, Share Your Tank, Unlock Shoal Pro, Settings and Quit Shoal
Feed, pause and share from the fish menu.

  • Name them

    Name any three of Riverscape's fish, then rest your pointer on one to see its name.

  • Share your tank

    Send a picture or an 8-second clip of any habitat. From Riverscape, a link shows your tank live.

  • A widget

    See your tank and your days fed at a glance.

  • Every display

    Each display gets a tank, and one Feed drops food into every one that's running.

  • A desktop picture

    Keep the view on your desktop when Shoal is closed.

  • They say hello

    Come back to your desktop after a while and a few of Riverscape's fish swim up to the glass.

Easy on your Mac

It slows down on battery and behind your windows. To keep your Mac cooler, set a 30-frames-a-second limit in Settings › General.

How Shoal saves battery
Frames a second the aquarium draws
  • Plugged in, desktop in viewUp to 60
  • On battery30
  • Windows cover most of the desktop20
  • Desktop covered, screen locked or Low Power ModeStopped

Try the aquarium in your browser

Riverscape's free tank, running live. Move your pointer near the fish, or click the water to drop food.

The free Riverscape aquarium: fish over rocks, driftwood and swaying plants

What Shoal Pro adds

Buy it once and it unlocks on every Mac signed into your Apple Account. Your family gets it too, through Family Sharing. Most of it is for Riverscape, Shoal's own aquarium. The water sound and sharing without the watermark work in every habitat, and Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta stay free.

Shoal's window on its Fish pane over the aquarium: the named fish, how well fed each one is, the Feed button and the Living Tank switch
Shoal Pro

A tank that remembers

Turn on Living Tank and Riverscape's fish get hungry in real time, even while you're away, and they grow on each day you feed them, up to 40 % bigger. While another habitat shows, they rest and don't get hungry. Skip a day and they get thin, but they never die. Turn on Game Mode too and every fish has a weight and a health, and overfeeding makes them plump. Reminders are optional, and a holiday feeder looks after them for up to 14 days while you travel.

See the Fish pane full size

  • The sound of water

    A quiet water loop with its own volume, in every habitat.

  • Sharper water

    In Riverscape, High quality adds sunbeams that reach the riverbed when you're plugged in, and a sharper web of light on the sand and stones.

  • Your own betta

    Keep a visiting betta in your Riverscape tank once you've spotted one, and name every fish.

  • Fine-tuning

    Set how thick Riverscape's plants grow, from 30 to 100 percent.

Free Shoal Pro US$9.99 one-time
In every habitat
Four habitats on every display: Riverscape, Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta
Fish that react to your cursor, feeding and pausing from the menu
Sharing pictures and clips, and the widget
Still images and desktop pictures
A 30-frames-a-second limit
Pictures, clips and stills without the Shoal watermark—
Ambient water sound—
In Riverscape, Shoal's own aquarium
Visitors, a tank that matures and seasons
Fish speciesBloodfin tetrasAny mix of six
LightingDayDawn, day, dusk, night or Follow the Clock
Living Tank: hunger, growth, feeding streaks and reminders—
Game Mode: a weight and a health for every fish—
Fish24Up to 48
Graphics qualityLow or BalancedLow, Balanced or High
Keep a visiting betta in your tank—
Fish namesAny threeEvery fish
Plant density—30 to 100 percent

Before you buy, you can try the Pro lighting, Follow the Clock and the water sound on your desktop for up to five minutes from the fish menu. The other Pro features unlock with the purchase.

Launch price: US$6.99 for the first two weeks after release, then US$9.99. One-time purchase, no subscription. Prices vary by country.

Shoal isn't on the Mac App Store yet in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK or mainland China.

Questions

Does a live wallpaper drain my MacBook's battery?

It uses some, and Shoal works to keep that low. In Riverscape, on battery, Balanced and High drop from 60 frames a second to 30 and leave out the light shafts. Low, made for older Macs, aims for 30 either way and never draws them. In Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta, Balanced drops to 30 on battery and draws fewer pixels, and Low aims for 20. When windows cover most of the desktop, the tank slows to 20 frames a second. It stops when the desktop is almost fully covered, the screen is locked or asleep, or Low Power Mode is on. How Shoal handles battery life

Will it slow down my Mac?

The aquarium runs on your graphics processor and rests whenever you can't see it. More displays and higher resolutions mean more work for your Mac. Low quality is free, made for older Macs, and draws the least. It aims for 30 frames a second in Riverscape and 20 in the other habitats, with a softer picture, and Macs with Intel graphics start on it. Balanced, also free, draws more, and Shoal Pro's High, in Riverscape, draws the most. To lighten the load, set the free 30-frames-a-second limit in Settings › General. Shoal Pro also adds a plant density control for Riverscape.

What happens behind my windows and full-screen apps?

The aquarium rests. It slows to 20 frames a second when less than 40 percent of the desktop shows, and stops below 15 percent, which includes full-screen apps. Uncover the desktop and the fish carry on. Show Desktop in the fish menu hides all your open apps until you choose Show Windows. Feed, a clip and a visitor's line in the menu hide them only while you look, and they come back as soon as you switch to one of your apps.

Does it work with more than one display?

Yes. Shoal fills the desktop on every connected display, and Feed drops food into every tank that's running.

Are Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta free?

Yes, for everyone. They come from Deskworlds, the open-source project by Chase Lean that Shoal is built on, and Shoal never sells them. Their fish react to your pointer and to Feed, and you can share them, save stills and set them as your desktop picture. Fish names, visitors, the living tank and most of Shoal Pro are for Riverscape, Shoal's own aquarium. While another habitat shows, Riverscape's tank rests: its fish keep their names and don't get hungry, and a day it rests from start to finish doesn't break your feeding streak.

Is Shoal a screensaver?

No. A screensaver takes over the screen when you step away. Shoal is a live wallpaper. The aquarium stays behind your icons and windows while you work, and rests when you can't see it.

What does Shoal collect?

Nothing. Shoal has no accounts, analytics or tracking. The aquarium works offline, and your settings and fish stay on your Mac. Read the privacy policy

What do I need?

A Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later, with Apple silicon or an Intel processor. The free aquarium needs no account and no internet connection.

Is Shoal available in my country?

Shoal isn't on the Mac App Store yet in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the United Kingdom or mainland China. You can still try the live aquarium on this page.

Is Shoal Pro a subscription?

No. Shoal Pro is a one-time in-app purchase with nothing to renew. It unlocks on every Mac signed into your Apple Account, and Restore Purchases brings it back on another Mac. Your family gets it too, through Family Sharing.

Can I try Shoal Pro first?

Partly. From the fish menu, you can try the dawn, dusk and night lighting, Follow the Clock and the water sound on your desktop for up to five minutes while the Shoal Pro window is open. The other Pro features unlock with the purchase.

Your desktop could use some fish

Shoal is free to start, and Shoal Pro is there when you want more.

Try the live aquarium

Coming soon to the Mac App Store

Shoal isn't on the Mac App Store yet in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, the UK or mainland China.