Support

Answers to common questions, using the same words you'll see in the app. For anything else, or to share an idea, choose Send Feedback… in the fish menu. It starts an email to us with your Mac's details filled in. Or email support@shoalwallpaper.com and include your macOS version and what the first line of the fish menu says. Shoal is made and sold by Kamino Holdings, LLC.

Where is the app?

Look for the fish icon in the menu bar, at the top right of your screen. Shoal has no Dock icon, except while it's in front hiding your apps. The aquarium sits behind your desktop icons on every display, unless you turn a display off in Settings › General › Displays. If you open Shoal again while it's running, from the Applications folder or with Spotlight, its window comes up.

The first time you open Shoal, a short Welcome window appears. Show Me the Aquarium hides your open apps if a window is over the tank, drops in a pinch of food so the fish come over (a paused tank just shows still water) and points to the fish in the menu bar. Done closes the window.

How do I open Settings?

Click the fish icon and choose Settings…. While a Shoal window is in front, ⌘, opens it too. Shoal's window opens on Your Tank the first time (after that, on the pane you last used): the tank's latest picture, how it's doing, Feed, Pause and Share, how far it has grown and the visitors you've spotted. The sidebar has the rest: Fish, Scene, Sound, General and About. To see the first-launch Welcome window again, choose Show Welcome… in Settings › General.

How do I switch habitats, and what does each one have?

Shoal has four habitats, all free: Riverscape, Shoal's own aquarium, and Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta, which come from Deskworlds, the open-source project Shoal is built on. To switch, click the fish icon and choose Habitat, then a habitat, or choose one under Habitat in Settings › Scene. Every display shows the same habitat, and the menu's check sits on the one on your desktop. While Shoal is switching, the menu's habitats are dimmed until it's done.

In every habitat the fish react to your pointer, Feed drops food for them, and you can share a picture or a clip, save a still and set it as your desktop picture. Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta have two quality levels in Settings › Scene, both free: Low, for older Macs, with fewer pixels at 20 frames a second, and Balanced, the display's full resolution, as Deskworlds draws it. Fish names, visitors, the maturing tank, the seasons, the lighting presets, the six species and the living tank are Riverscape's, and so is most of Shoal Pro.

While another habitat shows, Riverscape's tank rests. Its fish keep their names, growth and care history, they don't get hungry, no feeding reminder arrives, and a day it rests from start to finish doesn't break your feeding streak. Switch back and the tank is as you left it.

If a habitat can't start, Riverscape shows meanwhile, the fish menu says so under its first line, for example “Coral Reef couldn't load. Showing Riverscape.”, and the Habitat menu reads “Coral Reef: couldn't start, choose to retry”. Choose it to try again.

How do I feed the fish?

Choose Feed from the fish menu. A pinch of pellets drops into every running tank, and the fish race for it. If a window is over the tank, Shoal first hides all your open apps, then drops the food once the water is in view. The first few times, the line under Feed warns you: “Hides your open apps first”. The apps stay hidden only while you look. Switch to one of them and they come back. If the tank still can't be seen after a few seconds, say behind a full-screen app, the apps come back and Shoal feeds the fish out of sight, as it does when the water is still.

In Riverscape, Feed works even when the water is still: paused, in Low Power Mode, while the screen is off, while your Mac cools down, while the aquarium loads or updates, or when it didn't load. Shoal then feeds the fish quietly, without hiding anything, and the line under Feed says so, for example “Feeds quietly while paused”. Afterwards Feed says “Fed. The water is still, so they ate out of sight.” The day counts as fed either way.

In Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta, Feed works only while the water moves, because only food the fish take counts there. While the water is still, out of sight or loading, Feed waits and the line under it says “Feed works while the water moves.” If the water still can't be seen once Shoal has hidden your apps, no food drops and nothing counts. A pinch they take counts as a day fed, as it does in Riverscape.

If a pinch doesn't land, Shoal tells you right away next to the fish icon (“The tank is full of food” or “Feeding did not reach the aquarium”), and the line under Feed repeats it until you've seen it. Settings › Fish has its own Feed button. Every day you feed the fish helps the tank mature.

In Riverscape, fish that haven't eaten in a while let you know. When you come back to the desktop, the hungry ones swim up to the front of the tank, just under the surface where the food drops, and wait there with their fins fluttering, and the fish menu says they're hungry. Without Living Tank, that starts 18 hours after your last feeding, and never before your first. To keep them from asking, turn off Hungry fish come to the glass in Settings › Fish. They still swim up to say hello.

How do I see the aquarium behind my windows?

Choose Show Desktop from the fish menu. Shoal hides every open app, the way Hide Others does, and moves its own windows out of the way. The menu item then reads Show Windows. The apps stay hidden until you choose it or quit Shoal. (Feed, a clip, a visitor's line and the Welcome window hide them too, but only while you look.) Shoal has its own Show Desktop because the Mac's (F11) brings your windows back as soon as you click the menu bar.

How do I pause the aquarium?

Choose Pause from the fish menu, then For 1 Hour, Until Tomorrow (7:00 the next morning) or Until I Resume. Your Tank, in Shoal's window, has a Pause button too. Click it to pause until you resume, or open its menu for the same three choices. While the aquarium is paused, the menu item and the button read Resume, and the fish icon is dimmed. When you pause, the menu's first line reads “Paused”, or says when a timed pause ends, like “Paused until 3:00 PM”. Your Tank shows the same line, and so does Settings › General under Motion. A timed pause ends on its own, even if your Mac slept or you quit Shoal in the meantime. Shoal remembers your choice.

Why does the aquarium slow down or stop?

To go easy on your Mac. Shoal draws up to 60 frames a second, 30 on battery and 20 when windows cover most of the desktop. It stops when the desktop is almost fully covered (a full-screen app counts), when the screen is locked or asleep, and in Low Power Mode. Uncover the desktop and the water moves again, unless you paused it. When your Mac gets hot, Shoal draws no more than 30 frames a second. If that slows the water, the menu reads “Slower while your Mac cools down”. If your Mac gets very hot, the water stops and the menu reads “Still while your Mac cools down”. The fish carry on once your Mac cools. More displays and higher resolutions mean more work for your Mac, and the battery guide has the details and the settings that help. On an older Mac, Low quality in Settings › Scene draws less, and Settings may suggest it when Balanced can't keep up.

How does Open at Login work?

Turn on Open at Login in Settings › General, or Open Shoal at Login in the Welcome window. It's off until you turn it on. If the line under it reads “Requires approval in System Settings › General › Login Items.”, click Open Login Items Settings… and allow Shoal there.

What do Save Still Image… and Set as Desktop Picture do?

Both sit below Picture… and 8-Second Clip… in the fish menu's Share Your Tank submenu. They become available once the aquarium has drawn. Until then, each says “Available once the aquarium has been shown”.

• Save Still Image… saves a PNG of one display wherever you choose. With several displays, pick which one from the Display menu in the save window.
• Set as Desktop Picture asks first. Then it saves a picture of every display the aquarium is on and hands it to macOS. That picture shows behind the live aquarium and whenever Shoal isn't running. In Riverscape with Shoal Pro it follows the clock: macOS shows the tank at dawn from 5:00 AM, in daylight from 8:00 AM, at dusk from 5:00 PM and at night from 8:00 PM, even when Shoal isn't running. To keep one look instead, click Use Current Look. In the free aquarium, and in Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta, it is a still of the habitat as it looks now. On macOS Sonoma or later it may change only the current Space on each display, and other Spaces may keep their old picture.

How do fish names work?

Names are for Riverscape's fish. In Settings › Fish, under Names, open the list of unnamed fish and type a name, up to 24 characters, in a fish's row. Until it has a name, a fish goes by its species and a number, like “Neon 3”. In the free aquarium, any three fish can have names, and the section keeps count, for example “2 of 3 free names · name any fish”. Once three fish have names, the other name fields lock and say why. Clear a name to free its spot for another fish. To name every fish, click Name every fish with Shoal Pro.

Rest the pointer on or near a named fish on your desktop and its name appears in a small label above it, even while the water is still. While Settings › Fish is open, every fish gets a label, and one without a name shows its species and number, so you can tell which row is which. To find a fish, click Show: it turns gold and gets a ring for four seconds on every display that draws it. Names are never deleted. Without Shoal Pro, any names beyond your three free ones are kept for when Shoal Pro is back.

What are visitors, and how often do they come?

Now and then a visitor passes through Riverscape for a few minutes: three cherry shrimp on the sand, a golden mystery snail, a betta or, around Lunar New Year, a koi. The first is always a betta, after about 15 minutes of running time. After that, one comes every 40 to 80 minutes the aquarium runs. The next one comes sooner if you missed the last, and it's never the same kind twice in a row. Only time when Riverscape's water is moving on at least one display counts, so the wait pauses while the aquarium is still or another habitat shows.

While a visitor is in the tank, the fish menu says so, for example “A betta is visiting”. It counts as spotted after 4 seconds in the tank while at least 40 percent of the aquarium on a display is uncovered and moving. Visitors, on Your Tank in Settings, lists every kind, how often you've spotted it and when you first did.

Once you've spotted a betta, its row under Visitors lets you keep one in your tank with Shoal Pro. A kept betta swims on every display and has its own name and Show button under Names. Without Shoal Pro it rests until Shoal Pro is back.

How does the tank mature, and what if I skip a day?

Every day you feed the fish counts, in any habitat, with or without Living Tank, and the days don't need to be in a row. A day counts once a pinch of food reaches a running tank, or, in Riverscape, once you feed them while the water is still. Riverscape matures with your days fed. At 7 days fed, a nerite snail moves in and the first plants go in: a small fern on the wood and two young stem plants. At 30, moss grows over the wood and stones, and the plants are half grown with more of them. At 100, the tank is grown in, with tall stem plants and big ferns. Growth, on Your Tank in Settings, shows your days fed and what comes next. The fish menu mentions each change for a day, or until you click it.

Skipping days takes nothing away from the tank. Days fed never reset, the tank never goes back a stage, and with Living Tank on, the fish keep the growth they've earned. The living tank's feeding streak, which counts days in a row, starts over. With Living Tank on, skipped days do show on the fish themselves. Skip a day and they get thin. Skip two and they get weak, then sick. They never die, and a few feedings bring them back. See how the living tank works.

What are the seasonal decorations?

The decorations are Riverscape's. From 17 to 31 October, three pumpkins sit on the sand. In December, snow drifts down through the water. Around Lunar New Year, from the day before until 14 days after, a koi joins the visitors. The decorations follow your Mac's date and change at midnight. They're on by default. To turn them off, along with the koi's visits, switch off Seasonal decorations under Seasons in Settings › Scene.

How do I share a picture or a clip of my tank?

Choose Share Your Tank in the fish menu, then Picture… or 8-Second Clip…, or use the same two choices under Share on Your Tank in Settings. A small window shows a preview with its caption, such as “Meet Bubbles · Fed on 42 days”. Include fish names decides whether names appear in the caption, the picture and the link. Share… opens the macOS share menu, where you choose how to send it.

• A picture is 1600 by 1000 pixels. It shows the tank as it is now, or as it last looked within the past day if no display is showing it.
• A clip records 8 seconds of the tank while the water moves. If a window is over the tank, Shoal first hides your open apps, just while you look. They come back when you switch to one of them, or right away if the tank still can't be seen or you cancel. The window shows the progress and a Cancel button.
• When either isn't available, the menu says why, for example “A share is being prepared” or “Available once the aquarium has been shown”.

From Coral Reef, Koi Pond or Betta, the caption names the habitat, as in “Coral Reef · Shoal”, the window has no Include fish names, and what you share links to shoalwallpaper.com's home page, since the live link rebuilds only Riverscape.

Whatever you share from Riverscape comes with a link to shoalwallpaper.com that rebuilds your tank live in a browser. The link holds only the fish count and species, the lighting, the tank's stage, the season, a kept betta and, if you include names, up to 12 fish names. All of it sits after the “#” in the address, a part browsers never send to a server. Shoal itself sends nothing anywhere. A picture or clip leaves your Mac only through the service you pick. Shoal keeps the last five pictures and clips you shared in its own folder, and deletes one you don't share when you close the window.

How do I add the Shoal widget, and why isn't it in the gallery?

Control-click the desktop, choose Edit Widgets…, find Shoal, and add the small or medium widget to your desktop or Notification Center. It shows the latest picture of your tank and one line of status. With Living Tank on, that's how your fish are doing, such as “3 hungry · 2 thin” or “All fed”, or “On holiday until Friday, Oct 17” while the holiday feeder looks after them. Otherwise it's your days fed. In Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta it names the habitat and shows its picture, with no hunger or streak line. The medium size also shows a visitor while one is in the tank, and the next change, such as “Next: the moss grows in at 30 days”. “Updated 3:15 PM” at the bottom says when Shoal last updated the widget. Click the widget to open Your Tank in Settings.

The fish's line stays right while Shoal is closed. The widget works out how your fish are doing from what Shoal last told it, and changes its line when they get hungrier, thinner or better. If it can't work that out, it says “Open Shoal to check on your fish”.

Shoal updates the widget about every 15 minutes while the aquarium runs, and soon after a feeding, a visitor or a new stage. Before Shoal has run, the widget reads “Open Shoal to see your tank”. Until the aquarium has been shown, it shows its lines without a picture. Shoal leaves a small picture and status for the widget in a folder the two share on your Mac. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Only a copy of Shoal signed by its developer, like the one from the Mac App Store, offers the widget. A copy without that signature, such as a development or test build, isn't listed in the widget gallery.

What is Shoal Pro, and how do I restore a purchase?

Shoal Pro is a one-time purchase. Most of it is for Riverscape, Shoal's own aquarium: six fish species to mix, the dawn, day, dusk and night lighting with Follow the Clock, the living tank with its feeding streak, reminders, holiday feeder and Game Mode, up to 48 fish, High graphics quality, a visiting betta to keep in your tank once you've spotted one, names for every fish and the plant density. In every habitat it adds the water sound, and pictures and clips without the Shoal watermark. Everyone gets all four habitats free: Coral Reef, Koi Pond and Betta at Low or Balanced quality, and Riverscape with 24 bloodfin tetras, Low and Balanced quality, day lighting, three fish names, the visitors, the maturing tank and the seasons. Feeding and pausing, the 30-frames-a-second limit, sharing and the widget are free in every habitat. Your family gets Shoal Pro too, through Family Sharing.

Can I get Shoal 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 the home page.

What does Follow Reduce Motion do?

With Follow Reduce Motion on in Settings › General (it's on by default), your Mac's Reduce Motion setting decides. When Reduce Motion is on, the aquarium holds still and the menu reads “Paused for Reduce Motion”. If you choose Pause or Resume yourself, from the fish menu or Your Tank, Shoal saves your choice and turns Follow Reduce Motion off. A pause you chose reads “Paused” or “Paused until …”, even while Reduce Motion is on. Turn Follow Reduce Motion back on to follow the system again. A timed pause you start while following goes back to following when it ends.

How do the lighting choices work?

In Riverscape with Shoal Pro, choose dawn, day, dusk or night in Settings › Scene or from the fish menu. Follow the Clock changes the light with your local time: dawn from 5 to 8 a.m., day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., dusk from 5 to 8 p.m. and night from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. Changes fade in over two seconds.

How do I mix fish species?

In Riverscape, in Settings › Scene › Species (Shoal Pro), turn on any of the six species: Bloodfin Tetra, Neon Tetra, Rummy-Nose Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora, Zebra Danio and Tiger Barb. The fish are split as evenly as possible between the species you choose, and each chosen species' tile shows how many fish it gets. Every chosen species gets at least one fish, so turning one on can raise the fish count. You can't turn off the last one (“Select another species first”). Without Shoal Pro, the other five species show their tiles with their portraits and a PRO badge, and choosing one opens Shoal Pro. Changing the mix reloads the tank. Each fish keeps its name, and a species you turn off keeps its fish's names and state for when you turn it back on.

How does the living tank work?

Turn on Living Tank in Settings › Fish (Shoal Pro) for Riverscape's fish. They then get hungry in real time, like real fish: while the aquarium runs, while it's covered or paused, while your Mac sleeps and while Shoal is closed. While another habitat shows, Riverscape's tank rests and its fish don't get hungry; switch back and they carry on from where they were. Feed them once or twice a day. Counting from a feeding, they're hungry after about 19½ hours. Skip a day and they get thin, at about 30 hours. Skip two and they get weak, at about 50 hours, then sick, at about 65. Fed once a day, they never get thin. Fish never die, and a few feedings bring even sick fish back within a few hours. A short note, “Caring for your fish”, explains this the first time you turn Living Tank on.

Each pinch feeds the whole school at once, however big it is, and takes even the hungriest fish back to well fed. A fish that catches a pellet gets a little extra. Feed works even while the water is still, and when you come back to your desk, hungry fish swim up to the front of the tank to ask for food.

Shoal uses the same words everywhere: well fed, peckish, hungry, thin, weak, sick and recovering. In Game Mode, each fish's row also gives its weight and its health (Healthy, Unwell or Sick). The fish menu shows how your fish are doing, for example “Fish: 3 hungry · 2 thin”, with when you last fed them and your streak under it, like “Fed yesterday at 6:00 PM · 5-day streak”. A dot on the fish icon means some are hungry. In Settings › Fish, the Feeding card says what to do, for example “Your fish are getting thin. Feed them a few times today.” Each fish's row shows its state in words, its hunger and its size, next to its name and Show button. The fish grow on each day you feed them, up to 40 % bigger, and their growth, names and days fed are never taken away.

Your streak counts the days in a row you've fed the fish. The Feeding card shows it, such as “Streak: 5 days in a row”, with “Feed today to keep your streak” until you've fed them today. Miss a day and it starts again from your next feeding. Days on the holiday feeder don't count either way: they don't break your streak, and a feeding during a holiday doesn't add to it. Days Riverscape rests from start to finish while another habitat shows don't break it either. The day you switch away and the day you come back count as usual, so feed Riverscape's fish on those days to keep it.

How does Game Mode work?

Turn on Game Mode in Settings › Fish, under Living Tank (Shoal Pro). It turns the living tank on too. Each fish then has a weight (Very thin, Thin, Just right, Plump or Overweight) and a health (Healthy, Unwell or Sick).

• Fish you keep hungry get thin. Extra pinches for fish that are already well fed make them plump, and the fish that grab the most food get plump first.
• A fish that stays very thin becomes unwell and then sick. Overfeeding takes far longer: two or more extra pinches every hour keep the school overweight, and after about 40 hours of that it becomes unwell, after about 79 sick. A sick fish turns pale, though its markings stay. It folds its fins and swims a little slower.
• Feed whenever a fish is hungry, and no more. A sick fish, thin or overweight, is healthy again within a few hours of regular feeding. A fish whose weight is heading back to Just right reads “weight improving”. Once its health is rising, it reads “Recovering”.
• Weight and health follow the real clock, like hunger: they keep changing while Shoal is closed and while every display rests. Counting from a feeding, a fish left without food is thin after about 30 hours, unwell after about 50 and sick after about 65.
• Fish never die. Turning Game Mode off ends overfeeding, so a fish heavier than Just right is Just right again. Fish left hungry still get thin, weak and sick, as with Living Tank alone.

The care summary below the Feeding card says how the fish are, like “All fish are healthy” or “2 hungry · 1 sick · 1 overweight”. Review affected fish jumps to the first fish that needs care.

Can Shoal remind me to feed the fish?

With Living Tank on, turn on Feeding Reminder in Settings › Fish and choose every 6, 12 or 24 hours. Shoal asks for permission to send notifications the first time. If the tab reads “Notifications are turned off for Shoal in System Settings.”, click Open System Settings › Notifications to allow them. Reminders are optional.

A reminder says how your fish are doing when it arrives, such as “Your fish are hungry. They last ate yesterday at 6:00 PM.”, even if Shoal was closed. Its Feed button feeds them without bringing Shoal forward or hiding your apps: on screen if you can see the tank, quietly otherwise. If it can't feed them, it opens Your Tank in Settings instead. Clicking the reminder itself opens Your Tank in Settings. No reminder arrives while the holiday feeder is on. The next one comes after it ends.

What if I go away?

Use the Holiday feeder in Settings › Fish (Shoal Pro, with Living Tank on) and choose how long you'll be away, from 1 to 14 days. While it runs, your fish stay just as they are, no reminder arrives, the fish don't come to the glass asking for food, and your streak is paused. The fish menu and the widget say “On holiday until” the day it ends. Feeding the fish meanwhile doesn't end it. It ends on its own that day, or when you click End Now, and Settings › Fish then says when it ended.

The aquarium doesn't appear. What now?

First, look for the fish icon in the menu bar. If it's missing, Shoal isn't running, so open it from the Applications folder or with Spotlight. (A still picture can stay on the desktop after Shoal closes.) If the icon is there, the menu's first line says what the water is doing:

The first line says	What to do
Loading the aquarium, Updating the aquarium, or Updating an aquarium	Give it a moment.
Swimming on 1 of 2 displays (or similar)	The water is still on the other displays. Uncover their desktops, give a display that just woke up or connected a moment, or choose Reload the Aquarium if the menu shows it.
Paused, or Paused until …	Choose Resume.
Paused for Reduce Motion	Shoal paused by itself because your Mac's Reduce Motion is on and Follow Reduce Motion, the default, is on too. Choose Resume, or turn Reduce Motion off in System Settings › Accessibility.
Still while Low Power Mode is on	Turn off Low Power Mode in System Settings › Battery.
Slower while your Mac cools down	Your Mac is hot, so the water runs at 30 frames a second. It speeds up again once your Mac cools.
Still while your Mac cools down	Your Mac is very hot, so the water is still. Give it time to cool, and close apps that work it hard. The fish carry on by themselves.
Still while the screen is off	The display is asleep or the screen is locked. Wake it.
Resting behind your windows	Uncover the desktop or leave the full-screen app.
The aquarium failed to load, or The aquarium is not drawing (“An aquarium …” with more than one display)	Your own desktop picture shows in its place, and Shoal tries again on its own later. To try now, choose Reload the Aquarium. The menu shows it whenever a display needs a reload, including when a display's fish can't be read or it keeps showing a different school from the one you chose.

Contact and feedback

We'd love to hear from you. Ideas, questions, problems and praise are all welcome. In the fish menu, choose Send Feedback…, then Write Email. Settings › About has a Send Feedback… button too. Either way, a new email to us opens in your mail app, with your Shoal and macOS versions, your Mac's model, graphics and memory, the quality setting, the number of displays and the fish menu's first line already filled in. You see all of it before you send it, and nothing is sent until you do.

If you use email in a web browser, choose Copy Details instead and paste them into a new message to support@shoalwallpaper.com. You can also write to that address yourself. Include your macOS version and what the fish menu's first line says. If you hold Option while the menu is open, it also shows the frame rate. The privacy policy explains how Shoal handles data.