DeskArt is a free macOS menu bar app that moves the icons already on your Desktop into text, hearts, spirals and twelve more shapes. Preview first, undo anything.
Free and open source · macOS 13+ · Apple silicon & Intel
Real layouts, generated by the app’s own placement engine.
Moving every icon on your Desktop is the kind of thing you want to be able to take back. DeskArt snapshots your layout first, checks its own work afterwards, and never squeezes icons closer than they can legibly sit.
Every apply · snapshot → fit → place → verify
Every one drawn here with the app’s real geometry — the same points it will place your icons on.
Download the DMG and drag DeskArt into your Applications folder.
Right-click DeskArt and choose Open, then Open again. DeskArt isn't notarised by Apple, so a normal double-click is refused the first time. You only do this once.
Allow it to control Finder when macOS asks. Finder is the only way to read and set Desktop icon positions — there is no public API for it.
Turn Desktop sorting off — right-click the Desktop, Sort By, None. With sorting on, Finder immediately undoes any arrangement.
If macOS says the app is damaged, clear the quarantine flag:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DeskArt.appFree, open source, and entirely undoable. Your Desktop goes back exactly as it was whenever you want it to.