Spending eight or more hours staring at a screen is hard. The research on this is clear: regular breaks improve focus, reduce eye strain, and make you significantly less likely to go absolutely feral by 4pm. But breaks are easy to forget when you're in the middle of something.
That's where desktop companions come in. Having something small and alive in the corner of your screen provides a kind of ambient companionship — something to glance at, interact with briefly, and then get back to work. It sounds silly until you've had one for a week and started actually looking forward to checking on it.
Here are the best desktop companions available in 2025.
Desktop Duck
Obviously we're going to say Desktop Duck first — but genuinely, it earns the top spot. It's a pixel duck that lives on your screen, wanders around, falls asleep when you step away, and reacts to music from Spotify or YouTube Music. It comes with 8 hats and 8 body colours, all changeable from a sleek holographic control panel. The drag physics are satisfying. The auto-sleep feature is a subtle reminder to get up and move. It's free, it's tiny (~4MB), and it collects zero data about you. Available for Windows 10+ and macOS 12+. Download here.
Shimeji
Shimeji is a classic. Originally a Japanese app, it spawns small anime-style characters (shimeji) that walk around your desktop, climb your browser windows, and multiply if you let them. The base app is free and there are thousands of character packs available online — from standard anime characters to custom-made ones. It's more chaotic than Desktop Duck and a bit heavier on system resources, but if you want a desk full of small creatures doing their thing, Shimeji delivers. Windows only.
Desktop Goose
Desktop Goose is not a companion. It is a menace. A single honking goose that steals your mouse cursor, drops memes on your screen, and actively tries to ruin your day. It's hilarious for about ten minutes and genuinely infuriating after that. Made by Sam Chiet as a bit of a joke app, it went viral in 2019 and remains one of the most downloaded desktop apps on itch.io. Install it on your own machine as a novelty, or on a coworker's machine if you want to find a new job. Available for Windows and macOS.
Bonzi Buddy
A piece of internet history from 1999, Bonzi Buddy was a purple gorilla assistant that lived on your desktop and talked to you in a synthesized voice. The idea was charming. The reality was that it was essentially spyware — tracking browsing habits, displaying ads, and doing things no desktop companion should do. It's mentioned here purely as a historical curiosity. Do not download it. The fact that it exists at all is part of why people are rightly cautious about indie desktop apps. (Desktop Duck, for what it's worth, is the exact opposite — no tracking, no ads, no nonsense.)
eSheep
eSheep is a faithful recreation of the classic After Dark screensaver sheep from Windows 95. A tiny woolly sheep wanders around your desktop, falls asleep, gets abducted by UFOs, and generally does charming things. It's nostalgic if you were using computers in the 90s, and delightful if you weren't. The animations are simple but they hold up. Lightweight, free, and Windows only. A good pick if you want something peaceful rather than interactive.
Tamagotchi PC
Bandai Namco's official PC Tamagotchi brings the classic handheld pet experience to your desktop. You need to feed it, care for it, and keep it happy — it'll die if you neglect it, just like the real thing. The novelty factor is high and the nostalgia is real, but the ongoing maintenance requirement means it's more of a commitment than a background companion. Good for people who want their desktop pet to actually need them. Paid app available through the Microsoft Store.
What to Look for in a Desktop Companion
Not all desktop companions are created equal. Here's what separates the good ones from the frustrating ones:
- Lightweight: It shouldn't tank your CPU or drain your battery. A good companion sits in the background without you noticing it.
- Privacy: Given the legacy of Bonzi Buddy, always check what an app is doing with your data before installing it. Desktop Duck, for example, collects nothing.
- Unobtrusive by default: The best companions stay out of your way until you want them. System tray integration and easy hide/show features are essential.
- Charming, not chaotic: There's a difference between something that brings you joy and something that actively interferes with your workflow. Know which one you want.
- Cross-platform: If you split time between Windows and macOS, something that works on both saves headaches.
Desktop Duck checks all of these boxes, which is why it's our top pick. But any of the apps on this list (except Bonzi Buddy — please, no) can bring a little more life to a long workday.