LivingSoil

LivingSoil - A Living Desktop Ecosystem for Your Mac

Overview

LivingSoil is a desktop ecosystem made for macOS. Pick an animation in the app, and it quietly grows on your desktop beneath the wallpaper — plants, creatures, weather, and starfields that feel alive, without ever getting in your way. It is pure ambience: the layer ignores every mouse click, so your work stays undisturbed.

Core Features

Living Desktop Layer: Animations bloom below your wallpaper, behind your icons; the layer ignores all mouse clicks so your work is never disturbed
Procedural Organisms: Plants and creatures are generated from code (L-system growth + spring physics + noise), so every form is organic and unique
Browse and Cast: A sidebar of categories, live preview cards, and an inspector let you pick and tune what appears on your desktop
Show Anywhere or Desktop-Only: Pin animations above every window, or keep them resting beneath the wallpaper — your choice
Menu Bar Control: A status-bar icon with a one-click “Stop desktop animation” escape hatch
Launch at Login: Optionally restore your desktop ecosystem automatically on startup (SMAppService)
Personal Touches: Import your own images or green-screen videos as creatures; adjust appearance, position, and themes
Light and Dark Appearance: Follow the system appearance or choose a theme manually
Native and Efficient: Built with Metal for smooth 60fps animation at very low CPU cost
Multilingual: English and 简体中文, switchable in settings
Eco Tank Editor: Arrange multiple creatures on your desktop, plant and grow them, and tune their forms with your own parameters to build a personalized ecosystem
Dance Zone: Import your green-screen videos; GPU chroma-key composites dancing clips right onto your desktop at smooth 1080p 30fps

Data Privacy and Security

LivingSoil works offline, with desktop content generated and rendered locally on your device
No internet connection is required, and the app does not upload any imagery or data to the internet or third-party services
The app does not collect, store, or share your usage content
You remain in control of where macOS stores your files, including local or cloud locations you choose

Is the app native?

Yes, it’s native and written in Swift and SwiftUI.

Why is this paid?

We put a lot of care and engineering into LivingSoil — from procedural plant growth systems to Metal-accelerated rendering. Your purchase supports continued development and new creature types, plant species, and ecosystem features.

Can you localize the app into my language?

Currently, LivingSoil supports English and Chinese. We are open to adding more languages based on user requests.

FAQ

If you encounter any technical issues while using the app, you can reach out to us via the contact email within the App, or by clicking on the email button located at the top right corner of our current website to obtain the contact email.