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Deskifier for macOS

Turn any website into a Mac app

A real macOS application, not a glorified bookmark: universal binary for Intel and Apple Silicon, Developer ID signed and notarized, delivered as the drag-to-Applications DMG your users expect.

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The DIY routes, honestly

macOS gives you two free ways to put a website in your Dock, and both are fine until they aren’t:

  • Safari’s “Add to Dock” creates a web app with your site’s icon. But it is tied to each user’s Mac, has no menu bar or tray presence, no auto-start, no real update story, and you can’t distribute it: every user has to build their own.
  • Chrome’s “Create shortcut” is the same idea with fewer integrations, and it lives and dies with Chrome.

The moment you want to hand users a download link, put your app in the Mac App Store, or use anything native, you need an actual .app bundle, an Apple Developer certificate, notarization, and an updater. That is the part Deskifier does for you.

What a real Mac app gets you

Signed and notarized
Built with a Developer ID Application certificate, hardened runtime, and Apple notarization. No “Apple could not verify this app” dialog, ever.
Universal DMG installer
One artifact runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon, delivered as the familiar drag-to-Applications DMG.
Menu bar presence
A menu bar icon with your own menus, background running after the window closes, and launch at login.
Auto-updates that actually work
Silent background updates from day one. Deskifier hosts the update feed and handles the signing requirements macOS enforces on updaters.
Mac App Store pipeline
A managed path to the Mac App Store: certificates, provisioning profiles and the sandboxed MAS build are generated for you, published under your developer account.
Native macOS window chrome
Traffic light controls, titlebar styles from standard to fully frameless overlay, vibrancy materials, custom menus and dock badges.

Website to Mac app in three steps

  1. 1
    Paste your URL
    Any website or web app works. There is nothing to install locally and no Xcode involved.
  2. 2
    Design the shell
    Choose the titlebar style, window size, icon and menu bar behavior in the dashboard.
  3. 3
    Build your DMG
    Deskifier signs, notarizes and staples the build on managed macOS infrastructure and hands you a universal DMG, plus a Mac App Store package when you want it.

Frequently asked questions

Not for direct distribution: Deskifier signs and notarizes DMG builds under its own Developer ID, so you can ship immediately. For the Mac App Store you publish under your own Apple Developer account, and Deskifier generates the certificates and provisioning profiles for you through Apple’s API.

No. Builds are code signed with a hardened runtime and notarized by Apple, then the notarization ticket is stapled into the app, so Gatekeeper opens them cleanly even offline.

Yes, natively. Every macOS build is a universal binary, so it runs at full speed on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs with a single download.

Two layers. Your website updates instantly, since the app loads your live site. The native shell updates itself silently in the background from a hosted update feed, meeting macOS’s signature requirements for updaters.

Add to Dock creates a personal web app on one user’s machine. Deskifier gives you a distributable, signed .app you can put behind a download button or in the Mac App Store, with menu bar presence, native APIs, and automatic updates for every user.

Keep reading
5 ways to turn a website into a desktop app →Code signing and auto-updates explained →Turn a website into a Windows app →

Your site, in the Dock.

Build a signed, notarized Mac app from your website today. Free to try, no credit card required.

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