DeskPad is a free, open-source Mac utility that creates a virtual display you can share on screen-sharing calls without exposing your real desktop.
What is DeskPad?
DeskPad is a lightweight Mac app that conjures a fake second monitor — a clean, isolated canvas that lives alongside your real displays. When you share your screen in Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet, you point the share at DeskPad instead of your actual desktop, so colleagues see only what you intend them to see. No stray notifications, no embarrassing Finder sidebar, no accidentally-visible Slack threads.
The project is fully open source, maintained on GitHub by Stengo, and costs nothing to download or use. It installs in seconds and has virtually zero footprint once running.
What does DeskPad do best?
DeskPad excels at giving you a pristine, distraction-free window into your work during live presentations. You drag only the apps you want to show onto the DeskPad canvas, share that virtual display, and your real screen stays entirely private.
I started using it after a mortifying moment in a client call where a notification from a competing agency's job posting slid across my shared screen. DeskPad ended that problem permanently. It's the kind of utility that earns a permanent place in your login items after the first time it saves you.
- Clean slate every share: the virtual display starts empty — you populate it intentionally, not accidentally.
- No resolution headaches: you can size the canvas to match a common aspect ratio so slides, browser windows, and terminal sessions all land crisp on the other end.
- Works with any conferencing tool: Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, Loom, OBS — anything that lets you select a display sees DeskPad as a real monitor.
- Genuinely zero bloat: no background services, no telemetry, no update nags.
Is DeskPad free?
Yes — DeskPad is completely free to download and use, with no paid tier, no trial period, and no feature gates. The source code is public on GitHub under an MIT-style licence, so you can inspect every line before running it.
Installation is easiest via Homebrew Cask (brew install --cask deskpad) or by downloading the binary directly from the GitHub releases page. Either route takes under a minute.
Who should use DeskPad?
Anyone who shares their screen regularly will benefit, but DeskPad is particularly indispensable for freelancers, consultants, and anyone who runs client demos from a machine that also holds personal or confidential work. Remote educators who want students to see a controlled view, and developers who live-stream coding sessions, are equally well served.
If you already mirror a physical second monitor purely for screen-sharing purposes, DeskPad removes the need for that hardware entirely — useful both for laptop-only setups and for anyone who travels with a single machine.
What are the best DeskPad alternatives?
DeskPad's closest rival is Mmhmm, which layers virtual backgrounds and presentation polish on top of a similar idea but adds cost and complexity. mmhmm is better if you want camera effects; DeskPad wins if you just want a clean second display with no fuss.
Apple's own Screen Sharing lets you share a single app window rather than a whole display, which sidesteps the problem differently — but window-share mode is awkward when you need to switch between multiple apps during a demo. Loom and Screen Studio solve the recording half of the equation but not live sharing. For pure live-presentation hygiene, nothing on the Mac is as frictionless as DeskPad.
Some presenters use BetterDisplay to create a virtual resolution-scaled display, which achieves a similar isolation but at far greater configuration overhead. DeskPad does one thing, instantly, for free.
How does DeskPad compare to a real second monitor?
A physical display wired via USB-C or HDMI gives you more flexibility — you can drag windows to it, use it as a permanent workspace, and have system UI rendered at native resolution. DeskPad doesn't replace that workflow. What it replaces is the habit of buying or plugging in a second screen specifically so you can share it without risking your primary desktop's contents. For that narrow use-case, DeskPad is strictly superior: no cables, no desk space, instant setup, and the virtual display disappears the moment you quit the app.
