Linux desktop like mac os

How to Make Ubuntu Look Like macOS in 5 Easy Steps

Customization is one of the main reasons why I use Linux. There is no end to the kind of customization you can do to your desktop Linux. You can change icons, themes, change fonts, change terminals, add screenlets, indicator applets, extensions and what not.

We have covered numerous desktop customization tips and tricks on It’s FOSS. In this one, I’ll show you how to make Ubuntu look like macOS.

Many people use macOS because of its simplistic and elegant look. You may disagree with it but it remains a popular opinion. Even there are Linux distributions that have macOS like look and feel.

One of the readers requested us to show how to make Ubuntu look like macOS and hence we’ve created this tutorial. In fact, this is a good example to show the customization capability of desktop Linux.

No, you don’t have to install a new distribution just for customizing the looks. You can do some tweaking on your own and give your system mac-like looks.

How to give your Ubuntu Linux a macOS makeover

Here you may find various “.tar.xz” files. These different files contain same theme with small differences. Like in “McMojave” we have variations like dark and light theme. You can try them all, or just pick anyone you like from the carousel given in middle.

Set downloaded theme

Extract the downloaded theme and copy this extracted theme folder to .local/share/themes folder.

Open GNOME Tweak tool and change the Application and Shell theme. As soon as you change the themes, you can see those three yellow, green and red buttons, and that Apple logo on upper left corner. You can also notice come changes on panel items.

Step 2: Install macOS like icons

The next step in this macOS makeover is to use macOS like icons.

Download icon set

Here are some icon sets I suggest that you can download from Gnome-look website:

I shall be using “McMojave-circle” in this article, feel free to use any icons you like.

Just like the theme, you can download it from “download” dropdown button from right side. Here you may also find various different versions of same icons.

Now set the downloaded icon. For that extarct the download folder and copy it to .icons folder in your home directory. See this article on installing icon themes in Ubuntu.

This is what this icon looks like:

Step 3: Add macOS like dock

Without macOS like dock, your Ubuntu will not look like macOS. There are various docks available for Linux. I like Dash to Dock and I am going to use it here.

Dash to Dock is a GNOME extension. By now you are familar with GNOME Extensions. Just go to this link and click on toggle button to install it. Your native dock will be automatically replaced with dash-to-dock.

You can change settings by right clicking on “show applications” button (rightmost menu button), and selecting “Dash to dock settings”.

Step 4: Use macOS wallpaper

Most of the complicated stuff are done. Now it’s time to set macOS wallpaper. You can download macOS default wallpapers from the link below:

Change the desktop background

I shall be using “Mojave Day” wallpaper. Right click on the downloaded image and select ‘Set As Wallpaper’ option to change the wallpaper.

After setting this wallpaper, this is how my system looks like:

Change the lock screen Wallpaper

The lock screen background option is removed from the settings of Ubuntu 20.04. Now it uses blurred desktop wallpaper as the background of lock screen.

To set a custom lock screen wallpaper, you can use “Lock screen background” extension.

Open “Lock screen background” extension setting, and set lock screen wallpaper.

This is how the lockscreen looks now. If you are wondering, here’s how to take screenshot of lockscreen in Ubuntu.

Step 5: Change system fonts

For several years, the primary system font in macOS is ‘San Francisco’. But this San Francisco font is not public domain but proprietary like so many other things in the Apple ecosystem. For this reason, you cannot use this font.

What you can do is to use an open source font that looks similar to the San Francisco fonts. I recommend using Roboto font by Google or Source Sans Pro by Adobe.

Installing fonts is straightforward in Ubuntu. Download the zip files of the fonts and just double-click on the ttf files in the extracted folder. It will give you the option to install the fonts one by one.

If you want to save time and install all the fonts at once, extract all fonts in it to the “.fonts” directory in your home folder (~/.fonts).

Once you have installed the fonts, you can change the system wide font using GNOME Tweaks tool.

Bonus Tip: Spotlight like app launcher (if you want to go the extra mile)

If you are a fan of macOS Spotlight launcher, you may have something similar on Linux also. My favorite package for getting this kind of launcher is “Albert“.

After installing; open “Albert” and set hotkey (key combination you want for opening launcher) and you are good to go. I think in macOS, the Command+Space is to launch Spotlight. You may set Super+Space keyboard shortcut in Ubuntu.

You will get many themes in built, in picture below I’ve used “Spotlight dark”.

Albert won’t be able to launch apps directly, you have to give it permissions for where it can look for search results.

After setting up, this is how it looks:

This is how my Ubuntu 20.04 looks like after making all the customizations. Does it look like macOS? You be the judge.

So, this is how you can make your GNOME desktop look like macOS. As I said in the beginning, this is a good example of Linux desktop’s customization capability.

If you have any new ideas or have any queries; the comment section is all yours.

Written by Sumeet with additional inputs from Abhishek Prakash.

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6 Linux Distributions That are Inspired by the Look and Feel of macOS

There are several beautiful Linux distributions already present in the Linux world. But for some reason, people are fixated on the looks of Apple’s macOS.

Now, not everyone can afford or would want to buy a MacBook just to use macOS. You could go for a Hackintosh but that would mean ditching Linux, something a Linux lover like me wouldn’t do.

The good thing about Linux is that it has endless possibilities. When it comes to tweaking its looks, you can do wonders. Imagine making Ubuntu look like MacOS. It’s totally possible.

There’s no doubt that elementary OS was initially inspired by macOS. Of course, considering their improvements, they have been trying to do better than macOS and that’s a good thing.

The elementary OS focuses heavily on improving the user experience. For that reason alone, it is undoubtedly one of the best distributions out there.

The dock panel is not the only thing that you’ll recognize from macOS. Overall, the design language or the approach of default apps blending in with the system theme also gives you a macOS feel.

Not just limited to the UX, they also have their own desktop environment (Pantheon) which is impressive. To make sure that you get a uniform experience across the board, they also have strict guidelines for developers to publish the apps in their app center.

All the goodness of Ubuntu and the work of the elementary OS team take the experience up a notch, this is a must-try!

2. Deepin Linux

If you want the look and feel of macOS on top of Ubuntu, you can try Ubuntu Budgie. It features the Budgie desktop from Solus and incorporates a macOS-ish layout.

Of course, the icon pack and the overall theme does not scream macOS but having a similar dock for applications helps. Not just limited to that, it also offers some features like opening a specific app using a hot corner.

You will find a variety of useful native apps pre-installed, which try to blend in with the look and feel of Ubuntu Budgie. Try it out!

4. Zorin OS / Zorin OS Lite (Pro Edition)

Zorin OS is an attractive offering with a polished look and a unique user experience for the Linux desktop.

Zorin OS is based on Ubuntu and potentially looks even better than Deepin. It offers two different editions that include Zorin OS and Zorin OS Lite, where you also have an option to purchase a “pro” version that includes several useful tools and unlocks new desktop layouts (including macOS).

If you opt to purchase Zorin OS (or lite) Pro edition, you can take the help of the macOS desktop layout to make it look like it.

Note that the primary edition features GNOME and the lite edition brings in Xfce desktop. So, choose accordingly.

5. CutefishOS (Early Development)

It is a Debian-based distribution inspired by macOS with their custom desktop environment. They aim to offer a simple and intuitive user experience.

Considering it is in its early stages of development (beta phase), it is too early to tell if it will be a good fit for your desktop system. If you are willing to try it, go for a virtual machine or a spare system.

If it has been released when you read this article, you could try it if you prefer.

6. Trenta OS [Under Slow Development]

There’s not enough information available about Trenta OS but we know that it is based on Ubuntu.

As far as we can tell, from its official website and GitHub page, it focuses on providing a user interface that looks appealing, and the icons closely resemble that of macOS (as shown in the screenshot above)

The focus is on looks and UI. The developers have crafted their own icon theme “Trenta Icons” that will also be available to download for other platforms (including macOS, as per their development plans).

A test build is available and is considered an alpha build. Interestingly, it is based on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. However, they have plans to switch the base to Ubuntu 20.04 as the development progresses.

Of course, we wouldn’t recommend you to try it on your main system. So, you can grab the test build and get it to install in a virtual machine to explore it.

BackSlash Linux may not be a well-known entrant to the Linux distribution world. If looks are the most important thing for you, BackSlash Linux does a marvelous job of imitating the looks of macOS.

It also provides icons similar to macOS. You can maybe even consider it a Linux clone of macOS.

It was based on Ubuntu and followed a similar release cycle. However, the official website did not seem to reflect any recent activity along with their GitHub page seems. Later, it was discontinued.

You can go ahead and experiment on a spare system, but I’m not too comfortable recommending it on a production system.

While elementary OS is widely popular in the Linux world, not many people have heard of Macpup Linux. You might guess from its name that it’s a macOS spin based on Puppy Linux.

Puppy Linux is one of the best lightweight Linux distributions for older computers. This would make Macpup a good option for you if you have a 15-to-20-year-old computer.

There’s one problem with it, though. Its latest release is based on Precise Puppy 5.5.0, which is based on Ubuntu 12.04. In a few months, support for this version will end.

Moreover, I’m not sure if Macpup is being actively developed either. Their forum is an abandoned place and their website doesn’t seem to have been updated in over a year.

For this reason, I wouldn’t recommend that you use it. Additionally, I didn’t even find it that close to macOS in looks. Maybe back in 2012 it might have looked like macOS, but not anymore.

Apricity OS is one of my favorite Arch-based Linux distributions. You could maybe call it a cloud-centric Linux distribution. Though its first stable version was released only a few months ago, it’s already gathered a good userbase.

Apricity OS may not be exactly like macOS but it does have a slightly similar feel. Its GNOME based clean user interface and beautiful icon themes make it a stunning looking Linux distribution.

MacOS lookalike or not, if one day you want to switch to the ‘Arch domain’, do consider Apricity OS among your options.

Gmac is short for GNOME + Mac. Unlike the above-mentioned macOS lookalike Linux distributions, Gmac is not a full-fledged distribution. It’s simply the GNOME desktop with a Mac theme.

That means you get Ubuntu Linux with a heavily customized GNOME desktop environment that looks a lot like macOS. It also means that you won’t have to do all the customization all by yourself to make Ubuntu look like MacOS. Gmac already does it for you. Plus you get to keep your Ubuntu distribution.

The one weird thing about Gmac Linux is that weird logo that’s a mix of the GNOME and Apple logos.

Your pick?

While obsessing over the macOS look is one thing, it deserves some attention considering Apple does have a good sense of design. And somehow it influences other projects. I think elementary OS could be the next big thing where they put attention to details while trying to outshine macOS, we’ll see.

What do you think of Linux distributions that look like macOS? Are they pointless or are they simply trying to provide a good user experience to end users? What’s your opinion on them?

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