How to install a desktop pet on Windows 11
Getting a 3D desktop pet onto a Windows taskbar takes about three minutes, and two of those are the download. There are two ways to run it on a PC — an installer and a single portable file — and one step where Windows will stop you, because the build is not code-signed yet. Here is the whole thing in order.
Installer or portable: which to take
The installer puts one copy in one place, adds a Start menu entry and installs for your user only, with no administrator password. The portable file installs nothing at all: it is one .exe that you keep wherever you like, including a USB stick. Take the installer unless you have a reason not to — one copy in one place is the version that stays tidy.
x64 or Arm
There is one build per architecture. Take Arm64 only for a Snapdragon or other Arm PC; take x64 for everything else, which is nearly every Windows laptop and desktop. If you are not sure, Settings, System, About tells you under System type.
Step by step
- Open the download page on the PC and choose Download for Windows.
- Run the file you get. The installer opens a short setup and then starts the app; the portable .exe just starts the app.
- Windows shows a blue “Windows protected your PC” box the first time. Choose More info, then Run anyway.
- The app opens and asks you to sign in. Enter your email and we send a 6-digit code.
- Type the code in. Your buddies download to that PC and appear standing on the taskbar.
Why Windows warns you
We would rather say this plainly than let it surprise you: the Windows build does not have an Authenticode code-signing certificate yet, so Windows does not recognize the publisher and shows SmartScreen the first time. It is not a virus warning and it is not about what the app does. Windows remembers your answer, so it happens once. The Mac build is signed with our Apple Developer ID and notarized, which is why the Mac side has no equivalent step.
Nothing comes inside the download
The app ships empty. Your buddies arrive after you sign in, downloaded to your account and encrypted to that account and that PC, so an app nobody has signed in to opens to a bare taskbar. Buddies are the paid part, $9.99 / ₹959 each and bought once.
If the graphics look rough
On older integrated graphics, turn on “Use less memory” in Settings, General. It drops to a lighter drawing mode that runs on machines where the full one stutters. It is worth trying before deciding the app does not work on your PC.
Using it on a Mac as well
One account covers a Mac and a PC, one computer at a time. Sign out in the app on the one you are leaving, then sign in on the other; your buddies belong to the account, not the machine.
Removing it
If you used the installer, sign out in the app and then uninstall it from Windows Settings, Apps. If you used the portable file, sign out and delete the .exe. Settings also has “Remove my data and quit”, which clears what the app kept on that PC and closes it.
What else is on the taskbar version
The Windows post covers what the app does once it is running, and the Windows page is kept current with what is true of the latest build.