Cadran icon
Cadran icon

Cadran

Cadran is a native macOS app that places a clock directly on your desktop wallpaper — behind your icons, across every Space and display. Unlike widgets or floating windows, it renders at the wallpaper layer so it's always visible without getting in the way of your work.

Your clock lives on the wallpaper layer, sitting behind icons and windows so it's always visible without disrupting anything

Cost / License

  • Freemium (Pay once)
  • Proprietary

Application type

Platforms

  • Mac
Pick from 22 different clock faces organized by category, with instant live preview
Works across every Space and display, the clock follows you wherever you go on macOS
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Add live complications to your clock — weather, wind, date, and sunrise are updated in real time
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Features

Properties

  1.  Privacy focused
  2.  Support for Themes
  3.  Lightweight

Features

  1.  Works Offline
  2.  Support for Multiple Monitors
  3.  No registration required
  4.  Wallpaper Cycling
  5.  Portable
  6.  Dark Mode
  7.  No Tracking
  8.  Live Wallpapers
  9.  Ad-free
  10.  Sits in the menu bar

 Tags

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Cadran information

  • Developed by

    Ilyes Abd-Lillah

  • Licensing

    Proprietary and Freemium product.

  • Pricing

    One time purchase (perpetual license) that costs up to $10 + free version with limited functionality.

  • Alternatives

    8 alternatives listed

  • Badge

    Get an embeddable badge for Cadran

  • Supported Languages

    • English
    • French
    • Spanish
    • Korean
    • Japanese
    • German
Cadran was added to AlternativeTo by Ilyomix on and this page was last updated .
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Official Links

What is Cadran?

Cadran puts a clock right on your desktop wallpaper — not as a widget floating on top of everything, but rendered behind your icons, across every Space and display. It's always there when you glance at your desktop, and completely out of the way when you're working.

There are 22 handcrafted clock faces to choose from, organized in six categories: Numeric, Analog, Data, Abstract, Matrix, and Spectrum. Some are minimal and clean, others are playful or data-driven. Each one is designed to feel like it belongs on your desktop, not pasted over it.

You can add complications — small live overlays showing weather, moon phase, sunrise/sunset, battery level, and more. The app also picks up colors from your wallpaper automatically, so everything looks cohesive without you having to fiddle with settings.

If you have multiple monitors, you can assign a different face, color scheme, and position to each one. Every clock face also works as a native macOS screensaver, included for free.

On the privacy side — there's no account to create, no analytics baked in, and no subscription to manage. The app is free with 6 clock faces. If you want all 22 faces plus extras like complications, repositioning, and multi-monitor customization, it's a one-time €9.99 Pro upgrade that works on up to 3 Macs.

Cadran is an indie app made by one person in Toulouse, France. The name means "clock face" in French. It runs on macOS Sonoma 14.0+ with minimal battery impact, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Available in English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese, and Korean.