The Foldersmith icon: a charred folder with a glowing hammer on its front

Foldersmith

Design your own folder icons on your Mac. Stack symbols, emoji, text, photos and AI images, finish them with effects, then drop a folder on the canvas to apply.

Download on the Mac App Store

Free to try. Requires macOS 26 Tahoe.

The Foldersmith editor with a design called Adventure: a brown folder with a volcano, bare trees, leaves and an airplane. The layer list is on the left, the canvas and the preview strip are in the middle, and the selected layer's effect, blend mode and position controls are on the right.
Layers on the left, the canvas in the middle, every setting for the selected layer on the right.

Build an icon in layers

Start with the macOS folder in any colour or gradient, or on a textured background like Hot Metal or Ice, then stack what you need on top. Each layer has its own blend mode, opacity and effect, and can be clipped to the folder’s shape.

Symbols
Thousands of SF Symbols in a solid colour or a gradient, drawn flat or two-tone.
Emoji and Genmoji
Any emoji, or a Genmoji or Memoji from the Emoji & Symbols picker.
Text
A year, a client, a project code. Nine weights, in a default, serif, rounded or monospaced design.
Photos
Pick one from your Photos library without leaving the editor, drop an image file on the canvas, or paste one from the clipboard.
AI images
Make a picture with Image Playground, or describe it to a cloud engine with your own key.
The add-layer menu open over a green folder with a banana and blueberries. The menu lists Symbol, Photo, From clipboard, Text, Emoji, Genmoji, AI and Image Playground.

Put your own photos on a folder

Add a picture from your Photos library or an image file, clip it to the folder’s shape and choose how it blends in. Lay a symbol or an emoji on top, and give it an effect like any other layer.

The Holidays design: a beach photo of two people on a folder, with a sun symbol in the top corner. The photo layer uses the Overlay blend mode.

Eleven effects, from deboss to liquid metal

Every effect has a strength slider, and most add a light direction and a colour. Effects never flatten a layer, so you can change them later in any saved design.

A charred folder with glowing cracks, and a tree symbol on its front in the Liquid metal effect at 11 percent strength, light at 135 degrees.
Liquid metal on a tree symbol over the Hot Metal background, strength 11%, light from the top left. Layers also take 16 blend modes, and the folder, symbols and text take gradients of up to five colours.

Generate artwork on your Mac, or with your own key

Say what should be on the folder and the picture lands in a layer, ready for blend modes and effects like anything else.

On your Mac

  • Image Playground, built into macOS

Needs a Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on. No account and no key.

In the cloud, with your key

  • OpenAI
  • Stability AI
  • xAI Grok
  • Pollinations

Optional. Paste an API key in Settings, where it is kept in your Mac’s Keychain, and you pay the provider directly. No Foldersmith account involved.

From the canvas to Finder

  1. Design it

    The preview strip shows your icon at 16, 32, 64 and 128 points, so you catch a detail that vanishes at the smallest size before you apply.

  2. Keep it

    Save designs to your library and start the next folder from one of them or a built-in design. Or save a design as a file to share with a friend.

    The Design Library over the editor, showing built-in designs called Sweets, Fishing, Photos, Games, MK Arcade, Fire and Balloons, with Balloons selected and a Save Current button.

  3. Drop a folder on it

    Drag any folder from Finder onto the canvas. The icon is applied, and your design stays open for the next one.

    The Fruit Basket design, fruit emoji pressed into a dusky pink folder, with a badge on the canvas reading Free applies left: 3.

Try everything. Pay once if you keep it.

Free

Every layer type, every effect and every AI engine, with three free applies to your folders.

Download free

Foldersmith Unlimited

  • Apply designs to as many folders as you like
  • Export your icons as PNG images
  • Shared with your family through Family Sharing
  • One purchase, no subscription

Unlock Unlimited from inside the app, and restore it on any Mac signed in to the same Apple Account.

Questions

Which Macs can run Foldersmith?

Any Mac on macOS 26 Tahoe. Generating images with Image Playground needs a Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on.

What counts as one of the three free applies?

Each time a design is written to a folder, including putting a new design on a folder you’ve already done. If an apply fails, you get it back. Designing, previewing, saving and removing icons are always free.

Do custom icons sync through iCloud Drive?

No. macOS keeps a custom folder icon on the Mac where it was applied, and iCloud Drive doesn’t upload it. Save the design, open it on your other Mac and apply it there.

How do I go back to the standard folder icon?

Drop the folder on the preview area in Foldersmith and it gets the standard icon back. It works on any folder, every time, and never needs a purchase.

Do I need an account for the AI features?

No. Image Playground is built into macOS and needs no account. The cloud engines are optional and use an API key from the provider.

Which languages does it speak?

30 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi and Polish.