GitHub app for Mac: three products share the name

The official GitHub app for Mac that most people mean is GitHub Desktop, a free graphical Git client downloaded from desktop.github.com, with separate builds for Apple silicon and Intel and a minimum of macOS 12.0. It is not the only thing GitHub ships for the Mac, though, and it is not a desktop version of github.com. As of October 18, 2026, there are three different GitHub downloads that run on a Mac, each built for a different job, and one large part of GitHub that none of them cover.

This guide sorts out which download fits which task, lists the requirements and prices from GitHub's own pages, and ends with what to do about the parts that stay in the browser. This site is run by the developer of a tool that turns websites into Mac apps, which is relevant to the final section.

Three downloads, three jobs

GitHub Desktop is a Git client. It works on repositories cloned to the disk: staging changes, writing commits, switching branches, pushing and pulling. It is open source under the MIT license, built on Electron, and free.

The GitHub Copilot app is newer and has a different purpose. GitHub's documentation describes it as a desktop application for agent driven development, built on GitHub Copilot CLI. It runs several agent sessions at once, each on its own branch and git worktree, and it can browse issues, open and review pull requests, and show CI check results inside the app. It supports macOS, Linux and Windows.

GitHub CLI is the command line tool, installed on a Mac with brew install gh or as a downloadable binary from cli.github.com, which describes it as free and open source.

The App Store causes the fourth kind of confusion. Searching it on a Mac finds a GitHub listing, but that is GitHub Mobile. Its App Store page, checked on October 18, 2026, lists compatibility for iPhone (iOS 17.0 or later) and iPad (iPadOS 17.0 or later), with no Mac entry.

Download	What it is for	Cost	Mac requirement
GitHub Desktop	Local Git work: commits, branches, push and pull	Free	macOS 12.0 or later
GitHub Copilot app	Running and steering AI agent sessions on repositories	Needs a Copilot plan or a user supplied model provider	macOS listed as supported
GitHub CLI	Git and GitHub tasks from the terminal	Free	Homebrew or binary
GitHub Mobile	Notifications and reviews on a phone or tablet	Free	Not listed for Mac

Installing GitHub Desktop and its known snags

The installation guide is short. Visit the download page, click Download for macOS, open the zip file from the Downloads folder, and double click the GitHub Desktop application. The download page offers Download for Apple silicon and Download for Mac with Intel chip as separate files, so it is worth checking which chip the Mac has before choosing. A beta channel is also offered for people who want new features early.

The supported operating systems page sets the floor at macOS 12.0 or later. A Mac stuck on macOS 11 cannot run current releases, which explains several of the "unable to install" reports that appear in search results for this query.

The same page lists two macOS problems with known fixes, and they are the two most common after install.

The first is an error saying the username or passphrase is not correct after signing in. GitHub's explanation is that GitHub Desktop cannot reach its stored credentials in the Keychain. The fix is to open Keychain Access, right click the login keychain, choose Lock Keychain "login", then right click again to unlock it, and sign in once more.

The second is "Could not create temporary directory: Permission denied" after checking for updates. The cause is missing permissions on a cache folder used by the updater, ~/Library/Caches/com.github.GitHubClient.ShipIt. The fix is to quit the app, select that folder in Finder, open Get Info, and set the current user's privilege to Read & Write under Sharing & Permissions.

What GitHub Desktop does not do

GitHub Desktop is a client for the repository on the disk. Many tasks that involve other people still go to github.com, and GitHub's own documentation is explicit about where the line falls.

Creating a pull request starts in Desktop and finishes in the browser. The guide to creating an issue or pull request says that clicking Create Pull Request opens the default browser on GitHub, where the title and description are typed. Creating an issue works the same way: the Repository menu has Create Issue on GitHub, and the form opens on the web.

Reviewing is mostly a browser task too. Desktop can check out the branch behind a pull request, show its commit history and changed files, and display or re run status checks. But the page on viewing a pull request states directly that commenting on a pull request is not possible from GitHub Desktop; feedback is given on GitHub.

Then there is everything that was never part of Git: Actions logs, Projects boards, Discussions, repository settings, organization administration, security alerts and notifications. None of these have a place in Desktop.

So a typical day with GitHub Desktop still involves several github.com tabs. That is not a criticism of Desktop. It was designed as a Git client, and it does that job without pretending to be the website.

Where the Copilot app fits

The Copilot app covers more of the web surface than Desktop does, but through a different model of work. It is organized around agent sessions. A session can run in a cloud sandbox or locally, in one of three modes: Interactive, Plan, where the agent proposes and a person approves, or Autopilot. The app's documentation lists issue browsing, starting sessions from issues, creating and closing pull requests, reviewing pull requests and viewing CI results as built in features.

The quickstart lists the prerequisites: a GitHub account, a Copilot plan or a user configured model provider with its own credentials, and Git installed. It also notes that GitHub Enterprise Server is not supported, and that Business and Enterprise organizations need the Copilot app policy left enabled.

Pricing follows the Copilot plan. GitHub's plans page, checked on October 18, 2026, lists Free at $0, Pro at $10 per month, Pro+ at $39 per month and Max at $100 per month, and states that Copilot Apps consume GitHub AI Credits. The documentation says the app is available on all Copilot plans.

For someone who wants AI agents to do repository work, this is the closest thing to a full GitHub desktop app. For someone who wants to read an Actions log or edit branch protection rules, it is not aimed at that.

Choosing by what the working day looks like

The three downloads overlap less than their names suggest, so the choice is easier when it starts from the work rather than from the product list.

A designer, writer or occasional contributor who edits files in a repository and needs to commit them without learning Git commands is the audience GitHub Desktop was built for. The history view, the diff of each file and the branch menu make the state of the repository visible. Command line knowledge is not required, and nothing about the job needs an AI plan.

A developer who already works in a terminal will often find GitHub CLI faster for the GitHub side of things: creating a pull request with gh pr create, checking out someone else's branch with gh pr checkout, or reading the status of checks without leaving the shell. Desktop adds little for this person beyond a visual diff.

A team that has started delegating tasks to AI agents is the case for the Copilot app. Its value is running several sessions in parallel, each isolated on its own worktree, and keeping the issue, the agent's changes and the resulting pull request in one place. It assumes a Copilot plan or a configured model provider, and it is not a general replacement for the website.

Many people end up with two of the three. A common pairing is Desktop or the CLI for daily commits, plus a browser window for reviews, Actions and settings. That last piece, the browser window, is where most of the remaining friction sits.

The part of GitHub that stays in a browser tab

After installing one or more of these, the remaining github.com work still competes with every other tab: documentation, chat, the ticket tracker, a cloud console. Finding the pull request tab among twenty others is the daily cost.

There are free ways to give github.com its own window. In Safari on macOS Sonoma 14 or later, Apple's instructions are File, then Add to Dock. The resulting web app has its own Dock icon, keeps its cookies apart from Safari, and can show an unread count on the icon for sites that send notifications. In Chrome, Google's help page describes More, then Cast, save, and share, then Install page as app.

Either way the window is github.com itself, so nothing is lost compared with the browser. GitHub's supported browsers page recommends the latest versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, so both routes are on supported engines.

Two accounts on one Mac

The case that pushes many people toward a separate window is having two GitHub accounts, typically a personal one and a work one bound to an organization with single sign on. In a single browser profile, one session is active at a time.

There are a few clean ways to keep them apart. A Safari web app does not share cookies with Safari, so one account can live in Safari and the other in the web app. Chrome profiles achieve the same thing with more setup. On the command line side, GitHub CLI can hold more than one account, and Git itself can use different user.email values per repository so commits land under the right identity.

The third route is a dedicated site to app tool. One example in this category gives every app its own browser profile, so two github.com windows stay signed into two accounts at the same time, and it can switch Chrome Web Store extensions on per app, which matters for password managers. It is free for up to three apps, and the pricing section lists $24.99 as a one time purchase for unlimited apps, on macOS 12 or later. The guide shows the setup steps.

Route	Separate login	Extensions	Cost
Safari Add to Dock	Yes	Safari extensions, per app	Free
Chrome Install page as app	Shares the Chrome profile	The profile's extensions	Free
Site to app tool	One profile per app	Chosen per app	Free for 3 apps, then one time fee

What to change first

Install GitHub Desktop for local Git work, and add the Copilot app only if AI agent sessions are part of the plan. Then give github.com its own window so reviews and Actions logs stop hiding among tabs, through Safari, Chrome, or Kagemusha when two accounts need to stay signed in side by side.