![](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/f7525bbbe25b38d404b665bf273768ff.png)
Get started with your Mac
![The desktop with a photo of an ocean shore set as the desktop picture. The Dock appears on the left and several stacks of documents appear on the right.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/63942d58f2515666d0465e71db38d12a.png)
Make your desktop your own
Choose the look you want for your desktop. You can use a simple colour, your favourite picture, or a scenic photo that changes with the time of day.
![Control Centre in the top-right corner of the Mac screen, showing controls for Wi-Fi, Focus and Stage Manager, among others.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/c45a8a1bee07de838fbdd41e5b393f64.png)
Quickly change settings
Control Centre gives you instant access to the controls you use the most, like Wi-Fi, volume, brightness and more. Just click the Control Centre icon in the menu bar.
![Icons of apps included with macOS.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/fca78074dac95306d6668ee6fc27a8d5.png)
Find and open apps
Your Mac comes with dozens of popular apps already built in. You can easily see and open these apps — click the Launchpad icon in the Dock.
![A Mac desktop with the Spotlight window open. The search results show details about a music artist and several of their albums.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/bd247caa6688481d6d4022349f589f2e.png)
Spotlight on your Mac
Search with Spotlight to quickly find apps, documents, emails, images and more on your Mac. From the search results, you can copy an item to the desktop, link to more info on the web and even do quick tasks, such as set an alarm.
![A Mac desktop with System Settings open, showing the Apple ID sign-in window.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/43b50eac0e13944f3b2f9785595bd097.png)
Sign in with your Apple ID
An Apple ID is the personal account you use to access the App Store, Apple Music, FaceTime, iCloud and other Apple services. Sign in everywhere with the same Apple ID and your settings and Apple services stay up to date on all your devices.