diff --git a/man/pam_systemd.xml b/man/pam_systemd.xml
index 52dfe9df43..4df26a3f2b 100644
--- a/man/pam_systemd.xml
+++ b/man/pam_systemd.xml
@@ -268,7 +268,9 @@
                                 as defined by the <ulink
                                 url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/">Desktop
                                 Entry
-                                Specification</ulink>.</para></listitem>
+                                Specification</ulink>. See
+                                <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_session_get_desktop</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+                                for more details.</para></listitem>
                         </varlistentry>
 
                         <varlistentry>
diff --git a/man/sd_session_is_active.xml b/man/sd_session_is_active.xml
index 5006be4df5..e9840669c2 100644
--- a/man/sd_session_is_active.xml
+++ b/man/sd_session_is_active.xml
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
                 <refname>sd_session_get_service</refname>
                 <refname>sd_session_get_type</refname>
                 <refname>sd_session_get_class</refname>
+                <refname>sd_session_get_desktop</refname>
                 <refname>sd_session_get_display</refname>
                 <refname>sd_session_get_tty</refname>
                 <refname>sd_session_get_vt</refname>
@@ -109,6 +110,12 @@
                                 <paramdef>char **<parameter>class</parameter></paramdef>
                         </funcprototype>
 
+                        <funcprototype>
+                                <funcdef>int <function>sd_session_get_desktop</function></funcdef>
+                                <paramdef>const char *<parameter>session</parameter></paramdef>
+                                <paramdef>char **<parameter>desktop</parameter></paramdef>
+                        </funcprototype>
+
                         <funcprototype>
                                 <funcdef>int <function>sd_session_get_display</function></funcdef>
                                 <paramdef>const char *<parameter>session</parameter></paramdef>
@@ -218,6 +225,22 @@
                 <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>free</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
                 call after use.</para>
 
+                <para><function>sd_session_get_desktop()</function> may
+                be used to determine the brand of the desktop running on
+                the session identified by the specified session identifier.
+                This field can be set freely by desktop environments and
+                does not follow any special formatting. However, desktops
+                are strongly recommended to use the same identifiers and
+                capitalization as for
+                <varname>$XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP</varname>, as defined by
+                the <ulink
+                url="http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/">Desktop
+                Entry
+                Specification</ulink>. The returned string needs to be
+                freed with the libc
+                <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>free</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
+                call after use.</para>
+
                 <para><function>sd_session_get_display()</function>
                 may be used to determine the X11 display of the
                 session identified by the specified session
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.sym.m4 b/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.sym.m4
index d1450fbb26..87da7ac021 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.sym.m4
+++ b/src/libsystemd/libsystemd.sym.m4
@@ -153,6 +153,11 @@ global:
         sd_machine_get_ifindices;
 } LIBSYSTEMD_214;
 
+LIBSYSTEMD_217 {
+global:
+        sd_session_get_desktop;
+} LIBSYSTEMD_216;
+
 m4_ifdef(`ENABLE_KDBUS',
 LIBSYSTEMD_FUTURE {
 global:
@@ -438,5 +443,5 @@ global:
         /* sd-path */
         sd_path_home;
         sd_path_search;
-} LIBSYSTEMD_216;
+} LIBSYSTEMD_217;
 )
diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
index 95cb6ff581..c72d23ed53 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-login/sd-login.c
@@ -485,6 +485,25 @@ _public_ int sd_session_get_class(const char *session, char **class) {
         return session_get_string(session, "CLASS", class);
 }
 
+_public_ int sd_session_get_desktop(const char *session, char **desktop) {
+        _cleanup_free_ char *escaped = NULL;
+        char *t;
+        int r;
+
+        assert_return(desktop, -EINVAL);
+
+        r = session_get_string(session, "DESKTOP", &escaped);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
+        t = cunescape(escaped);
+        if (!t)
+                return -ENOMEM;
+
+        *desktop = t;
+        return 0;
+}
+
 _public_ int sd_session_get_display(const char *session, char **display) {
         return session_get_string(session, "DISPLAY", display);
 }
diff --git a/src/systemd/sd-login.h b/src/systemd/sd-login.h
index 1eb3be30b5..93af19709b 100644
--- a/src/systemd/sd-login.h
+++ b/src/systemd/sd-login.h
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@ int sd_session_get_type(const char *session, char **type);
 /* Determine the class of this session, i.e. one of "user", "greeter" or "lock-screen". */
 int sd_session_get_class(const char *session, char **clazz);
 
+/* Determine the desktop brand of this session, i.e. something like "GNOME", "KDE" or "SYSTEMD-CONSOLE". */
+int sd_session_get_desktop(const char *session, char **desktop);
+
 /* Determine the X11 display of this session. */
 int sd_session_get_display(const char *session, char **display);