Unworkable and time-consuming Launchpad on Tahoe

> Perhaps it's worth trying to let go and embrace the change, rather than fight.

I can see how it would work if you had a couple of Apps and could remember the names of them all, but for myself it's a complete mess. It's also annoying that spotlight hijacks the trackpad squeeze.

I ended up buying AppGrid from the App Store. It will even import your previous LaunchPad settings (they are not erased), as well as having some extra features.

For what it's worth:

- Open Finder and drag the Apps folder to the right side of the dock (after the vertical line). This creates a shortcut to all your apps. Control-click this shortcut and choose your preferred "Kind," "Show As," and "Show Content As."

- In place of Launchpad, there's also a new app called Apps, which opens the app overview. Your apps are sorted by category here.

Your scenario only covers one small facet of the problem. Instead, consider what happens when you install software such as DaVinci Resolve. Doing so installs DaVinci Control Panels Setup, DaVinci Remote Monitor, DaVinci Resolve Manual, Fairlight Studio Utility, Uninstall Resolve, Blackmagic RAW Player, and Blackmagic RAW Speed Test.

When the entirety of the DaVinci package was contained within a single folder, in Launchpad, that grouping made sense. Now, with the Spotlight approach the tools are scattered to the wind.

Imagine a first time user downloading DaVinci resolve. They would have not clue what the NAME of all the apps were that came with it. Presuming that they keyed in on DaVinci they would find some of them, but they would be clueless as to the fact that "Fairlight Studio" or Blackmagic RAW" was a part of the package.

People think and work in different ways. And, how they choose to organize their workflow is served well by the old Launchpad.

For those that want to memorize all their app names and leverage Spotlight, they could in the past and still can.

For those more visual, that like to organize apps into folders, and folders/apps into a particular order and layout, they have been royally hosed by the change. Apple imposed what they thought best, with total disregard for those folks, and they are angry about it.

TrafGib wrote:

The Spotlight versus Launchpad debate seems rooted in how familiar a user is, or isn't, with all the apps on their system, what they do, and their names. With that knowledge in hand a Spotlight search is a viable, and arguably efficient, approach.

Yes...

However, for a new or less experienced user, absent of such system and app familiarity, this approach leaves a lot to be desired.

Alternatives exist, though.

Launchpad is/was a transplant from iOS, and may feel familiar to users that never had used a Mac before an iPhone.

I have to say that I have trouble with the idea of a user "not remembering the name of an application", but if that is the case, one can always open the Applications folder and look for it; also, one can add folders to the Dock with aliases to any applications you want, thus more or less replicating the functionality of Launchpad.

Prior to LaunchPad users would drag the /Applications folder to the Dock. You can right-click Open Applications and change the view to icons and turn off the sort and group by view settings. Then position the App icons how you want them. It will save the layout and positions.

You can also just left-click the Applications folder on the Dock using the Fan or Grid views and there is the alternative List view which is much like LaunchPad's when you right-clicked the icon on the Dock.

3rd party Laucher apps abound... Find one that meets your needs.

I've been using Spotlight as an App launcher since the feature was first added. Most of the Apps I use I remember the names and can type a few characters and quickly launch the app. I could also scroll through the Spotlight Apps and I don't find it all that jarring. Personally, I never liked the LaunchPad and it's full screen view. But that is my own opinion and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

The repeated claim that Spotlight is "more productive" than Launchpad is asinine.

Launchpad could be opened via either Hot Corners or a four-finger pinch gesture.

The apps could be organized by the user and then opened by additional swipe and tap gestures.

This workflow can be naturally accomplished with a single hand.

Spotlight requires keyboard inputs and necessarily knowing the name of the app, rather than allowing the user to launch an app without necessarily knowing its name (recognizing it and opening it either by its icon or muscle memory insofar as its placement on the Launchpad layout). This workflow would naturally require two hands.

While some partial workarounds for macOS 26 have been figured out with third-party apps, based on what I've read, it seems like a four-finger gesture to open a Launchpad-like isn't going to be possible. There's no clear reason why Apple would've removed this and so I hope they do ultimately restore it. (I'm deferring upgrading to macOS 26 for now.)

"It even shows my iPhone apps..."

This you can turn off if you like. Goto System Settings > Spotlight and and scroll down to the bottom. Flip the toggle switch to turn off iPhone Apps.

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I likewise am not a fan of having fixed-width dialog boxes forced upon me when I have plenty of monitor space.

With that said, on a 4K monitor, the situation can be improved using the 1920 x 1080 text size. This is a perfect doubling in the 4K 3840 x 2160 realm.

Goto Settings > Displays and select it.

[Edited by Moderator]

m010726 wrote:

I want launchpad back! Every one of my apps was organized exactly where I wanted it--by function--and Apple seems to think they know better than me about how I use my computer by giving us a spotlight tool that looks like something from earlier Microsoft.

This is the same sort of intrusiveness and presumption that Apple displayed when rearranging our photos without asking and removing local files to the iCloud.

Overall, the disregard for my preferences and organization is a substantial problem.

Just create your own folders of aliases and put the parent folder in the Dock. Or, just open the folder in Finder.

If the lack of organization is so detrimental, fix it yourself.

Yep. I installed AppGrid, moved it to the dock, tool "Apps" off the dock. Problem solved!

Perhaps it's worth trying to let go and embrace the change, rather than fight.

FWIW, Spotlight before Tahoe was already more productive to launch applications: Command-space, type Saf, enter and you launched Safari (an example) without ever leaving the keyboard. That still works, and more...

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

Perhaps it's worth trying to let go and embrace the change, rather than fight.

FWIW, Spotlight before Tahoe was already more productive to launch applications: Command-space, type Saf, enter and you launched Safari (an example) without ever leaving the keyboard. That still works, and more...

+ 1

Not to change is to get stale IMHO

RayvenUK wrote:

I've just upgraded to Tahoe and for the most part I really like the new look and feel, but what on earth were Apple thinking when they merged the Spotlight and Launchpad and came up with this unusable abomination.

[Edited by Moderator]

I am sure Apple would appreciate hearing from you

submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

The new UI is kind of a mess. Moving window names to the left, making the status bar and scroll bars bigger (I have mine always visible, because horizontal scrolling with my mouse doesn't seem to work with every app (Preview, for example), so oftentimes I move the horizontal scroll bar manually), and the absurdly large rounded corners, all serve to make the various window elements appear imbalanced, as these things draw the eye toward them, away from the window contents - particularly in list view, unless I enlarge the contents to be bigger than I want or need them to be. Also, the new drive icons are rather ugly/boring.

And I completely agree re: narrow windows. I find it significantly slower to navigate System Settings, because I can no longer rely on near-instant visual recognition of icons, because they're too **** small to be useful. (Some of the settings locations are a bit of a mess as well, but that's getting too far off-topic.) Relating this to Spotlight, the icons may be large, but having things placed so closely together, plus the new "every icon is a rounded square" nonsense, plus the fact that it scrolls rather than jumps pages (this is a subtly important one, and sort of true for System Settings as well), have resulted in apps becoming significantly slower to find. As for typing the apps in, with the Spotlight Apps prompt I get "No results found." every time I've tried it, and with the main Spotlight prompt it can bring up a bunch of other things I don't need. And this is assuming I can near-instantaneously recall the name of every app, which simply is not true when it comes to apps that are very infrequently used. So they are both no good.

You bring up another problem that I see as well.

In "Grid" view, apps with a long name get truncated. Ala your "Creative Cloud ...." example.

Missing the balance of the name forces the user to switch from Grid to List view so as to see the full length names and be able to make a distinction as to which one to click.

Many will argue this frustration can be bypassed by typing "Creative Cloud" and picking from the results.

Yes, that works but it is not the point. There are folks that want to stay with fingers on keyboard (searchers) and folks that want to use their mouse or trackpad as they always have. Still possible but with compromised efficiency.

Imagine the uproar if Apple went to the iPhone and iPad and did away with all of the front facing screens where users are free to organize their app icons as they see fit. Instead, everyone is forced to use the device via the single App Library screen sorted and organized in the manner which Apple sees fit, with no regard for user preference.

> I serious doubt that would please everyone.

It’s what they had for a number of years already. As well as a number of different ways to launch applications that exist in OSX.

Personally. I’ve tried using the new spotlight on a couple of my machines and I only find it useful if I have a couple of apps I use. My main machine has a lot more in it and it is painful to use there.

For that machine I just moved to Appview. Problem solved for me.