what happened to launchpad on mac?
in apple's mac user guide, launchpad gave way to an apps view in spotlight. apple's mac user guide for macos sequoia 15 describes launchpad as a central location to view all of your apps and quickly open them, while its current guide for macos tahoe 26 and macos 27 says "spotlight is the central location where you can search, browse, and open your apps."
to see all your apps now, click the apps icon in the dock, or click the spotlight icon in the menu bar and then click the applications icon.
this guide follows apple's mac user guide and newsroom as we read them in november 2026. for missing files rather than apps, see spotlight not finding files on mac.
download the remynd desktop app to search text you saw in a focused window, by app and date.
why did launchpad change?
in our read, apple folded app browsing into spotlight. when apple previewed macos tahoe on june 9, 2025, its newsroom post said spotlight now shows every app a user has, iphone apps included through iphone mirroring. the same post describes new browse views for apps, files, clipboard history and more.
how do you open your apps on mac now?
you open your apps on mac from spotlight. apple's current guide gives these steps:
- click the apps icon in the dock, or click the spotlight icon in the menu bar and then click the applications icon.
- enter the app name in the search field, then press return.
- click an app icon to open it.
- to close it without opening anything, click outside the window or press esc.
to move around the apps window, apple says to open it from the dock, or from the spotlight icon and then press command 1, and use the arrow keys.
apple's keyboard shortcuts page lists command space bar to show or hide the spotlight search field, and says that in some versions of macos, if you use multiple input sources to type in different languages, these shortcuts change input sources.
what's different from launchpad?
in our read, most of what you did in launchpad has a new home. this table compares apple's sequoia launchpad guide with its current guide. apple's newsroom says macos sequoia became available on september 16, 2024.
| task | launchpad (sequoia) | apps in spotlight (tahoe and later) |
|---|---|---|
| open it | click launchpad in the dock | click apps in the dock, or spotlight then applications |
| find an app | search field at the top | search field |
| group or filter apps | pages and folders you make | categories such as productivity & finance |
| change the view | not in apple's guide | grid or list, and show iphone apps |
| games | games folder (app store games) | arcade category (apple games) |
| add an app you didn't get from the app store | drag it to the applications folder | drag it to the applications folder |
| put an app in the dock | drag it from launchpad | drag it from the apps window |
why is an app missing from the apps view?
check the applications folder first, in our read. apple says apps you download from the app store automatically appear in spotlight. for any other app, drag it into the applications folder in the finder, and spotlight then shows it.
apple also says app icons are dimmed, with an hourglass icon, during downtime or if you reach a time limit set for apps in screen time settings.
how do you keep your favorite apps handy?
keep them in the dock or on the desktop. apple's tip: drag an app from the apps browsing window onto the dock, and it then sits in both the dock and spotlight. dragging an app to the desktop also gives easy access.
what about launchpad folders?
in our read, folders don't carry over as a feature you manage. apple's sequoia guide describes creating an app folder by dragging an app over another app, and moving apps between pages. its current guide topic describes neither; it groups apps by category instead.
where does remynd fit?
in microsoft's work trend index, published may 9, 2023, which surveyed 31,000 full-time employed or self-employed workers in 31 markets, 62% of respondents said they struggle with spending too much of their workday searching for information. the same survey found 86% were looking for ai to help find the information and answers they need.
in our read, spotlight finds apps and files, not every line of text you read inside them. remynd records your screen, runs ocr locally with apple vision, and keeps a searchable index on your computer. text comes from the focused window only, and video covers windows you have not excluded.
you can exclude apps and sites, and private browser windows are excluded by default.
press control space to search in plain language, refine by app, date or source, and jump to an exact moment, provided remynd was running then, the window was not excluded and, for text, it was the focused window. it needs macos 14 or later on an apple silicon mac.
limits of this guide
- it follows apple's mac user guide and newsroom as we read them on the date above. we did not test every macos version.
- it compares two versions of one apple guide topic, sequoia and the current guide. we did not check earlier launchpad versions.
- it covers launchpad and spotlight on mac only.
download the remynd desktop app and search what you saw in a focused window, by app and date.