Why Did Apple Remove the Launchpad?

The macOS Launchpad was once an indispensable part of many Mac users’ daily workflows. Characterized by its intuitive icon grid, drag-and-drop sorting, folder grouping, and visual organization, it allowed users to build deep-seated habits. For many, it wasn’t just a “tool for opening apps”—it was a spatial memory and a way of working efficiently.

However, with the official release of macOS 26 Tahoe, Apple quietly made a significant change: the native Launchpad was completely removed, replaced by an “Apps” interface that relies more heavily on Spotlight search and categorized lists. The official explanation for this change was to simplify the interface, improve consistency across the platform, and establish Spotlight as the unified entry point. In reality, this shift toward a search-and-category-only approach feels collective and disruptive for users who have long relied on visual organization and intuitive browsing.

The community, particularly on platforms like Reddit, has been vocal about several issues:

• Inability to freely arrange icons or create custom folders;
• System-provided default categories often don’t align with personal habits;
• The breakage of spatial memory, which previously allowed for quick location via a simple swipe or glance;
• For visual users, the reliance on typing names into Spotlight actually leads to a perceived decrease in efficiency.

In other words, the disappearance of Launchpad isn’t just a simple UI adjustment; it’s a disruption to an entire set of habits and workflows.

Why Launchpad Matters: It’s Not About “Looks,” It’s About “Recall”

Perhaps the most overlooked fact is this: we miss Launchpad not because of its aesthetics, but because it places information within the user’s field of vision, rather than requiring the user to remember that information first.

This visual organization fosters long-term muscle memory. Remembering the position of an app is often faster and more natural than remembering its name. Spatial cognitive patterns are, in fact, incredibly significant in cognitive science. Its quiet removal, without providing an equivalent experience, is at the heart of many users’ dissatisfaction.

Apple’s Logic: Simplifying the Core, but Losing Muscle Memory

From a product strategy perspective, Apple’s removal of Launchpad may have been seen as an “optimization”:

• Reducing the maintenance burden at the system level;
• Strengthening Spotlight as the unified entry point;
• Promoting machine-learned categorization and automatic recommendation mechanisms.

This logic makes sense from an engineering standpoint: the more universal, unified, and less redundant a module is, the lower its maintenance cost and complexity. However, for the user experience, simplification does not always equal optimization.

While the product structure is simplified,

The sacrifice is a way of working that users have already internalised.

The two cannot be simply equated.

Why LaunchOS Was Born: Not out of Defiance, but as a Response to User Expectations

When we started developing LaunchOS, our initial motivation wasn’t simply to “go against the grain.” It was:

When a vast number of users still depend on visual organization for efficiency, those needs are not being adequately met by the OS.

As developers, we understand what “functional” means, but we care even more about what “comfortable” feels like. We have a deep affinity for that familiar and efficient Launchpad experience—much like a craftsman’s sensitivity to the “feel” of their tools. When it was replaced, we felt the absence, and it’s an absence that a short-term adjustment simply cannot fill.

This is the starting point for LaunchOS:

Not to build a more complex App Launcher,

But to restore a lost experience and refine it in the details to make it feel more natural, more comfortable, and less noisy.

LaunchOS’s Core Philosophy: Details Matter More Than Features

While many alternatives compete by stacking “settings,” “themes,” and “custom layouts,” we chose a more difficult path:

Achieving the most adaptive experience with the minimum of perceptible settings.

Many seemingly minor experience points define how comfortable a product feels in real-world use:

• The sense of “weight” and following when dragging icons;
• The natural rhythm of mouse-wheel paging and trackpad gestures;
• The harmony between visual layout and the system’s liquid glass design language;
• Consistency between search response and positioning feedback.

Details are not just surface-level; they are what make you feel like “it’s your Launchpad” at every moment.

This is the spirit of craftsmanship: Not stacking features, but discarding the superfluous to let the core experience shine through.

How LaunchOS Preserves the Spirit of Launchpad While Evolving

The goal of LaunchOS is not simply to “copy an old version of Apple’s Launchpad,” but to:

1. Preserve the core values of the original Launchpad: Visual organization, spatial memory, and quick access;
2. Make these experiences naturally available within the new environment of macOS 26;
3. Reduce cognitive gaps and operational friction through deep refinement of details;
4. Continuously iterate, rather than stopping after a single release.

We don’t encourage users to “set up a layout they like.” We want users to open LaunchOS and feel:

“This is exactly the Launchpad I remember, only it feels even better.”

This isn’t just a slogan; it’s the result of our commitment to every interaction detail.

As Times Change, User Habits Still Hold Value

Technical evolution is inevitable, but it doesn’t mean that every replaced experience loses its meaning. When we see massive numbers of users in communities searching for ways to “bring back Launchpad” and discussing how their workflows have been disrupted, we know:

This isn’t just the stubbornness of a few—it’s a real, tangible need.

We believe that a preference for visual organization and spatial cognition doesn’t suddenly become irrelevant because of a design decision. LaunchOS isn’t about opposing Apple’s direction; it’s about providing that sense of order and flow for those whose efficiency and cognition still find value in this approach.

Summary

Apple’s removal of Launchpad in macOS 26 was a strategic and engineering-led decision; however, the resulting disruption in user experience has left many users frustrated. LaunchOS’s mission is to fill this void:

To restore the Launchpad experience users expect, and to polish it to perfection.

Not by piling on features, but by focusing on details; Not as a one-time effort, but through continuous iteration; Not as a replacement, but as a response to a genuine need.

That is what makes LaunchOS different.