Why We Built LaunchOS

Why Is the Absence of Launchpad in macOS 26 a “Disaster” for So Many People?

I believe many people, like me, have an obsession with organization. We arrange apps in Launchpad according to our usage habits. First page for frequently used apps, second page for work, third page for entertainment… The sorting and folders on each page are strongly tied to our life rhythm and work order. For launching frequently used apps, we might use Dock or a launcher like Raycast; but when we forget the name of an infrequently used app, Launchpad is like a bookshelf at home. I just need to remember its category, location, main icon color, or vague graphic style to find it. The sudden disappearance of the classic Launchpad completely shattered this sense of order. When we don’t know the name of the “book” we’re looking for, we have to keep scrolling in Apps to find it—like books on a bookshelf not being arranged by category but alphabetically. Even if we find it this time, because we don’t remember its name, we might not remember its location next time, since alphabetical sorting means its position changes as new apps are installed.

This kind of fractured experience is hard to solve by “just getting used to it.”

Why Were We Determined to Build a New Launchpad Instead of “Adapting to the New System”?

There’s no doubt that “search-based launching” is indeed more efficient. Apple’s choice to push Apps.app hard might be hoping users trade short-term pain for long-term gain. But from a behavioral psychology perspective, “search-based finding” and “browse-based finding” correspond to two completely different cognitive modes—the former is “I know who I’m looking for,” the latter is “I know roughly what it looks like.” They correspond to two different use scenarios, even two different user groups, and they shouldn’t be a replacement relationship but rather a complementary relationship. A simple example: keyboard shortcuts are efficient, but you can’t just delete the visual button entry because of that; right-click menu options are more accessible, but you can’t delete the fixed entry because of that either. After deleting the visual entry, users will definitely be upset. What really made us decide to build a Launchpad alternative was seeing so many people as frustrated as we were. There are complaints in communities both domestic and international almost every day. Plus, previous methods for restoring Launchpad have been systematically blocked and killed off by Apple.

After our team discussed it, we realized: this product has clear demand, clear goals, and clear references. This is actually a rare good opportunity—we can focus directly on “meeting needs” rather than “creating needs”!

In the Reddit comments section, many users said “this is the best Launchpad alternative I’ve ever used.” What are our design principles behind this Launchpad that everyone loves?

At the start of the project, we set three priorities for ourselves, corresponding to three levels of needs:

First level: Key experiences must be restored accurately Because what users are really uncomfortable with is “broken habits.” Seemingly small differences can make users unhappy or even cause them to uninstall immediately.

Second level: Fix pain points that already existed without breaking habits Like the jumping around when dragging to sort in the native Launchpad, or accidentally creating folders when dragging to turn pages with the mouse.

Third level: Then consider adding features and enhancing experience The consideration is “does it really help most users” and “will users pay for it,” not “can we do it.” Otherwise, we might add many features that seem rich but are actually useless, or add too many customization options that bring extra complexity to users. Some geeky users might love “customizing” their tools, but we prefer to make tools work out of the box, providing only necessary features and avoiding introducing too many “choices.”

Our core strategy is:

• Maximally replicate the native experience while combining with macOS 26’s design features.
• Fully apply the 80/20 rule, Occam’s razor, and combine with ROI to determine development priorities.

Will Launchpad Return in macOS 27?

As of now (last edited February 2026), there’s no reliable information in public news and community discussions confirming that Apple will bring back the classic Launchpad. Mainstream reports, analysis articles, and developer documentation about macOS 27 (expected release September 2026) don’t mention Apple planning to restore Launchpad. Looking at Apple’s keyboard F4 key icon, early keyboards had the Launchpad icon on the F4 key, but keyboards released in recent years have changed the F4 key icon to a magnifying glass. This fully indicates that Launchpad’s removal wasn’t a whim—Apple has been planning and evolving this for a long time, and Launchpad’s removal was “long in the making.” In some communities, there have been comments from people claiming to be former Apple employees saying Apple is internally discussing restoring Launchpad in macOS 27. But this information appears to be untrue at this point. It’s more likely that Apple will continue optimizing the new Apps.app.