All Features, Crafted In The Details

LaunchOS is not just a screen for opening apps, and it is not built around feature stacking or excessive customization. It focuses on the details that quietly shape every daily interaction, the parts that feel obvious until they disappear, the parts that seem effortless on the surface but require a great deal of polishing underneath, the parts your muscle memory reaches for without thinking

Note:indicates enhancements and refinements LaunchOS adds on top of the native Launchpad experience

Launch And Close

Mouse Click Launch

Launch from the Dock icon
Launch from the menu bar icon, especially if you usually keep the Dock hidden

Shortcut And F4 Launch

Use a custom global keyboard shortcut
Take over the system F4 key to preserve long-standing Mac habits
Handles key mapping differences across older and newer Mac keyboards

Trackpad Gesture Launch

Launch with a four-finger or five-finger pinch Native Default
Use a three-finger pinch if you want to keep the four-finger gesture for the newer system launcher
A five-finger pinch is also available if you prefer to reserve the four-finger gesture
The system Show Desktop gesture still works normally

Hot Corner Launch

Move the pointer to a screen corner to open or close LaunchOS
Supports multi-display setups and only responds to adjacent corners to reduce accidental triggers
Warns about possible conflicts with macOS Hot Corners settings during setup

Gesture-Responsive Motion

During a slow pinch, opacity and scale track the gesture progress in real time for a native feel
Keeps the original logic that decides whether to open or cancel based on how far the gesture completes

Natural Close Behavior

Click a blank area to close
Press Esc to close
Repeat the launch action to close
Use a spread gesture to close the main view

Browsing And Paging

Paged And Scroll Modes

Horizontal paged browsing Native Default
Vertical scrolling mode

Mouse Wheel Paging

Supports both precise-scroll mice and smooth-scrolling mice
Includes compatibility handling for third-party smooth scrolling tools such as Logitech Options+
Reduces the issue where a single scroll can trigger multiple page turns

Mouse Side-Button Paging

Supports paging with devices that have side buttons

Mouse Drag Paging

Switch pages by clicking and dragging the page
The page offset updates continuously during dragging to preserve the follow-your-hand feel

Trackpad Swipe Paging

Switch pages with horizontal trackpad gestures
The page offset updates continuously while swiping for a more native feel

Auto-Page While Dragging Apps

Dragging an app to the page edge automatically switches to the previous or next page
Dragging past the last page can create a new page to receive the app

Natural Scrolling Support

Respects the macOS Natural Scrolling setting and adjusts wheel direction automatically

Remember Last Position

Reopen at the position where LaunchOS was last closed Native Default
Always return to the main page
Return to the main page after a custom delay

Keyboard Controls

Keyboard Navigation

Move the highlight with the arrow keys
In paged mode, the highlight jumps to the page that contains the target item
In scroll mode, the highlighted item is automatically brought to the center of the visible area

Keyboard Paging

Brings back the native Launchpad shortcuts ⌘ + ← and ⌘ + →
When keyboard selection reaches the end of a page, it continues to the next or previous item and turns the page automatically

Press Enter To Open

Press Enter to open a highlighted app
Press Enter to open a highlighted folder
After entering a folder with the keyboard, the first app is highlighted by default to reduce extra positioning

Esc To Cancel Or Close

When a folder is open, Esc closes it
During rename, Esc cancels the rename
During drag, Esc stops the drag operation
From the main view, press Esc to close

Shortcuts

Use ⌘ + , to open the settings panel
Use ⌘ + Q to quit the app completely

Search

Type To Search

The search field is focused automatically when the main view appears
Start searching immediately without an extra click

Realtime Search Results

Matches update immediately as you type
After searching, press Enter to open the target app directly

Esc Clears Search

During search, pressing Esc clears the search content

Matching Logic

Matches the current display name, default name, or custom alias
Supports English initial-letter matching
Supports abbreviation matching, camel-case matching, and substring matching
Orders results by match quality

Chinese Matching Optimizations

Supports full pinyin matching
Supports pinyin initial-letter matching

App Management

Multiple Sorting Modes

Manual sorting mode
Sort by first letter, date added, or last opened date
Balances spatial memory with faster organization

Drag Sorting

Preview animations update continuously while sorting by drag
The drag feel is refined to reduce stutter, misfires, and position jumps

Rename Apps

Rename apps from the right-click menu

Hide Apps

Hide apps from the right-click menu
Hidden apps can be restored from App Management in Settings

Clean Uninstall (In Progress)

Besides removing the app itself, it is also designed to clean leftover settings, cache, and related traces

Folder Management

Create And Merge Folders

Drag one app onto another to create a folder
Drag an app into the center of an existing folder to keep merging
Move an app to a specific folder from the right-click menu

Folder Actions

Open a highlighted folder with Enter
Close a folder with Esc
Close it by clicking a blank area outside the folder

Rename Folders

Rename a folder by clicking its expanded title
Folder renaming is also available from the right-click menu

Dissolve Folders

A folder dissolves automatically when only one app remains
You can also dissolve a folder from the right-click menu
Apps are placed back near their original positions after the folder is dissolved

Reduced Line Jumping

Refines the response logic to reduce the line-jumping behavior often seen in native Launchpad

Quick Menu Actions

App Context Menu

Show the source app in Finder
Quickly move it to a specific folder
Hide the app
Rename the app with an alias
Clean uninstall (In Progress)

Folder Context Menu

Rename folders
Dissolve folders

Blank-Area Context Menu

Open the settings panel
Change the sorting mode: manual, by name, by date added, or by last opened date
Switch browsing mode: horizontal paging or vertical scrolling
Check for updates
Quit completely

Window Modes

Fullscreen Mode

The default presentation style of native Launchpad Native Default
Can hide the Dock while the main view is visible to increase usable space

Windowed Mode (In Progress)

A lighter windowed presentation similar to Apps.app while still supporting sorting and folder management

Layout And Multi-Display

Grid Layout

Set columns and rows independently
Fit more apps on a single screen or keep a looser visual rhythm

Automatic Size Adaptation

Icon size is calculated automatically from the visible area, grid count, and Dock occupancy
Keeps the layout from getting too wide on large displays so scanning stays efficient

Multi-Display Strategy

Choose whether LaunchOS appears on the main display, the active display, or the display under the pointer
Icon and layout sizes recalculate automatically when the display setup changes

Hide Dock

Hide the Dock while the main view is visible to free up more space

Appearance

Background Modes

Use the system wallpaper as the background and optionally disable wallpaper blur
Or switch to a glass-like background with adjustable material intensity

Tahoe-Inspired Design Language

Keeps the native Launchpad visual hierarchy, motion rhythm, and overall atmosphere
Builds on that foundation with Tahoe-style Liquid Glass visuals

Launchpad Icon Styles

Switch between app icon styles, including classic Launchpad icons from different macOS eras such as the grid and rocket styles

Follow System Icon Color Modes

Adapts to system icon color modes such as dark appearance and tinted icons for a more consistent overall look
Also supports automatic switching with system dark mode

Automatic Icon Refresh

Refreshes the icon cache automatically after style changes
Folder preview icons are also re-rendered to avoid stale cache

Data And Migration

Import Native Launchpad Layout

Import native Launchpad sorting, paging, and folder data
Even after upgrading to macOS 26, you can keep more of your old setup without reorganizing everything from scratch

Backup And Restore Layouts

Export and import LaunchOS layout backups
Makes recovery much easier after moving to a new Mac or reinstalling

Extended App Sources

Scans system apps and user Applications folders by default
You can also add custom app directories such as external drives and virtual machines

App Deduplication

When duplicate bundles exist, LaunchOS uses additional identifiers and deduplicates by real file path
Excludes apps nested inside other .app bundles to reduce noisy data

App Compatibility

Supports alias-based apps

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