14 ways to open apps on your Mac

There are many ways to open an app on your Mac, and in this tutorial, we’ll cover 14 easy methods, including some you probably don’t know.

Mac Studio showing many apps on Apple Studio display

1. From the Dock

By default, the Dock is at the bottom of the screen. You’ll find useful built-in Apple apps here unless you’ve removed them. It also contains the apps you have added. So, when you’re looking to open an app on your Mac, first check if it’s in the Dock. If it is, click its icon to launch it.

Pro tip: You can click & hold or right-click on the Launchpad icon in the Dock to see all your apps in a long list.

Right click over Launchpad icon in Mac Dock to see app list

2. From the Applications folder

Click the Finder icon in your Dock.
Select Applications from the left sidebar to see your Mac apps.
Double-click on an app icon to launch it.
Here, you’ll also see folders like Utilities, Others, Games, Microsoft, and such that house the remaining apps.

Go to Applications folder on Mac to open apps

3. From the Launchpad

Launchpad is like the app drawer on an Android phone or App Library on your iPhone. It displays Mac apps (including Chrome apps) in a grid, allowing you to open them. It also shows the app folders like Others, Utilities, Games, and more.

To open Launchpad:

Click the Launchpad app icon (made up of nine tiny colorful squares) from the Dock.
Pinch in with four fingers on your MacBook’s trackpad or an external Magic Trackpad.
Hit the Launchpad icon (six tiny squares) on your Mac’s keyboard (if there) or Touch Bar.

Once you’re in the Launchpad, swipe left or right using two fingers to go to the adjacent pages. You can also use the search box to quick find an app.

To open an app, click its app icon.

4. Look inside app folders

Some useful Mac apps like Image Capture, Terminal, Time Machine, Disk Utility, and more are nested inside a folder called Other or Utilities.

You can find the Other or Utilities folder in both Launchpad and the Finder Applications folder.

You can drag an app out of the folder and place it outside or on the Dock. Similarly, you can drag one app over another to create a folder. The basics are the same as creating app folders on iPhone and iPad.

Utilities app folder on Mac showing the apps inside it

Note: It’s also possible to see an app folder in Applications (like Setapp) but not in Launchpad.

5. Use the Finder menu bar

When you’re in Finder, click Go from the top menu bar and select Applications or Utilities to open an app quickly.

Go to Utilities or Applications using Mac menu bar

6. Use Spotlight Search

Press the Command + Space Bar keys together to enter Spotlight Search.
Type the app name, and when it appears as a suggestion, hit the enter key to open it.

7. Ask Siri

Say Hey Siri (on supported Macs), click the Siri icon in the top right of the menu bar, or use the keyboard shortcut (System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri) until Siri appears.
Ask it to open an app. For instance, say, Open Safari.

8. Use the Recents option in the Apple menu

Click the Apple logo () in the top left of the screen.
Take the pointer over Recent Items.
Under Applications, you’ll see apps that you opened recently. Click one to launch it.

9. Use Terminal to open Mac apps

Launch Terminal on your Mac.
Type Open -a app name. For example: Open -a Music or Open -a Slack.
If the app name has a space, enclose it in quotes (“name name”). For instance: Open -a "System Settings" or Open -a "Brave Browser".

Notes:

Of course, to open a third-party app like Slack or Brave, it should be installed on your Mac.
Make sure to type the exact app name. For example, Open -a Brave won’t work. But it’ll if you enter Open -a “Brave Browser“.
Tip: To see the exact name of a Mac app, hold the Option key and click the Apple icon () > System Information. Next, go to Software > Applications.

10. Check your desktop or downloads folder

t times, an app you downloaded from the web may be inside a ZIP file. To find it, check your Downloads folder, desktop, or the folder where your browser saved the downloaded file. From here, unzip the ZIP file, and the application should appear. You can double-click the app to open and use it. To have it show up in Launchpad or Applications, simply drag it to the Applications folder.

11. Open from the Mac App Store

Go inside the Mac App Store.
Click Updates to see the Updated Recently section. Or, click Discover and head to Top Free Apps. You can also just navigate to basically any other section where you see a mention of the installed app.
Click Open next to an app to launch it.