Learn how to restore the Launchpad feature on your Mac in Apple’s macOS Tahoe 26 operating system to see and open installed apps in one central place.
macOS Tahoe brings many improvements to the Mac, but it also removes the Launchpad feature. In macOS Sequoia and older versions, pinching in with four or five fingers invokes the Launchpad, a built-in feature that displays all installed apps beautifully in a grid layout across the entire screen.
On macOS 26, this four-finger pinch gesture sometimes shows Spotlight and other times your installed Mac and iPhone apps in a small overlay, which pales in comparison to the beloved Launchpad!
But you can restore the Launchpad on your Mac, and we show you how.
Update: This may not work on newer versions of macOS Tahoe.
Restore the Launchpad on your Mac in macOS Tahoe
1) Open Terminal on your Mac from the Applications folder or use Spotlight, then paste the following command and hit the Enter key.
sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain
2) Type your macOS login password and hit the Enter key. You won’t see any keystrokes when typing the password in Terminal.
3) Paste this second command in Terminal and hit the Enter key.
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/SpotlightUI.plist SpotlightPlus -dict Enabled -bool false
4) Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose Restart.
5) After your Mac restarts, invoke the Launchpad by pinching in with four or five fingers on the trackpad or by clicking the Launchpad app in the Applications folder.
Other changes after restoring the Launchpad
After restoring the Launchpad, macOS Tahoe’s new Apps.app disappears from the Applications folder, and the old Launchpad app takes its place. You can even drag the Launchpad app to the Dock to open it with a click, just like before.
With the Launchpad restored, Tahoe’s redesigned Spotlight search will no longer display the new App Store, Files, Actions, and Clipboard icons.
Hide the Launchpad and give macOS Tahoe a chance
If you’re curious about macOS Tahoe’s new Applications section and would like to give it a try, simply remove the old Launchpad with the following Terminal command:
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/SpotlightUI.plist
I’ve been enjoying macOS Tahoe for the most part, but the Launchpad’s absence has been a major disappointment. The last time I was so appalled by a macOS update was in 2019 when macOS Catalina got rid of the Dashboard feature.
I used to have tons of sticky notes on the Dashboard, and had assigned the Dashboard to a Hot Corner for super-fast access. The removal of the Launchpad in macOS Tahoe brought back the same pain.
Any fans of the Launchpad out there? If so, do you have any Launchpad tips that you’d like to share? And how do you feel about macOS Tahoe removing the Launchpad? Vent your frustration in the commenting section down below.