If you have a lot of apps installed, you can easily search for them in Launchpad. Once you’ve launched Launchpad on your Mac using one of the three ways above, you’ll see it appear on your Mac’s display. Launchpad is composed of multiple rows and columns of apps – just like the iPhone’s home screen. The similar visual aspects of macOS and iOS are no more apparent than in the Mac’s Launchpad – the application launcher built into macOS.

Launchpad has been part of the macOS desktop for a few years, serving the simple purpose of helping users open the app they need as quickly as possible. Likened to the Windows Start Menu, it simply offers a long list of apps that the user can see and quickly open, with minimal effort required. Launchpad is an easy way to access all the applications installed on your MacBook or iMac.

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But over time, Launchpad may become cluttered, making it a chore to find the apps you’re looking for. We’ll go through all the steps to help you learn how to delete applications from Launchpad, how to add an app to Launchpad on Mac, and more. Just like the familiar iPad and iPhone home screens, app icons can be stored in folders, which you will have to click and expand before clicking the app icon itself.

Launchpad is an essential part of the macOS desktop, and is a quick and easy way to access applications installed on your Mac. Although the process of adding the Launchpad icon back to the Dock is easy, but it’s a mega confusing thing to do if you’re doing it for the first time. Who knew Apple treated Launchpad like an app icon and it simply needed to be dragged back into the Dock, right? The simple thing to know about Launchpad is it’s basically a list of apps you have installed on the Mac. Specifically, it’s a list of apps that you have either downloaded from the Mac App Store to your Mac, or an app you’ve placed into the Applications folder.

If the Dock is hidden and Launchpad gets triggered, the Dock appears. Launchpad provides an iPad Home screen-like launcher on macOS, and a way to see, start, search for, delete, and otherwise manage apps on the Mac with macOS Big Sur installed. That is, it features rows of all the apps that you have installed on your Mac, just like the iPhone Home Screen features rows of all the apps you have on your iPhone. An application launcher is simply a term for a part of an operating system that you use to launch apps. This will work the majority of the time, but there are some apps you simply cannot remove from the list, as the X symbol doesn’t appear.

They will generally consist of apps that weren’t downloaded from the Mac App Store, or were preinstalled to the operating system. You can create new folders by dragging an app on top of another, or you can add an app to a folder by dragging and dropping an app onto a folder. You can move folders in the same way as you would move an app icon. For a start, you can move apps by dragging it from one position to another. If you need to move it to another page, drag the icon to the edge of the screen to switch pages, wait for the page to change, then drop the icon in its new home.

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You do, admittedly have to open up Launchpad by clicking the icon. There’s no escaping that point, unless you set up a keyboard shortcut. The simplicity of Launchpad is akin to turning your Mac into an impromptu iPad home screen. When you click the Launchpad icon, you’re shown a similar screen, consisting of a grid of well-spaced icons and their titles. And with Lion’s new FullScreen feature, if I ever really need to hide it to minimize distractions, I just go FullScreen with the current app. Other times, you need to go into your Applications folder to remove an app from the Launchpad.

How to Add Launchpad to the Dock on a Mac

Launchpad isn’t always visible on the Mac, unlike the iPhone’s home screen, which is what the operating system defaults to when you close an app. These models run both locally on Apple devices and on Apple’s own Apple Silicon-powered AI servers. Based in South Wales, Malcolm Owen has written about tech since 2012, and previously wrote for Electronista and MacNN. In his downtime, he pursues photography, has an interest in magic tricks, and is bothered by his c… Select the dropdown for the active screen corner you want to use to activate Launchpad.

1. In his downtime, he pursues photography, has an interest in magic tricks, and is bothered by his c…
2. You do, admittedly have to open up Launchpad by clicking the icon.
3. Adding an app to your Launchpad is as simple as downloading an app from the App Store or a third-party download.
4. Launchpad is an application launcher that shows all the apps you have downloaded to your Mac.

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If speed is your thing, you could simply search for the app. As soon as you’re in Launchpad, start typing the name of the app you want to open, and your Mac will start narrowing down the list until you see the app you’re searching for. Let’s say that you want to speed up your accessing of apps within Launchpad, or don’t want to use your mouse as much. There are a few things you can do to access apps within Launchpad than normal mouse-centric controls.

It is a straightforward tool, and it certainly isn’t the only way to do the same job. Anyone wanting to open an application has a variety of different ways to accomplish the task. Changing the order of the apps within the Launchpad is very similar to rearranging the apps on your iPhone or iPad. When you sign up with your Apple ID, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Launchpad is an application launcher that shows all the apps you have downloaded to your Mac. It is native to your Mac, meaning Apple designed it for your computer to help you organize your desktop. This helps keep your desktop orderly and uncluttered while also keeping your apps in an easily accessible place.

Your best bet is to get one of the 3rd-party “tweaker” apps such as Cocktail or TinkerTool and disable any of the eye candy related to the Dock. You can change the values for 0 and 0.4 to see if a different setting works better for you. Don’t forget to change int to float if you want to use a float instead of 0. At iPhone Life, we use our 35 years of experience as a tech publisher to help millions of people master their Apple devices. Our experts obsessively test each tip, guide, and video we release to ensure you get all the hidden steps you won’t find anywhere else. Locate Launchpad and drag/drop onto your Dock where you want it.

Find the Launchpad application in the Applications folder and hold and drag it down with your mouse to the position where you want it in the Dock. See this article called “How to Add Launchpad to the Dock on a Mac” for more details. You can certain apps on your Mac from Launchpad, which is a great way to keep your desktop clean and organized. Please note that you can’t delete certain built-in apps or apps running in the background on your Mac.

Use the mouse scroll wheel to switch pages, or click the dots. In particular, I’d recommend turning off “Use transparent Dock icons to show hidden applications”. And turn on “Disable the three-dimensional glass effect of the Dock”. Adding an app to your Launchpad is as simple as downloading an app from the App Store or a third-party download.

I also find the Dock slow to use and the Launchpad can be sluggish. You might want to try an application launcher such as LaunchBar or Alfred. The former is a paid program (with a free demo), the latter is free. Either let you very quickly launch apps expenses and benefits: loans offered to workers along with hundreds of other functions with applications, files, folders, and more. Even on a new Mac they are too slow, not to mention being mouse driven.