Remove duplicate App Icons from LaunchPad

[autotunz]

I figured out a way to eliminate duplicate app icons from LaunchPad!

Here's how to do it:

1. Put both (duplicate) icons side by side. You don't have to do this, but it makes it easier to see.
2. Press and hold the Option key. The icons will wiggle.
3. Click on one of the two icons.

One of two things will happen
A. The app will open (if this happens, close the app and try the other icon)
B. You will see a transparent Question Mark (?) on the icon

4. If you see the Question Mark, release the Option key.
5. Press and hold Option again. You'll see a small X at the top left corner of the icon.
6. Click that X and the icon is gone!!

Don't ask me how I found it or why it works. This only works for getting rid of duplicate icons, it won't remove the "original" icon.

Someone else please try this and see if it works for you!

 

[Steviejobz]

this doesnt work if one of the icons is due to creating an alias so you can have a stack on the dock. Both launchpad icons launch the app. If you delete the alias it removes the duped icon but then you lose the stack on the dock

 

[slrandall]

Doesn't work for me. The two apps that show up as duplicates on mine are Font Book and Image Capture, so maybe your method only works with App Store Apps?

 

[xgman]

Just drag all the unwanted icons to a "dump" folder and move it off the main screens so you don't see it, until Apple figures out how stupid the current implementation of launchpad really is.

 

[CrazySpy]

Steviejobz got me thinking. I had a separate applications folder in /Applications for aliases of commonly used apps for work (also on my dock). I moved this folder to my home directory and the duplicate application icons were removed from LaunchPad.

So if you want a separate dock folder for aliased apps, try moving that alias app folder out of /Applications. Worked for me, now I have the best of both worlds.

 

[curtisinoc]

I figured out a way to eliminate duplicate app icons from LaunchPad!

Here's how to do it:

1. Put both (duplicate) icons side by side. You don't have to do this, but it makes it easier to see.
2. Press and hold the Option key. The icons will wiggle.
3. Click on one of the two icons.

One of two things will happen
A. The app will open (if this happens, close the app and try the other icon)
B. You will see a transparent Question Mark (?) on the icon

4. If you see the Question Mark, release the Option key.
5. Press and hold Option again. You'll see a small X at the top left corner of the icon.
6. Click that X and the icon is gone!!

Don't ask me how I found it or why it works. This only works for getting rid of duplicate icons, it won't remove the "original" icon.

Someone else please try this and see if it works for you!

Didn't work for me either . . . can't figure out how to get rid of a duplicate "Skype" icon after I updated the app today

 

[Hitrate]

didn't work for me either . . . Can't figure out how to get rid of a duplicate "skype" icon after i updated the app today

any news on this issue folks ?

 

[Cripps]

any news on this issue folks ?

Use a third party app?
Such as
http://zoltanb.co.uk/launchpadcleaner/

 

[baryon]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

 

[Hitrate]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

Sounds good, I knew there was a smart guy out there with a solution

(weirdly enough, I tried it with Skype just now from /Applications, and all 3 Skype icons was gone from Launcpad as soon as I had dragged it into the trash - put it back into /Applications, and voila there was just 1 Skype icon in Launcpad... anyway don't quote me on this, might have been something else I had done previously, don't have other duplicates to test it out with atm.)

I deleted the Launcpad Control app that some young dude made - cause it doesn't really work...yet... Genereally I think I'll try to avoid too many Lion alteration programs, as these things are probably only temporary issues with the new OS.

 

[Mere]

LaunchpadCleaner 2

Guys, check out LaunchpadCleaner 2, the Missing Apple Launchpad Manager!

Features

• Delete any App icons or Containers
• Edit App Label
• Edit Container Label
• Create new Container
• Backup/Restore Launchpad layout
• Restore Default OS X Lion launchpad
• Select/deselect all Apps and Container
• Transfer Launchpad layout to another Mac!

 

[Pndrgnsvc]

Another approach…

1. I merely went to my Applications Folder and deleted the offending application, but not all the associated files, plists, etc.

2. Then I restarted.

3. Reinstalled the offending app.

Success, no more duplicate!

You may need to reregister the serial number, but I did not have to.

 

[scinto32]

3rd party apps

There are a number of 3rd party apps that can solve your problem:
- Launchpad Control (free, but very simple and sometimes corrupts db)
- Launchpad Cleaner (free version is a bit dumb and it's very slow to load, also needs AIR)
- Launchpad Manager (this one seems quite similar to Cleaner, maybe it's done by the same guy but it's a native app and the free version is also usable)

 

[vusagee]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

Thank you so much, this worked great for me, in fact, in Lion OS X if you delete, or simply drag and drop application from applications folder to trash, it automatically removes all icons in launchpad related to that application, then you can simply drag and drop the application from your trash back to applications folder and voila indeed, only one icon appears in your launchpad.

 

[shikom]

Thanks baryon. What you said worked for me - Good Show!!

 

[QuarterSwede]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

Sorry for the thread resurrection but I just had to thank this guy. Totally works and only took 5 seconds. Brilliant!

 

[steve123]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

+1 for this solution. I did not even have to remove the icons. When I moved the app to the trash the icons were automatically deleted. When I moved it back, only one icon came back.

 

[I WAS the one]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

WOW HAT'S OFF THIS GUY! (it's not that I think I'm a genius but I was able to handle every troubleshooting issue on Macs since 1992 and the double icon issue was killing me. I tried the terminal, I hack the Launchpad I even load the Mac as a root user and I wasn't able to fix it! then This guy appear from nowhere and kill the problem with a samurai sword without blinking!

HAIL TO THE BARYON!

 

[Mykellee]

Dupe in another folder

I used finder to type the name of the app and found that one was in the application folder and the other one was in a second folder created by the app when downloaded and installed. I deleted the second app and folder and all is well.

 

[icequeen]

This works for me

This solution which I got from another forum has really worked for me, on two different Macs.

================
1. Run Terminal

2. Type sudo rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
to remove the problematic Launchpad database

3. Enter user password to permit change

4. Type sudo killall Dock
to recreate a new database

5. Exit Terminal

=================

 

[victmo]

This solution which I got from another forum has really worked for me, on two different Macs.

================
1. Run Terminal

2. Type sudo rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
to remove the problematic Launchpad database

3. Enter user password to permit change

4. Type sudo killall Dock
to recreate a new database

5. Exit Terminal

=================

This method totally worked for me.
Thanks, icequeen!

 

[Chrystal Ocean]

This solution which I got from another forum has really worked for me, on two different Macs.

================
1. Run Terminal

2. Type sudo rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
to remove the problematic Launchpad database

3. Enter user password to permit change

4. Type sudo killall Dock
to recreate a new database

5. Exit Terminal

=================

Thank you! That worked for me!!
(Except the prompt for the password happened after the killall command. In other words, the order of 3 & 4 was switched.)

 

[organic bond]

I figured out a way to eliminate duplicate app icons from LaunchPad!

Here's how to do it:

1. Put both (duplicate) icons side by side. You don't have to do this, but it makes it easier to see.
...

Yes, it worked for me, thank you!

 

[Bahaa_Alrifai]

This works for me

This solution which I got from another forum has really worked for me, on two different Macs.

================
1. Run Terminal

2. Type sudo rm ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/*.db
to remove the problematic Launchpad database

3. Enter user password to permit change

4. Type sudo killall Dock
to recreate a new database

5. Exit Terminal

=================

This method totally worked for me.
Thanks, icequeen!

 

[eddiepacs]

Another method is the following:

1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad and click any of the duplicated icons
3. It won't open the app, so it will then allow you to delete the app when you press Alt
4. Keep the other icon, so basically, only delete the duplicate (it doesn't matter which one is the original and which one is the duplicate)
5. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder, Done!

Thanks, @baryon !! This solution still works in 2020 (with Catalina)

Modified steps based on my experience:
1. Go into your Applications folder and delete the app that's duplicated in Launchpad
2. Go into Launchpad. In my experience, the icons hung around for a couple of seconds but then they both disappeared.
3. Remove any aliases that may be stuck on your desktop or dock
4. Move your app from the Trash back to the Applications folder ("Put Back")
5. Only one instance of the App will come back to the Launchpad