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macOS Tahoe Transforms Launchpad Into App Library

What are these? storeuid and sociallayerd?

Screenshot 2025-06-09 at 7.35.56 PM.png
 
Ankaa said:
I just don't understand this, like so many things. Like Dashboard. Like, no one is forced to use it, it can easily be hidden or turned off. But it's plenty useful and well-loved by those who DO use it and have integrated it into their workflows.

(Forced) change for the sake of change.
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Can you download louchpad of the internet to get it back if Apple removed it?
 
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Can you drag an application off of it and into the trash or did they migrate that absent feature from Launchpad as well?
 
Fail. It is fugly, AND in Launchpad I can place apps in folders within Launchpad, choose the order, put certain productivity apps together by type and frequency. I control the layout. Apple says forget about the user knowing what works best for their workflow, here eat this garbage instead.

Like some else said, this is a step backwards. But then again when did the App Library come to the iPhone, and you still have NO control over the organization and layout.
 
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Is there a way to have it revert to the old way, if that is the way that you prefer?
 
GMShadow said:
Drag your Applications folder from the Finder over to the right side of the Dock as a Stack, then it'll work just like a tidier LaunchPad.
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I have been using that method (albeit showing as list) since I fully switched to the Mac around Mac OS X Tiger
 
Populus said:
Actually… didn’t Snow Leopard work like that? I remember opening the Apps folder on the dock… and waiting until the icons loaded before clicking on one of them.
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In List mode the icons appear instantly so no waiting
 
Ankaa said:
No, not essentially the same thing. For one, many of us prefer a minimalist dock. That aside, I can easily open launchpad from wherever with gestures instead of having to navigate the cursor to the dock, first (I work on a dual screen setup, one of which is 27"... yes, it makes a difference in workflow). And I can have different pages for different types of programs that I can swipe between, for example, I can have folders, ... it's one of the things that swapped over from iOS that actually makes a lot of sense and is really great and useful.

And the spotlight alternative that some suggested and many seem to use is also not really a great alternative. I'm a visual person. I know which icons to click. I don't want to have to think about the actual apps name, nevermind that spotlight has become very cluttered.
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I agree with all of this. I've been using Launchpad since I got my MacBook Air in 2013. The pinch gesture to get to it was quick, and I knew where everything is, because I put the apps there! Everything else not on the main screen or in folders, I can search quickly.

First they killed Dashboard, then they killed Launchpad. :(
 
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Slix said:
I agree with all of this. I've been using Launchpad since I got my MacBook Air in 2013. The pinch gesture to get to it was quick, and I knew where everything is, because I put the apps there! Everything else not on the main screen or in folders, I can search quickly.

First they killed Dashboard, then they killed Launchpad. :(
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Why can’t you just download Launchpad?
 
Slix said:
First they killed Dashboard, then they killed Launchpad. :(
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I'm STILL mourning Dashboard. Sometimes I'm amazed to realize just how many people apparently never understood (let alone use) their Macs' full potential, which includes clean and tidy workflows. (don't even get me started on how nowadays-widgets are NOT even remotely a Dashboard alternative, but I digress...)

Like, it's cool if someone just didn't use Dashboard/Launchpad and found it stupid or superfluous or whatever. But to those of us who actually use them, they made life infinitely easier.

Slix said:
The pinch gesture to get to it was quick, and I knew where everything is, because I put the apps there!
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Exactly. All those "apps folder in dock" and "spotlight" suggestions fail to understand that Launchpad can be organized in a way that my brain understands.
 
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Reactions: Makisupa Policeman, AuronQuake, platinumaqua and 5 others
Oh man, for a second I thought they were talking about the other view (mission control, had to google for a bit to figure out what it was called) and got scared.

I never use launchpad but I'll riot if they take mission control away from me.
 
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A lot of weird little choices made across the 26 update that will probably change between now and the fall, I think this will be one of them
 
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Populus said:
And…of course, just like on iOS/iPadOS, you still cannot re-categorise the apps, right?
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Isn’t that what the Home Screen is for on iOS/iPadOS? I already do more on my iPad than my Mac so I love what they’ve done for iPadOS 26!
 
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