LaunchNow: an alternative macOS Launchpad with folders, search and two styles

Two launchpads in one app, one of them in a window

LaunchNow is an alternative macOS Launchpad application, and the README describes it as designed for macOS Sequoia and later, offering both a Tahoe-style interface and a classic-style one.

The distinction is the single most important design decision in the project, and it is visible in the screenshots section, where one is labelled Tahoe style, windowed, and the other classic mode, fullscreen. The system launchpad in recent macOS versions moved to a window that sits above the desktop, and some people find that worse than the old fullscreen grid, while others prefer it. LaunchNow lets you pick, and the feature list calls it dual style support, with a switch between the fullscreen launchpad style and the new window style.

The application model is also worth stating plainly. The app runs in the background and opens the launchpad window, you reach it from the Dock icon or from a custom trigger, and the README mentions adding it to Login Items so it starts with the system.

So this is not a replacement for a system component in the sense of replacing a file. It is an ordinary application that draws its own grid of your applications and gets in front of you when you ask it to. The practical consequences follow from that: it is on top of the system launchpad rather than inside it, and it holds its own layout, which is why the import and export feature exists.

The repository description frames the target as macOS Tahoe and Golden Gate, and the README is slightly more conservative, saying Sequoia and later. The version numbers suggest an actively iterated project, with releases v1.9.0, v1.9.1 and v1.9.2 in the summer and early autumn of 2026, and the last push on 2026-09-17.

Folders are made by dragging one app onto another

The folder handling is the feature that distinguishes this from the system launchpad, and the interaction is worth spelling out because it is a direct manipulation model rather than a menu.

You create a folder by dragging one app onto another. You add to a folder by dragging an app onto the folder. You remove from a folder by opening the folder and dragging the app outside. The apps can be dragged in and out of folders freely.

Around that there is a set of supporting behaviours. Icon rearrangement by drag and drop, with smooth animations, lets you lay out the grid. The lock mode is the part that makes folders usable, and it is activated by holding the Option key, which prevents other icons from moving while you create a folder or add an app to one. Hidden apps let you take an application out of the grid without deleting it. The icon size is adjustable. And there is a glass effect that can be enabled or disabled, which is the frosted background.

Import and export covers the layout configuration, so you can back it up and restore it. That is a more important feature than it sounds, because the layout is the state the application owns. If the system launchpad is the one thing you would miss, you should use the export before you start rearranging anything.

There is a small detail in the repository listing that says something about the project. A .DS_Store file is committed at the root, which is the macOS directory metadata file that Finder creates automatically. It is harmless, and it is the kind of artefact that appears in a project where the author works on their own machine and pushes from there, which is a fair description of a project maintained by one person with named contributors.

Search reaches inside folders, and the keyboard can drive it all

Two features make the app usable at speed rather than by browsing.

The first is search. It is real-time across all applications, and the README is specific that this includes the ones inside folders, which is the part the system launchpad does not do. The search field sits at the top, and typing filters the grid as you go.

The second is keyboard navigation, which the feature list calls full. Tab and Shift+Tab flip through pages, the arrow keys select an application, and Return launches it. The quick usage table adds the detail that you press down or Return to activate and then use the arrow keys, and that Escape closes or hides the window.

Pointer input is not neglected. There is trackpad gesture support, a four-finger gesture for quick access that is configurable, and the scroll sensitivity for page turning with a trackpad or mouse is adjustable too, which is a sensible control to expose in a grid of icons that you turn through many times a day.

The combination is what makes the two style modes workable. A windowed grid that you can search and drive from the keyboard is a different thing from a fullscreen grid you scroll with a trackpad, and a project that supports both has to make the interactions consistent across them, which the feature list suggests it does.

One thing the README does not mention is how the app interacts with the system launchpad, whether it replaces it, hides it or leaves it alone. That is worth checking on your own machine, because a machine with two working launchpads is a confusing thing to live with.

Thirteen languages, and a repository that is mostly localisation

The repository listing is the clearest evidence about how this project is built, and it is unusual.

There is a .lproj directory for each language, and the list covers Bulgarian, German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Vietnamese and Simplified Chinese. The feature list says 13 languages with real-time language switching, and the acknowledgements section names the translators individually, including a Dutch translation, a Russian one, a Bulgarian one, a Japanese one, a Korean one, Italian and Turkish together, and a Vietnamese one.

What stands out is the ratio. The listing is almost entirely localisation folders, one Xcode project directory, the main source directory, the licence and the readme. There is no package manifest, no continuous integration configuration and no documentation site in the tree, which says this is a native macOS application built in Xcode and distributed as a release binary rather than a project with a build pipeline for other platforms.

That is a reasonable shape for an app like this. It is a Swift application for one operating system, it is installed by dragging the bundle into the Applications folder, and it has no reason to be on a package index. The acknowledgements also name the person who did the code improvement and optimisation work separately from the translators, which is a nice signal about how the contributions split.

The translations are credited individually rather than lumped together, and the language switching is real-time, so a user can change the interface language without a restart, which for a small utility is a pleasant detail.

Installing is three steps, and there is a version scheme to follow

The getting started section is short, and it is a macOS application install rather than a package manager step.

You download the latest release from the releases page, you drag the application bundle into your Applications folder, and you launch it. It then runs in the background and opens the launchpad window. There is no installer, no package manager and no configuration file to edit before it works.

The one optional step is the login item. Adding LaunchNow to Login Items in the system settings means it starts with the system, which is what you want if you are going to use it as your primary launcher.

The quick usage table is where the interaction model becomes concrete, and it is a good sign that it exists at all. Opening the launchpad is a Dock click or a custom trigger, launching an application is a click on its icon, rearranging is a drag, creating a folder is a drag of one app onto another, adding to a folder is a drag onto the folder, removing is a drag outside the folder, lock mode is holding Option while dragging, search is typing in the field at the top, turning pages is a scroll or Tab and Shift+Tab, activating is the down arrow or Return, and closing is Escape.

The version history suggests a steady rhythm, with v1.9.0 on 2026-07-01, v1.9.1 on 2026-07-15 and v1.9.2 on 2026-09-17. The project is licensed under GPL-3.0 with the details in the licence file, and the source is in the repository, which for an application distributed as a binary is the difference between an app you can run and one you can read.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt LaunchNow if you want a launchpad that searches inside folders, that you can navigate entirely from the keyboard, and that shows either a windowed grid or the classic fullscreen view, since that combination is what it does differently from the system launchpad. Do not adopt it if you are on a macOS older than Sequoia, or if you rely on the system launchpad behaviours it does not reproduce. Before you install, export your current layout with the import and export feature so you have something to restore, and note that the whole thing is an app bundle rather than a system extension, so it runs in the background and opens its own window.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. ggkevinnnn/LaunchNow on GitHub
2. Issues
3. License: GPL-3.0
4. README
5. Releases