David Gewirtz / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Apple removed Launchpad in Tahoe, breaking muscle memory workflows.
Spotlight's new app grid is clunky, buggy, and nearly unusable.
A free combo of Launchie and Hot-Corners restores the Launchpad feel.
In 2011, Apple introduced Launchpad to MacOS. It's an almost pixel-for-pixel clone of the iPhone Home screen, but bigger. When it was introduced, die-hard Mac users almost universally gave it a "meh" because there were other well-traveled ways to launch apps on the Mac. But over the years, some of us grew to rely on Launchpad for its simplicity and clarity of presentation.
Also: 5 things I love about MacOS 26 Tahoe after one week with it on my Mac
But now, in MacOS Tahoe 26, it's gone. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a few screenshots of my perfectly organized Launchpad on my main machine. This is a quick snap of Launchpad on one of our spare Mac minis.
Sorry about the blurred icon, but I'm under NDA for an early release of an app I'm testing. Screenshot by David Gewirtz/ZDNET
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