How to import your old Launchpad layout on macOS 26 and 27

Importing the old Launchpad layout, in short:

Can it be done?

Yes, if your Mac used Launchpad on macOS 15 or earlier and the old Launchpad database is still there

What comes across

Pages, folders with their names, and the order of every icon

In LaunchHome

⋯ button next to the search field › Import System Launchpad Layout. Free, and your current layout is backed up first

Where the old layout lives

A database in your user’s system folder: $(getconf DARWIN_USER_DIR)com.apple.dock.launchpad/db/db

Brand-new Mac

Nothing to import. Start from the automatic folders by category instead

The old Launchpad saved your layout in a database for each user account. macOS 26 and 27 no longer use it, but an upgrade usually leaves it in place, so a replacement app can still read it.

It works if this Mac, with this user account, used Launchpad before upgrading. It won’t work on a brand-new Mac that started on macOS 26 or 27. If you moved to a new Mac with Migration Assistant, just try it: if no database is found, it wasn’t carried over.

It takes a few seconds:

1. Install LaunchHome and open it once, so it can finish loading your apps.
2. Click the ⋯ button next to the search field and choose Import System Launchpad Layout. The same button is on the Organize tab in settings.
3. Confirm. The pages, folders and order of the old Launchpad replace the current layout; the current one is backed up first.
4. A message tells you how many pages and folders were imported. Press F4 to see them.

Your pages, folders, folder names and the order of every icon come across as they were.

Apps you deleted since then are skipped. A folder left with only one app becomes a plain icon, and an empty page is dropped.

Apps you installed later aren’t in the old layout, so they’re added after it. Apps you had hidden in LaunchHome stay hidden.

LaunchHome reads a copy of the database and never changes the original, so you can import again at any time.

The system Launchpad database wasn’t found: this Mac or user account has no old layout. This is normal on a new Mac. Your apps are already filed into folders by category, so start from there; see How to organize Launchpad.

Couldn’t read the system Launchpad database: quit and reopen the app, then try again. If it keeps failing, the database may be damaged.

The system Launchpad database has no layout to import: the database exists but holds no pages, for example because Launchpad was reset just before the upgrade.

The app list is still loading: wait a moment and try again.

Still on macOS 15? Copy the database somewhere safe before upgrading; the command is in Reset and back up your Launchpad layout.

Once your layout is in LaunchHome, save it with Export Layout under Backup on the Organize tab (Pro). On your next Mac, Import Layout brings it back without needing the old Launchpad at all.