Launchpad on macOS 27 Golden Gate: still gone, and how to get it back

Launchpad on macOS 27, in short:

Is Launchpad in macOS 27?

No. It was removed in macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27 Golden Gate didn’t restore it

What replaced it

The Apps view in Spotlight: click Apps in the Dock, or open Spotlight and press ⌘1

F4 and the pinch gesture

They open the Apps view, not a full-screen Launchpad

Old pages and folders

The Apps view ignores them. A replacement that imports the old Launchpad database can bring them back

LaunchHome on macOS 27

Supported, with macOS 27 fixes since version 1.1.3. Free to use; Pro is a one-time $9.9

For launching apps, macOS 27 keeps the setup Tahoe introduced. There is still no Launchpad app, and the key and gesture that used to open it open the Apps view in Spotlight instead.

The Apps view can search, filter by category and switch between grid and list. It still has no pages, no folders you make yourself and no way to drag icons into your own order.

Apple’s Mac User Guide describes only Spotlight for viewing and opening apps. Launchpad isn’t mentioned, so don’t expect it back in a 27.x update.

Spotlight is the central location where you can search, browse, and open your apps.

Sources: Apple, Mac User Guide: View and open apps on Mac

If you already use LaunchHome on Tahoe, your layout carries over. It lives in your home folder (~/Library/Application Support/com.wlh.launchpad/), which a macOS upgrade doesn’t touch.

After the upgrade, update LaunchHome to the latest version with Check for Updates in its settings, or brew upgrade --cask userand/tap/launchhome. Versions 1.1.3 to 1.1.5 fixed wallpaper blur and permission detection on macOS 27; see the changelog.

If the trackpad gesture stops opening it after the upgrade, open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility, turn LaunchHome off and on again, then reopen the app. Also check that the system Apps gesture is still off in Trackpad settings, since an upgrade can turn it back on.

The old Launchpad kept your pages and folders in a database in your user folder. On a Mac that used Launchpad before the upgrade, LaunchHome can read it and rebuild the same pages, folders and order.

Whether that database is still there after a big jump isn’t guaranteed, so try the import before you start arranging things by hand.

1. Install LaunchHome and open it once.
2. Click the ⋯ button next to the search field and choose Import System Launchpad Layout.
3. If it says no database was found, the old data is gone. LaunchHome has already filed your apps into folders by category, so drag things around from there.
4. Under Backup on the Organize tab in settings, choose Export Layout to keep a copy for your next Mac.

Setup is the same as on macOS 26 and takes about two minutes. The full walkthrough is in How to get Launchpad back; the short version:

1. Download LaunchHome from launchhome.app, or run brew install --cask userand/tap/launchhome. It’s signed and notarized, so it opens without warnings.
2. Press F4. If the Apps view also opens, turn off its shortcut in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts.
3. Optional: pick a four- or five-finger pinch or a hot corner (Pro) under Open LaunchHome in settings.
4. Optional: import your old Launchpad layout as described above.