Launchpad keyboard shortcuts and gestures on Mac: F4, pinch, hot corners

It depends on your macOS version:

macOS 15 and earlier

The Launchpad key (F4 position), a pinch with your thumb and three fingers, the Launchpad icon in the Dock, a hot corner, or a custom shortcut in Keyboard Shortcuts

macOS 26 and 27

There is no Launchpad. F4 and the pinch gesture open the Apps view in Spotlight; you can also click Apps in the Dock, or open Spotlight and press ⌘1

With LaunchHome

F4 (no permissions needed), any key combination, a four- or five-finger pinch, a hot corner, the menu bar icon, or its icon in the Dock

Keyboard: on Mac keyboards from roughly 2015 to 2020, the F4 key shows a Launchpad icon and opens it. On later Apple silicon MacBooks, that key became the magnifying glass (Spotlight) key.

Trackpad: pinch your thumb and three fingers together to open Launchpad, spread them to close it. You can turn this on or off in System Settings › Trackpad › More Gestures.

Other ways: click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, set a hot corner to Launchpad in Desktop & Dock, or give Show Launchpad a key combination in Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts.

With Launchpad gone, the key and gesture that used to open it now open the Apps view in Spotlight. Apple’s own instructions: click Apps in the Dock, or click Spotlight in the menu bar and press ⌘1.

The Apps view can search, filter by category and switch between grid and list, but it has no pages, no custom folders and no way to drag icons into your own order.

If you install a full-screen Launchpad replacement and want F4 back, the Apps view has to give up that key first. Here’s how.

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

Open LaunchHome’s settings and go to the Shortcut tab. You can turn on several of these at once:

1. F4: it’s the default, and it uses the system hotkey API, so it needs no Accessibility or Input Monitoring permission. If the system Apps view also pops up when you press F4, turn off its shortcut in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. The MacBook magnifier key: on Apple silicon MacBooks, the F4-position key is the magnifier and opens Spotlight. Turn on Open LaunchHome with the F4 Key and that key opens the full-screen Launchpad instead; Spotlight is still on ⌘Space.
3. A custom combination: click the button next to the shortcut and press the new keys. Without modifiers only F1–F20 work, and on a MacBook you hold fn for the top-row F keys.
4. Trackpad gesture: choose a four- or five-finger pinch to open and spread to close, then grant Accessibility access when asked. First turn off the system Apps and Show Desktop gestures in System Settings › Trackpad, or both will fire.
5. Hot corner (Pro): move the pointer to a screen corner to open it. Pick a different corner from the ones set in System Settings.
6. Other ways: click the LaunchHome icon in the menu bar or in the Dock; clicking the Dock icon again closes it.

Just start typing to search, by full name, part of a name or initials. Type a calculation and the result appears.

Return opens the top result. Arrow keys, ⌘← / ⌘→ and Home / End turn pages. Esc clears the search first, then closes.