macOS Tahoe removed Launchpad folders — how to organize apps now?

SyntaxError74 wrote:

This tells me Apple clearly did not VET or think this decision through. With this rash decision and the fact the new MacBooks are out with only an M5 chip offered, no Pro or Max version, I seriously believe Apple is running into financial trouble.

That's fine, but this is a user forum. To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

As for Apple's financial situation, maybe you also seriously believe the moon is made of green cheese. Check the financial news.

A comparable rant, but with some work-around here:

https://www.macobserver.com/news/launchpad-is-gone-in-macos-26-and-users-hate-the-replacement/

And the worst part is the Spotlight Search doesn't work all the time. I have apps that I can clearly see in the list. However, the moment I typed in the name (just a few couple characters), it will display "Not found".

The issue comes and goes.

The Spotlight is getting worse in the last couple releases of macOS in my experience.

And the workaround I have (since the LaunchPad is replaced with broken Spotlight), I need to use Finder to locate the app and open from there.

Not a fan - lost customization. It's like a maximumist came into my home office and dumped all my folders and files onto the desk like a game of 52 card pickup...though in alphabetical order...looking for a third party app to put order to this chaos.

Completely agree and it is time for 3rd party app to shine. I posted a link for a decent 3rd party app and it was free. But my post got removed each time. So, good luck with you guys. macOS 26 didn't really change the look and feel much except make things worse in some areas.

Jobs used to say customers don't know what they want until they are shown. And this is one of those "not this time" experiences.

The above link has excellent information. My posts were taken down regarding same discussion; this other url has the facts laid out and potential work around. Hopefully they won’t delete the folders and ability to sort on the iPhone and iPad too, as I have way more apps on that and the forced organizational screens which appear at the end of your own homepage screens are not sorted in a way useful to me and would be a major loss in efficiency to be forced to only use those - like 52 card pick up - hunt to find the app you need or try to remember the exact name to use Spotlight.

I agree they NEED to bring back the ability to make custom folders. If they wanna make it look more like iOS fine, but even on iOS you can make folders (i have almost all my apps on my phone in folders). I had my launchpad organized into very specific folders based on types of app and what I use and when. The new default categories are not helpful. For example, under “Creativity” it’s doesn’t even include Photoshop, much less any lesser-known apps. It seems to be only including default Apple apps - all the apps I’ve downloaded, software like Spotify and OBS, games from Steam, and everything else, is now only available in Finder (and ofc my most-used ones are already pinned to my dock). This is a terrible change for anyone that uses their laptop for more than casual web browsing. Like I’ve been using Mac since like 2014 cuz I’ve always loved the user experience. But they keep this up and its gonna be no better than Windows (which I hate - but ironically hate less the more they copy Mac. Istg if both companies keep copying each other and end up being exact copies of each other but worse than Mac used to be…..). Fun fact this update still didn’t fix the Finder issue I’ve been having for over a year where the search bar refuses to pull any results period when I’m in an upload file window.

The way I see this, Apple is either very tired of coding Launchpad OR ran out of money to support Launchpad. Absolutely make NO SENSE why Launchpad could not coexist with their new method. Don't understand how a machine that is designed to assist you work smarter and faster is now forcing you to type more and more to reach the apps that WERE within a graphical click away. Even if they wanted to get rid of launchpad, why not give users the option to organize into their own custom folders? Windows 11 is looking really good for if I ever have to replace my Macbook, just cannot be bothered with all these rash decisions Apple is making. Not for a machine that is around $4,000 dollars and you cannot even perform a task as simple as organizing your apps into a polished presentation. This was one of the main selling points for organized folks.

Apparently we aren’t complaining enough to get them to change. Even the people who at Apple. They would have use new LaunchPad. Not a single person has comment or concern? Or Apple wasn’t listening. The worst part is - the search function doesn’t work perfectly. It can’t find my installed app. Useless indeed.

Having the same issue - lots of my apps don't have easy names, and it doesn't let me search by programme type either... For a company that was originally known for making things feel seamless and easy, this is genuinely frustrating. Quite a few have actually disappeared from the new launch pad (all my third-party work apps!) entirely. Wishing I hadn't updated software before starting work today!

Frustrating as I have to update mine as it is a work machine (MDM) but this is genuinely making it harder to work on. Next time I won't bother filling out the exception form to get a Mac - will just take their standard Windows machine...

SyntaxError74 wrote:

LOL, I don't go by any news these days. There are a lot of financial wizards that live among us... I strictly go by your performance... and if it doesn't add up.. something ELSE is wrong...

So you're basing your analysis of Apple's financial health on 1) you not liking the decision to abandon Launchpad and 2) Apple launching the M5 chip but not yet launching the M5 Pro and Max variants?

Perhaps you're unaware that only the M3 chip launched concurrently with it's Pro and Max variants, while the base M1, M2, and M4 chips launched between 2 and 11 months prior to their higher-power siblings. The M5 seems to be following that typical pattern.

This is just my personal observation of the situation, not really interested in what they did in the past and I could be wrong. In my opinion, these are really easy tasks to perform, especially if you have deep pockets and access to resources like Apple. In the end, the customer is always right.

Whether they have money or not is not really the focus here. The main issue here is why are they making these rash decisions to disable a tool that was helpful to many on this list. The AI or tech world is trying to move forward with making the computing experience easier for all, well I thought we were until this decision came about. The new app folder in Tahoe sends us back to the days of MS-DOS and command prompt. The whole point in using a GUI is to AVOID typing out everything I thought.

The bottom like is that this was Apple's decision. Your characterization of that decision as 'rash' has no basis in fact, neither of us has any idea what internal discussions supported this decision. Apple has abandoned both hardware features (floppy drives, optical drives, user-replaceable storage and memory, FIreWire, etc.) and software features (iTunes, Dashboard, macOS Server, etc.). Life and users have moved on.

Apple designs and builds the hardware, and Apple develops and owns macOS. You can choose whether or not to buy Apple products, and you can provide feedback using the link I previously posted.

Thanks for the very useful advice, which helps to overcome some of the problems caused by the removal of Launchpad. Incidentally, we have a vivid expression in Polish for the necessity of such actions: ‘reaching into your left pocket with your right hand’.

[Edited by Moderator]