Terminal trick that brings back Launchpad on macOS 26 no longer works

Editor’s note September 18, 2025: This no longer works with the official release of macOS 26. This can still work with early Tahoe betas. If you attempt to perform it in the official release of Tahoe, Spotlight and the Apps app will stop working. You need to perform the step to restore Spotlight and Apps, as detailed below.

Apple last month announced macOS 26 Tahoe, the next major update to the Mac operating system. While it comes with a lot of new features, including the Liquid Glass interface, Live Activities, and a powerful new Spotlight, the update also killed off a feature that has lived on the Mac for over a decade.

With macOS 26, Apple replaced Launchpad with a new app launcher integrated with Spotlight. But if you’re like me and miss Launchpad, there’s a way to bring it back.

For those unfamiliar, Launchpad on the Mac is essentially a “home screen” that shows all the apps you have installed, just like on the iPhone and iPad. It was introduced with OS X Lion in 2010 at a time when Apple wanted to bring more of the iPad experience to the Mac.

While some users never got used to having Launchpad on their Mac, I always liked having a way to organize my apps the way I wanted. For instance, Launchpad lets me create multiple pages and place apps in folders, so I don’t need to remember the name of an app I rarely use; I just need to remember where it is in Launchpad.

But macOS 26 has changed that, as the list of apps is now integrated into Spotlight, so you need to search for everything. While the new interface is certainly more minimalist, it doesn’t let users organize apps the way they want.

Apple

How to bring Launchpad back in macOS 26

Editor’s note: these instructions no longer work in the official release of macOS Tahoe. Performing these instructions in the official release will disable Spotlight and Apps. To restore functionality, follow the instructions in the “if you want to revert to the new Spotlight” section.

Luckily, there’s a way to reverse this, at least for now. If you’re running the macOS 26 beta on your Mac and want Launchpad back, just follow these steps. A word of warning: Messing with commands in Terminal, especially the sudo (superuser do) command, is not something casual users should do, as it could cause issues with your machine and require a reinstallation of the OS. And we recommend backing up your files before installing a beta for the same reason.

1. Open the Terminal app inside Applications > Utilities.
2. Write the following command and hit Return: sudo mkdir -p /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain
3. Enter your Mac’s password and press Return (you must be logged into an admin account)
4. Write the following command and hit Return: sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/SpotlightUI.plist SpotlightPlus -dict Enabled -bool false
5. Reboot your Mac

Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to use Launchpad again in macOS 26 beta. However, this command also brings back the old Spotlight experience without the enhancements introduced with macOS 26, such as clipboard history and integration with the Shortcuts app. (In beta 4, we lost Spotlight altogether, so it could break more than you bargained for.)

If you want to revert to the new Spotlight (and consequently disable Launchpad), redo all the same steps above but enter the following command instead:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/SpotlightUI.plist SpotlightPlus -dict Enabled -bool true

Keep in mind that while this trick works on macOS 26 beta 3, Apple might break it in future versions of macOS. macOS 26 will be released to the public this fall. A public beta is expected to be available in the next few days.