LaunchingPad
LaunchingPad is a macOS app launcher that shows your installed apps in a full-screen grid with folders, search, and customizable layouts.
What is LaunchingPad?
LaunchingPad is a native macOS app launcher that helps you browse and open installed apps from a full-screen icon grid. Developed by Bogdan Farca, it is designed for people who want a Launchpad-style experience with more control over organization and navigation. You can arrange apps across pages, group them into folders and subfolders, search with fuzzy matching, and customize the grid layout to fit your screen and workflow. The app also supports keyboard navigation, multiple ways to open the launcher such as hotkeys and gestures, and layout saving for different arrangements. It watches the Applications folders so newly installed or removed apps show up in the library without manual rebuilding. For Mac users who prefer a visual launcher over typing app names into Spotlight, LaunchingPad serves as a focused productivity utility.
Key features
- Browse installed apps in a full-screen visual grid
- Organize apps into folders and nested subfolders
- Search apps with fuzzy matching to find them quickly
- Customize columns, rows, icon size, and visual layout
- Open the launcher with hotkeys, gestures, hot corners, or the F4 key
- Navigate and launch apps with keyboard controls
- Save and switch between different app arrangements
- Show recent and frequently used apps in dedicated sections
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Safety overview
Status: Mostly safe
LaunchingPad’s behavior is consistent with its purpose as an app launcher. It monitors your Applications folders so the grid stays current, can run at login for quick access, and stores its own layout data instead of modifying Apple’s Launchpad database. Review any launch-at-login setting or update preference the same way you would for other utility apps, and only use its app removal options when you intend to uninstall something.
Recommendation: Keep LaunchingPad if you use it to launch and organize apps visually on your Mac. If you no longer want a Launchpad-style launcher, you can remove it without affecting macOS, though you will lose its custom layouts, folders, and launcher shortcuts.
Common paths
/Applications/LaunchingPad.app
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