Your apps. Your folders. Your Mac.
A native, full-screen app launcher for everyone who misses Launchpad.
Apple moved on from the classic Launchpad in macOS Tahoe. Some of us liked seeing our apps in one place. So we brought that experience back: a full-screen grid, folders you can arrange, and a shortcut that gets you there.
No account. No subscription. No analytics. Just a small, native Mac app that launches your other Mac apps.
| A shortcut away | Open and hide with ⌃⌥Space, or record your own shortcut. Enable launch at login if you want it always ready. |
| Find it. Hit Return. | Type a few letters, move through results with the arrow keys, and launch. An empty search turns the arrows into page controls. |
| Make room for everything | Discover installed apps and system utilities. Add extra application folders through Settings. |
| Folders that feel like folders | Drag to group, rename, reorder, or pull an app back out. Your actual app files stay exactly where they are. |
| Motion with a purpose | Sliding pages, folders that expand from their icons, and smooth drag previews. Choose smooth, springy or minimal motion. |
| Your layout, remembered | App order and folders survive restarts. ⌘Z undoes a layout change. |
Native SwiftUI + AppKit. Universal Apple Silicon + Intel build. Respects macOS Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency.
Screenshots show the real application. English and Russian are supported. Choose System, Русский or English in Settings. System uses Russian when the primary system language is Russian and English otherwise. The shortcut and login setting pictured above are customized, not the defaults.
- Download the latest release and choose
Return-Launchpad-3.7.0-universal.dmg(or the newer version listed there). - Open the DMG and drag Return Launchpad into Applications.
- Launch it and use Control + Option + Space to show or hide it.
macOS 15.5 or newer · Apple Silicon and Intel · Free, MIT licensed
First launch: current downloads are ad-hoc signed and not notarized by Apple. macOS may block the first launch. If you trust this download, try opening it, then go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. See Apple’s instructions. No need to disable Gatekeeper system-wide.
Each release includes a .sha256 file. Put it beside the DMG and run shasum -a 256 -c Return-Launchpad-3.7.0-universal.dmg.sha256 to check the download. Updates are installed manually from Releases; quit the old app before replacing it.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Show / hide | ⌃⌥Space — configurable in Settings |
| Search | Start typing; arrows select, Return launches |
| Change page | Arrow keys with an empty search |
| Create a folder | Hold an app over the center of another, then release after the highlight |
| Move across pages | Hold the dragged app near the left or right edge |
| Open a folder while dragging | Pause over the folder |
| Move out of a folder | Drag into the highlighted “main screen” area |
| Go back / dismiss | Esc, or click empty space; inside a folder, this returns to the grid first |
| Undo / redo layout | ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z |
| Settings / quit | ⌘, / ⌘Q |
For apps in ~/Applications or another custom directory, choose Settings → Add application folder… (shown as «Добавить папку приложений…»). Access is granted for that folder and remembered. Full Disk Access is not required.
The launcher keeps icons cached so the next page is ready. It stays available in the background when hidden, without adding an icon to your menu bar. Bring it back with your shortcut or from the Dock.
Want to polish an animation, improve accessibility or report a bug? Contributions and ideas are welcome.
Built with: SwiftUI · AppKit · Core Animation · KeyboardShortcuts. Third-party notices.
If you missed Launchpad too, give the project a star. Let’s keep the grid around.
Star history
MIT License. An independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple. App icons in screenshots belong to their respective owners.