LaunchOS 2.1.0 for macOS

LaunchOS runs on just about any Mac you're likely using today — Apple Silicon machines and older Intel boxes, as long as you're on macOS 26. If your built-in Launchpad feels cluttered or you just want a different way to get at your apps, this is where Remix Design Studio's little utility earns its keep.

Think of it as a quieter, more focused Launchpad. You get a full-screen grid of your apps, but you can hide the ones you never touch — games, utilities, whatever — so the view stays tight. Gesture support means you swipe to open the launcher and tap the app you want. The new 2.1.0 release even lets you uninstall an app right from the grid with a long-press or a right-click, so you're not digging into Finder just to clean house. There's also a Restart command tucked into the menu bar and the right-click menu, handy after a long week. It's a straightforward swap that doesn't try to reinvent how you launch software, just tidies up the experience.

The gesture that trips up your first hour

A few things trip people up in the first hour with LaunchOS. None of them are deal-breakers, but they're worth knowing about before you wonder what you're doing wrong.

The most frequent one I hear about is the gesture not firing. You swipe with three fingers, nothing happens. Nine times out of ten, macOS has that same gesture assigned to Mission Control or App Exposé. The system grabs it before the launchos app ever sees it. Head into System Settings → Trackpad → More Gestures and free up the swipe you want LaunchOS to use. Once you do that, the launcher responds the way you'd expect.

Another gotcha: you drag the app into Applications and double-click it, but the built-in Launchpad still opens when you use the F4 key or a pinch. That's normal. LaunchOS doesn't hijack Apple's shortcuts — it's a separate launcher you invoke with its own gesture or keyboard shortcut. You set those in the app's preferences. Until you do, you'll keep landing in the old Launchpad and wondering if you installed anything at all.

If the app grid seems to show duplicates, it's not a bug. What you're seeing is probably apps that live in both /Applications and ~/Applications. LaunchOS picks up both locations, which is actually useful once you realize what's happening. Hide the copy you don't need with a right-click and the list cleans right up.

Right-click for more than uninstalling

There are a handful of touches in LaunchOS that aren't shouted about. The kind of things you stumble into after a few days and then can't unsee.

• The right-click context menu does more than uninstall. It also skips the launch animation entirely — the app opens in the background while you stay in the grid. Sounds minor, but when you're cycling through three or four utilities, it keeps your rhythm.
• Holding the Option key while clicking an app reveals its actual file location in Finder. No digging, no Spotlight. Useful when you're troubleshooting or just curious where something installed itself.
• The status bar menu isn't just for Restart. It lists your five most-recently launched apps. Click any of them to jump back in. If you bounce between the same few programs all day, that little menu replaces a swipe.
• Grid size isn't locked to one of three presets. You can type a custom number of columns and rows in the preferences field. A tighter grid fits more icons without shrinking them to postage stamps; a looser one gives your eyes room to breathe.

Also worth a nod: the Liquid Glass effect doesn't eat battery on Apple Silicon Macs the way some translucent UI tricks do. Remix Design kept it light. You can toggle it off if you prefer a flat look, but on a recent Mac you probably won't need to.

Stop treating it like a Dock replacement

The first mistake is treating LaunchOS like it's supposed to replace the Dock. It's not. It's a full-screen launcher — a grid you pop open, grab an app, and dismiss. People who try to keep it open constantly end up frustrated. Use it like you'd use Spotlight or Alfred: invoke, act, move on.

Another common one: hiding too many apps too early. On day one, you don't yet know which utilities you'll actually need. I've watched folks hide Disk Utility, Terminal, or Activity Monitor, then scramble when something goes sideways. Give it a week of normal use, then prune. The hiding feature is there to reduce noise, not to burn bridges.

Beginners also overlook that uninstalling from the grid moves the app to Trash but doesn't touch its support files — preferences, caches, the stuff that piles up in ~/Library. That's not a flaw; it's a design choice. A long-press uninstall is fast and safe, but if you want a truly clean sweep, you'll still need a dedicated uninstaller or a manual sweep. Knowing that ahead of time saves you from thinking LaunchOS cracked the code on complete app removal when it's really doing a tidy single-step delete.

Version 2.1.0 brought a couple of practical additions. You can now uninstall an app directly from the launcher grid with a long-press or a right-click, and a Restart command was added to both the status bar menu and the right-click context menu.

• macOS 26 or later
• Apple Silicon or 64-bit Intel processor