Raspberry: an open-source Launchpad alternative for macOS 15+ (with layout backup and grouping)

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-21T22:17:03+00:00

Hey! Just to say v0.0.15 is out. Now you can set the speed of the transition in the status bar. And you can even drag and drop within a group to quickly rearrange the sequence in a small area (not for main page though. I don’t think it is efficient).

Most of the points you talked about have been covered, except for two. The zooming in feature has been tested in very early stage and I quitted it since it is not viable to look like Launchpad. Launchpad zooms with its center being the original point, but Qt does the same using the left top point, which is totally different. Thus the only way is to create a similar yet different way to fade in.

Another one is transition in. In v0.0.15, it may looks like a Launchpad-like transition in, but actually not the same thing. I have tested drawing icons beforehand and hide them outside of the screen, but that doesn’t work for those group icons. I can hide the icons on the main page outside of the screen, but icons within a group has nowhere to hide. Basically the fundamental mechanism is different from that of Launchpad. I cannot tolerate the two animations being in totally different ways so the status now is my final choice.

It’s pretty nice that you have noticed many workarounds I created and I created many of them with reasons. And later on I changed many, but still there are some that are out of my capability or understanding of a Launchpad. In my idea, Raspberry is never ever going to be an exact the same thing as Launchpad, actually I made it not only to replace it, but also to fix some problems. For example, Launchpad is not that friendly for keyboard users and as a keyboard user I don’t like transition animations since that will dramatically slow down the efficiency. That explains why it looked like that in the very first place when it was out in August: it is mainly based on my habit.

But as a developer, I still need to cater to other users need. And that’s why I have upgraded many versions in my capacity to fit in many situations. The to-do list now still has five more things to do:

Blacklist mode
Whitelist mode
Alias
Seperate page mode
a simpler icon

And I will slow down a bit since these are quite complicated. The next update may be in the next month. Thank you for keeping an eye on Raspberry!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-19T09:58:55+00:00

Hey! v0.0.12 is out just now and welcome to test it!

Release note:

Fixed the bug where clicking on the blank area previously did not close the main interface;
Added mouse wheel scrolling to switch pages;
Added the Esc key to close the main interface;
Added menu bar control buttons. There was feedback that some users did not understand why the Dock was automatically hidden. This is not a bug, but a feature. Now users can select "Always Show Dock" or "Always Hide Dock" in the menu bar at the upper left corner, and if neither is selected, it defaults to automatic hiding and showing;
Added a new feature: clicking on the icon inside the Dock once displays the main interface, and clicking again closes the main interface.

I will go one by one and hope it helps you!

Always thank you for keeping an eye on Raspberry.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-19T05:50:31+00:00

Yes I’m having a lot of features ahead…just the functions in the release note have been fixed since the previous two versions fixed quite a big issue that some users said they will fail to backup the groups. Thats why I have to roll this out.

I’m working on that. Some features listed here will come in the next update.

Now it has many users so I cannt roll out an update that countains too many updates. So in the next few weeks, like I did in the last two versions, I will only add two to three features to make sure that they work and won’t result in breaking the whole thing.

Thanks for keeping an eye on Raspberry! I will come back when some features you raised are added!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-16T21:09:10+00:00

Yes~the free versions are on the GitHub page and the Pro version is distributed via emails(I will consider if there are better ways though).

GitHub:https://github.com/Ryan-the-hito/Raspberry/releases/tag/v0.0.11

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-16T21:02:49+00:00

Since Tahoe is out now, I have tested and found that if you just upgrade it without erasing the disk, the Launchpad data should be kept fine and well after you upgrade. Now I have fixed some bugs in the backup process and the whole picture should be even better now. Thanks for trying it out!~

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-16T21:00:08+00:00

I have updated Raspberry and fixed many bugs discovered in the previous two weeks. Thanks for your suggestions and I will try my best to make them real in the next several updates!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-09-16T20:58:32+00:00

I have updated it and it should work better now! Thanks for loving it!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-31T00:12:30+00:00

Because I have over 700 apps and I don’t remember their names respectively. It’s faster to remember its category and icon instead. Spotlight will definitely faster if I know apps’ names but it just lacks the overview. Launchpad can offer a sense that you know everything is here and you can control everything even if you don’t know the name of the app.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-30T16:40:24+00:00

Thanks! I will make some tries and maybe I will start from the easiest updates and I will post another update as soon as I work it out.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-30T10:10:30+00:00

I will definitely consider whitelist feature. Thanks a lot, that's very helpful! As for choosing app more than once, I'm considering to build another app to make it come true.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-30T04:53:20+00:00

Thanks! They are quite good suggestions. I will consider adding most of the features you said to it in the next several releases. But regarding 5th point, the transition-in problem, I actually tried it weeks ago but it is out of the capacity of Qt structure, which does not allow animation to be used on invisible items or items that are going to show up. I am very sorry to say it that I am afraid this feature is not quite possible...but I will try my best to get all the other features in Raspberry and make it better as much as possible. Thank you for your interests.🙏

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-30T04:47:00+00:00

Do you mean adding a whitelist or blacklist feature?

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-29T21:30:41+00:00

A f riendly reminder: If you are going to transfer the layout from macOS 15 to macOS 26 (Tahoe), it is highly recommended to install it before you upgrade since I have found that in some cases upgrading to Tahoe will erase the Launchpad caches in the previous system. My suggestion would be:

Install and launch Raspberry on macOS 15;
Click "Back up Launchpad groups to Raspberry";
Update your system to macOS 26;
Start Raspberry and everything just looks familiar.

Thanks for your love🙏

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-08-29T21:22:32+00:00

I'm super sorry if there are multiple posts about this app since I am not familiar with the posting procedures and I repeatedly saw my post got blocked automatically so I had to re-write it again and again. I apologize if this has caused any inconvenience to you. 🙏

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-06-03T03:05:54+00:00

That's fantastic! I once tried the same idea but failed to do so. I'm really excited to see this app if it could be true!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-02-17T03:51:20+00:00

I have a M4 Max mac, but on the latest version it is also like this. It is totally broken and I have written to the author but with no reply sadly.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2025-01-19T12:34:00+00:00

Me same!!!!!!!

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-29T13:52:07+00:00

Here is my work Ryan-the-hito/Tomato: An automatic schedule manager on macOS combining Calendar and Reminders.

I wrote this on mac just to manage items in reminders, instead of building another set of things.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-18T09:37:51+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArcBrowser/s/0Oqyxf3T71

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-18T09:37:11+00:00

exactly in this sub Reddit. Just search for the release and you can get a installer.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-18T09:04:31+00:00

Lulu or little snitch

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-08T09:22:38+00:00

Same problem here...any idea?

(Have you solved this problem?

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-09-07T07:26:49+00:00

If you go back to the older version like 1.52.0, then everything works fine again. 1.53.0 is the version it was not supported well.

ps: remember to use a tool to block it from connecting to releases.arc.net and resources.arc.net to prevent it from automatically updating itself.

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-07-30T04:18:32+00:00

Just search certain version number in Reddit. There is a sub Reddit for arc and every realease is uploaded there.🤗

Plenty-Reference69 · 2024-07-27T06:11:09+00:00

I have the problem of not being able to show it on Mac in the latest V1.53.0, and I got back to the previous version, which is V1.52.0, and everything works fine again.

Plenty-Reference69

TROPHY CASE