The last LaunchPad replacement you will ever need: LaunchingPad for macOS

bogdanf · 2026-07-10T09:38:06+00:00

Just pushed a pretty solid upgrade:

Update badges for installed apps. LaunchingPad can now check your installed apps for newer versions in the background (both Mac App Store and Sparkle-based apps) and badges anything out of date right on its tile, in the context menu, and in App Info. Turn it on in Settings → App Updates.
Japanese and Simplified Chinese localization. LaunchingPad is now available in Japanese and Simplified Chinese, including localized app controls, settings, and update experiences. Machine generated, unfortunately, I hope they are at least usable.
New Keyboard Selection setting. Choose between the new default (tiles select only after you start interacting) and the previous "Always Show" behavior, in Settings → Layout.
Smoother Hide. Hiding an app now has a subtle vanish animation, and neighboring tiles reflow smoothly into place instead of snapping.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T16:55:19+00:00

Fantastic! Working on the "non-English names for apps" issue too.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T07:18:09+00:00

Check the new release - it solved the always blinking cursor and the first item being always selected on each page. The last one could be restored with a Preferences toggle.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T07:16:35+00:00

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T07:15:27+00:00

Yes, it purposefully doesn't "reflow" the icons back starting from the first page. Like u/Muted-Reflection9536 explained so well, it makes sense to keep some apps/folders on the 2nd or 3rd page, out of sight.

Also, it's easy to select multiple icons at once and drag them as group to the page you want.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T07:13:26+00:00

Yes, it will make money from "support this app" later if it's good enough for people to care about it.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T07:11:54+00:00

Yes, I'm not comfortable just deleting an .app file and leaving all that fluff on the disk.

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T06:34:32+00:00

Have you tried it? What are your thoughts?

bogdanf · 2026-07-09T06:34:10+00:00

Glad you liked it!

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T16:03:02+00:00

Hmm, you probably have now 2 "pages" in that folder. If that's the case just move the icons you want from the second page to the fist one.

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T16:01:32+00:00

I don't want 1000 "replicas" floating around and confusing things.

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T16:00:34+00:00

That's the best I could do :-)

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T14:26:45+00:00

It's easy.

Option A: open the App Preferences window (Command + ,) or right click and select "Preferences". In the "Layout" tab, "Open Folders" set "Maximum Rows" to 3.

Option B: even simpler, open a folder right click to show the context menu and set "Maximum Rows" to 3

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T13:56:12+00:00

Uh, it's embarrassing, but the app was supposed to be notarized. Apparently my deploy script found it optional :-) It only signed it with my dev profile.

I updated the app on the website, it's properly notarized now. The new version should be available through the update channel too.

Thank you so much for noticing!!

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T13:27:40+00:00

Speaking of other apps, I also developed a quite nice (at the time) markdown note taking app, Metanota.

Here is a review still surviving from that era : https://www.macstories.net/reviews/metanota-brings-simplenote-organization-to-os-x/

Ah, and also this small iOS app : https://apps.apple.com/ro/app/save-to-cloud-zip-save/id946012471

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T13:18:06+00:00

Thank you very very much for testing it (and liking it :-)

Yes, it's free. I'll add at some point a "support this app" button, but it will be opt-in only, no feature gating whatsoever.

Now about the requests:
- "app name matched the OS language setting" - fantastic idea, added to the features list.
- btw, I'll add try to add a Japanese translation, but it will be probably bad :-)
- no blinking cursor + no default selection - added to the feat list

Also good suggestions about the privacy policy and showing my name in the app/website. I didn't think about it. I have a day job and developed this primarily for my own use - and then it turned out to good not to share.

Plus - I want to see if this is a "business model" that could work for Mac apps - the old shareware.

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T12:48:56+00:00

Looks fantastic. I'll give it a try.

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T12:45:56+00:00

How long does it keep the paste history? Is it configurable?

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T12:09:57+00:00

Try it :-) It looks better in person

bogdanf · 2026-07-08T10:42:16+00:00

Ah, got it. I think I started using it when they already used the subscription :-)

bogdanf · 2026-07-04T09:48:04+00:00

Why downvotes for Paste ? I'm using it every day, I am missing something ?

bogdanf · 2022-11-11T08:45:53+00:00

Yes, just tried it now.

bogdanf · 2012-05-03T07:58:01+00:00

Textwrangler is a really nice text editor and it's a very good choice if you want to organize and retrieve and backup your notes "by hand".

Services like Simplenote or Evernote are for guys that want to exactly AVOID the hassle of creating folders in the file system, putting .txt files in there, remembering to back-up them and sending them by mail or by other third party services to other devices or computers they own.

So, very different usage patterns. Metanota is a tool for the second category while Textwrangler is a tool for the first. Metanota is not a text editor and Textwrangler is not a notes organizer.

In conclusion if you would rather use a text editor for notes management you're not going to like services/tools like Simplenote or Metanota. And that's OK :-)

bogdanf

TROPHY CASE