AppGrid Updates Blocked From App Store
Apple replaced Launchpad with a new “Apps” view — a hybrid of Spotlight search and a scrolling list of your installed applications. You can access it from the Dock or via keyboard shortcut, but it behaves very differently from the old grid.
[…]
AppGrid is a grid-based app launcher built specifically for macOS Tahoe. It’s the fastest way to restore the Launchpad experience[…]
I was never a Launchpad guy, but I know some people really miss it. He says that the app got a lot of traction, but then:
About three months in, Apple blocked all further updates. The reason: too similar to Launchpad — the feature they had just removed from the OS. I appealed several times, got nowhere, and eventually gave up.
The weirdest part is that they didn’t pull the app, but forced it into a zombie state. It’s still on the App Store right now, still selling, and Apple is still collecting 30% on every sale. They just won’t let me ship updates. I can’t fix bugs, can’t respond to competitors, can’t add the features users are asking for. It’s frozen in place, generating revenue for both of us, without any way to improve the product further.
So I’ve been building direct distribution outside the App Store at appgridmac.com. The unsandboxed version can do things the App Store build never could — hot corner activation, for instance, which is the single most requested feature from former Launchpad users but is blocked in the sandboxed version.
[…]
Apple told me they would accept updates if I made the app look different enough from Launchpad. But by then thousands have paid for it already, and they paid exactly for it being as similar to Launchpad as possible, so I decided not to go down that route[…]
Apple does allow other apps such as LaunchMe to have modes that look like Launchpad:
Simply download and install the app to begin customizing your app launcher to bring back Launchpad experience.
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When you first open LaunchMe, you’ll need to change one setting to get “Classic View” like Launchpad had before the macOS 26 Tahoe update.
The guidelines prohibit apps that are “confusingly similar to an existing Apple product, interface” (5.2.5), but of course Launchpad no longer exists. These weird App Store situations—inconsistent application of rules, approved but can’t update—are in a way the most frustrating.
Previously:
- Updates to Vibe Coding Apps Rejected From the App Store
- Apple Wins Musi App Store Removal Lawsuit
- Searching for Apps With Spotlight
- macOS Tahoe 26 Announced
- ProtonVPN Security Updates Rejected Due to Previously Approved App Description
- Apple Hasn’t Blocked Telegram App, But Won’t Allow Updates
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I still miss Dashboard.
Also good on this developer for ditching the Mac App Store. Well, sort of, being that they still have that zombie listing.
