Launchpad is macOS’s equivalent to the iOS home screen—a grid of all installed applications. Over time, as you install, uninstall, and organise applications, Launchpad can become cluttered. Folders might contain leftover apps, icons may spread across multiple pages unnecessarily, and the layout can become generally frustrating to navigate.
Unlike the iOS home screen, there is no button in macOS System Settings to “Reset Launchpad.” However, you can force macOS to completely rebuild the Launchpad database and restore the default alphabetical layout using a single Terminal command.
What Happens When You Reset Launchpad?
Before running the reset command, you should know exactly what it does:
- Default Apple Apps First: Page 1 of Launchpad will be restored to display only native Apple applications (Safari, Mail, Calendar, Messages, etc.) in their original default arrangement.
- Third-Party Apps Next: All third-party applications you have installed will be moved to Page 2 (and subsequent pages) and will be strictly alphabetised.
- Custom Folders Deleted: Any custom folders you have manually created in Launchpad will be destroyed, and their contents will be alphabetised on the later pages.
- No Apps Deleted: This process strictly resets the visual arrangement. It will not uninstall or delete any actual applications from your Mac.
How to Reset Launchpad Using the Terminal
To reset Launchpad, we need to instruct macOS to delete the SQLite database file where the layout preferences are stored. Once deleted, the system immediately generates a fresh database with the default layout.
- Open the Terminal application. You can find it by pressing Command + Space, typing “Terminal”, and pressing Return.
- Copy the following command exactly as written and paste it into the Terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.dock ResetLaunchPad -bool true; killall Dock
- Press Return.
Your screen will flash briefly, and the Dock at the bottom of your screen will momentarily disappear and reappear. This is completely normal—the killall Dock portion of the command forcefully restarts the Dock service, which is also responsible for managing Launchpad.
Now, open Launchpad (either by clicking its icon in the Dock or pinching with four fingers on your trackpad). You will see that Page 1 is perfectly restored to the default Apple applications, and all your third-party software is neatly alphabetised on the following pages.