How to Find and Open Apps on Mac (Sonoma, Sequoia and Tahoe)
By Eduard Bruch, developer of Jetty ·
Every app you install on a Mac lands in the Applications folder, and macOS gives you several ways to reach it: Spotlight, the Dock, Finder and, depending on your version, Launchpad or the Apps view. Which one is quickest depends on whether you know the app's name and how often you open it.
Short answer: to find any app, press Command-Space and type its name (Spotlight). To open the apps you use every day without searching, our pick, in my opinion as its developer, is Jetty: it adds up to four extra docks to the edges of your screen, or floating anywhere, each with tabs of one-click tiles for apps, files, folders, websites and Shortcuts. It is a $9.99 one-time purchase on the Mac App Store and needs macOS 14 or later.
Disclosure: I build Jetty.
1. Spotlight: find any app by name
Press Command-Space and start typing; Apple's guide says the best match is at the top, and you press Return to open it (Apple Support). It works for every installed app, including ones you have never opened. It is the free built-in answer to "where is this app?". It needs the name, and it is a search every time.
2. The Dock: click the apps you pinned
Apple's Dock guide: "Open an app: Click the app icon" (Apple Support). The Dock is quick for a handful of apps and gets hard to scan as it grows. To add or remove apps, see how to add apps to the Dock and how to remove apps from the Dock.
3. Finder: the Applications folder
In Finder, choose Go > Applications; the Go menu shows the keyboard shortcut next to each folder (Apple's keyboard shortcuts page). Every app is there, sorted by name, which makes it the place to check whether an app is installed at all. Apple notes that an app you didn't get from the App Store shows up in Spotlight once you drag it into the Applications folder (Apple Support).
4. The Apps view (macOS 26 Tahoe) or Launchpad (macOS 15 and earlier)
- macOS 26 Tahoe: Launchpad is gone. Apple's guide says to click the Apps icon in the Dock, or click the Spotlight icon in the menu bar and then the Applications icon, to browse all apps in a grid or list (Apple Support).
- macOS 15 Sequoia and earlier: click Launchpad in the Dock to see all apps in pages (Apple Support).
What changed, and seven ways to cope, are in Launchpad is gone in macOS Tahoe.
5. A bar of the apps you use: our pick for daily apps
Searching is right for the app you open once a month. For the ten or twenty you open every day, a search or a full grid is one step too many. Jetty keeps exactly those apps on screen:
- Bars on any edge. Up to four bars on the top, bottom, left or right edge, at the start, centre or end, or unlocked and floating.
- Tabs per bar. "Daily", "Design", "Admin": one click on a tab, one click on a tile.
- More than apps. Tiles also open files, folders (a click lists the folder's contents), websites and Shortcuts.
- Set up by dragging. Drag apps from the Applications folder onto a bar, or use Add Tile.
Honest limits: Jetty is not an all-apps list and has no search, so Spotlight stays the way to find something you rarely use. Its bars are on the main display only, there is no keyboard shortcut to open a bar, and an auto-hidden bar comes back from Jetty's menu-bar item rather than when you move the pointer to the edge. It does not change the macOS Dock. More detail in how to launch apps faster without Spotlight.
Which way should you use?
| You want to... | Use |
|---|---|
| Open the apps you use every day in one click | Jetty (our pick): a bar of tiles on a screen edge |
| Find an app whose name you know | Spotlight (Command-Space), free and built in |
| See every installed app | Finder > Go > Applications, or the Apps view on Tahoe (Launchpad before) |
| Keep five or six apps in the system bar | The Dock |
If your Dock is hidden and that is why you can't find anything, see Mac Dock hidden and you can't find your apps.
How we checked
On 2026-10-10 we read Apple's Mac User Guide pages on Spotlight, the Dock, the Apps view in macOS 26 and Launchpad in macOS 15, plus Apple's keyboard shortcuts page; every built-in step above links to one of them. Jetty's details come from its source code (facts); I build Jetty.
FAQ
How do I find apps on my Mac?
Press Command-Space and type the app's name, or open Finder and choose Go > Applications to see every installed app. To keep the apps you use daily in view, our pick, in my opinion as its developer, is a Jetty bar.
How do I open apps on a Mac?
Our pick for daily apps is a one-click tile on a Jetty bar (I build it). Built in, you can click the app in the Dock, search with Spotlight (Command-Space, then Return), double-click it in the Applications folder, or use the Apps view on macOS 26 (Launchpad on earlier versions).
Where are my apps on Mac?
In the Applications folder: in Finder, choose Go > Applications. On macOS 26 Tahoe, the Apps view in Spotlight shows them as a grid or list.
Why can't I find an app I just installed?
Apple says apps from the App Store appear in Spotlight automatically; for an app you downloaded elsewhere, drag it into the Applications folder and it then shows up in Spotlight.
Get Jetty on the Mac App Store. $9.99 one-time purchase, macOS 14 or later.