Apps.app not working when upgrading to Tahoe

champion77 wrote:

I did get it working after having to create a new user account and manually drag everything over to the new user.

Ok. That means you didn't get it working. You just abandoned the account. That is one way to get it working. If you're happy with the way it is, then you don't have to do anything else.

When you say there are two "Spotlights," I don't see that in the settings anywhere where you can turn one off or on, nor do I see anywhere that I could enable or disable apps.app, which is the application the icon on the Dock is linked to.

That's somewhat, but also the opposite, of what I was saying. The Apps.app that you're talking about is just a user interface for Spotlight. There is a page of settings in System Settings > Spotlight. It's a long list of things you can exclude from Spotlight. But if you read carefully, it's just a list of things that "will appear in Spotlight search results". So none of this changes Spotlight. It only limits what you might see from it.

And there is also a "Search Privacy" button at the bottom where you can exclude certain locations from Spotlight.

All of the checkboxes should be checked and the Search Privacy list should be empty. It's possible that your old account had some different settings.

You might also have some 3rd party Spotlight plugins in System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions > Extensions > By Category > Spotlight. However, given that it is only broken in one account, this probably isn't the cause. But if you ever did have problems with Spotlight, the first thing to do is go to this location and disable all 3rd party Spotlight plugins.

There are many other solutions to Spotlight problems that have been posted on the internet. They are all incorrect. I only mention this because these kinds of incorrect solutions are extremely popular and are a never-ending source of frustration. Of course, everyone always blames it on Apple, never the random Terminal commands they copied from an anonymous Reddit post. Those kinds of things never work, but they are quite likely to do something like break a key OS app in some future upgrade, as you describe.

champion77 wrote:

I am a longtime Apple "fanboy," and have used Macs since 2004. I've never had real problems with upgrading except a minor hiccup a long time ago with continual restarting.

HOWEVER - I finally decided to update to Tahoe on my 2022 MacBook Air M2 24G ram, 2TB SSD. I made sure all of the apps and Logic Pro plugins that mattered to me were ready for Tahoe. I've had to spend literally all day trying to get it to work properly.

The main issue: apps.app (replaced Launchpad) will not open from the dock or from the Applications folder. It does absolutely nothing. So I either live with it, or I need to find a fix. I don't care what other apps I have installed, Apple has to be better at preventing these kinds of issues.

I tried restarting and that did not work. I also tried creating a new user to test. That worked, being a new user account.

BUT I wanted all my settings back, so I used migration Assistant to get everything back, so I created yet another user. After 3.5 hours of waiting, I opened it up, and apps.app did not work - again!! So I resorted to creating yet another user account, and had to rebuild everything from scratch.

There is nothing I could find online, at least yet that addresses this. When I "google" it, I only find a lot of other issues Tahoe has had already. I know it's early, but I, like others want the latest because of security more than anything.

Finally, after all day, I have apps.app working. But it shouldn't be this kind of ordeal to get a part of the OS this basic to function properly.

Oh well. At least the OS was free.

If anyone has a known fix for this, I'd love to hear about it so I can at least know what else I could have done to save myself some precious time and headache.

[Edited by Moderator]

If the user believes all these current issues stem specifically from macOS 26 Tahoe.

For a thorough test of both Tahoe / Hardware and to  determine the root cause of all the computer issues.

Use the “Atomic” option and select “Erase All Content and Settings.” Apple Silicon computer

Apple Intel computers >>   Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac followed by How to reinstall macOS

Always make a Time Machine backup before proceeding.

➡️ Run the computer without installing any additional software and without restoring from your Time Machine backups. ⬅️

Run the computer in this mode for approximately 6 to 8 hours and report back if the previous issues reoccur.

champion77 wrote:

The main issue: apps.app (replaced Launchpad) will not open from the dock or from the Applications folder. It does absolutely nothing.

Instead of dealing with apps.app, an Apple internal data structure which it may change or abolish at its discretion, use Apple’s publicized documented method to obtain the Launchpad functionality in macOS Tahoe.

View and open apps on Mac - Apple Support

champion77 wrote:

The main issue: apps.app (replaced Launchpad) will not open from the dock or from the Applications folder. It does absolutely nothing. So I either live with it, or I need to find a fix. I don't care what other apps I have installed, Apple has to be better at preventing these kinds of issues.

That's one of the biggest things that people complain about in Tahoe. But I've never seen anyone say it does nothing. It works. It's just annoying.

Check your Spotlight Settings in System Settings. The new Apps.app is just a Spotlight interface, which is why it's so useless. But if you've disabled things in Spotlight, then it won't work.

I also tried creating a new user to test. That worked, being a new user account.

And that would explain why it works a new account.

Spotlight isn't what you think. There are two of them. One is a core part of the operating system. You can't turn it off or control it in any way. The other part is the UI. There's all kinds of controls for that. But those controls merely limit what you can do. They don't change Spotlight itself as the OS won't work without it.

Finally, after all day, I have apps.app working.

OK. Now I'm confused. Why did I type all of that if you have it working?

If anyone has a known fix for this, I'd love to hear about it so I can at least know what else I could have done to save myself some precious time and headache.

A fix for what? You said it's working.