OverLauncher - less bloated MacOS launcher

A native, less bloated macOS application launcher that provides a fast, searchable interface for finding and launching installed applications. No telemetry, no ads, pure functionality.

Video

Features

• Fast Search: Real-time filtering of applications as you type in
• Global Hotkey: Activate with Cmd+Space (customizable)
• Native Performance: Built with Swift and SwiftUI for optimal macOS integration
• Application Discovery: Automatically finds apps in:
• “/Applications”
• “/System/Applications”,
• “/System/Applications/Utilities”
• “/System/Library/CoreServices”
• Keyboard Navigation: Use arrow keys to navigate, Enter to launch, Escape to close
• App Icons: Displays application icons in search results
• Background App: Runs silently in the background without cluttering the dock

Requirements

• None

Building from source code

• TBD, I’ll release source code eventually.

Usage

1. Run OverLauncher by clicking on App icon from /Application folder in Finder (or do it in terminal).
2. Press Cmd+Space to open the search interface
3. Start typing an application name you want to run
4. Use arrow keys to navigate or click on an app
5. Press Enter to launch the selected application
6. Press Escape to close the search interface

Configuration

The app runs as a background application (LSUIElement = true) and doesn’t appear in the dock. It uses global hotkeys to provide system-wide access to the launcher functionality. So initially you have to run as described above.

Permissions

• Not required

Why do you need this ?

• If you’ve switched off Spotlight indexing in your system as I did you will have zero items in search results, you can’t even launch any app through it, so this is project is substitute for Spotlight search bar. OverLauncher is a tool that can be substitution for spotlight, and you will be availble to run programms with keyboard.
• I’ll describe reasons behind swithching off Spotlight later in Blog.

Download and install

• Latest version in changelog below
• Download (Distrubuted AS IS. Run at your own responsibility.)
• SHA256: c098998517145b71bc2c75a1fc16d7051c4417a7d1dd719d82ad16f571f11372
• Launch once, MacOS will get you a warning message that it can’t run unsigned app.
• It’s not signed, so you have to go Settings -> Privacy scroll down and allow MacOS to run the app. (I’ll make this app signed with Apple Development certifcate later.)

Changelog

2025-08-03

• Release

2025-08-10

• Added currency conversion
• Added settings for enable and disble currency conversion
• Make settings screen scrollable