Set Up Trackpad Gestures

BuhoLaunchpad lets you open or dismiss your app launcher instantly with intuitive four-finger or five-finger trackpad gestures. This puts your apps at your fingertips, improves workflow efficiency, and provides a smooth, native-like experience.

If you are using a different BuhoLaunchpad version, the interface and screenshots may vary. Please choose the appropriate section below based on your version:

• New version gesture setup (1.8.7 and above)
• Old version gesture setup (1.8.6 and below)

Note: Aside from Accessibility permission settings, other gesture settings generally do not require restarting the app.

New version gesture setup (1.8.7 and above)

1. Open BuhoLaunchpad’s Settings > General > navigate to the Trackpad Gesture section.

2. From the gesture options, choose Four-Finger Pinch or Five-Finger Pinch.

• The Four-Finger Pinch option means the gesture can be triggered with at least four fingers, and it can also be triggered with five fingers.
• The Five-Finger Pinch option means the gesture requires five fingers.

3. Click Open System Settings to grant Accessibility permission.

When you see the confirmation window, click Open System Settings.

4. In System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility, do not manually add BuhoLaunchpad. Instead, find BuhoLaunchpadServer in the list and turn it on.

5. After the permission setup is complete, you can right-click the BuhoLaunchpad menu and relaunch the app.

How the new gesture mechanism works

• BuhoLaunchpad automatically chooses the appropriate gesture recognition method based on your system settings.
• You can click the exclamation mark button next to the gesture setting to see which recognition mechanism is currently in use.

• macOS system gestures: These use macOS’s recognition engine and can provide a Launchpad-like gesture experience, depending on your system settings.

• BuhoLaunchpad built-in gestures: If system gestures are unavailable, BuhoLaunchpad will fall back to its built-in gesture handling.

• On macOS versions below 27, enabling the system gesture usually requires turning on Show Desktop; on macOS 27 and above, this option is enabled by default.

Common issue: gestures stop working after wake from sleep

If your Mac’s pinch gesture stops working after waking from sleep, this is a system-level bug:

• After sleep/wake, the system API may fail to obtain finger information from the trackpad.
• This causes BuhoLaunchpad’s internal algorithm to lose its ability to function properly and accurately detect the number of fingers.
• The most reliable recovery method is to restart BuhoLaunchpad.

Workarounds

• Prefer Four-Finger Pinch.
• On macOS versions below 27, it is also recommended to turn on Show Desktop or enable BuhoLaunchpad’s Auto Restart option.
• You can also choose Five-Finger Pinch and enable Auto Restart to improve stability after wake.

Old version gesture setup (1.8.6 and below)

In BuhoLaunchpad 1.8.6 and earlier versions, Four-Finger Pinch may conflict with macOS default settings, such as triggering Apps or Spotlight. We recommend upgrading to the latest BuhoLaunchpad version. If you cannot upgrade for any reason, follow the steps below to ensure BuhoLaunchpad responds smoothly to Four-Finger Pinch gestures:

1. Open BuhoLaunchpad’s Settings > General > navigate to the Trackpad Gestures section.

2. From the dropdown menu, choose Four-Finger Pinch or Five-Finger Pinch.

   • The Four-Finger Pinch option means the gesture can be triggered with at least four fingers, and it can also be triggered with five fingers.
   • The Five-Finger Pinch option means the gesture requires five fingers.

3. Click Open System Settings to grant Accessibility permission.

4. In System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility, find BuhoLaunchpadServer and turn the permission on.

5. Relaunch BuhoLaunchpad from the menu.

Old version common issue: occasional Spotlight appearance

In older versions, Four-Finger gestures may conflict with macOS’s default gestures and occasionally trigger Spotlight.

• If you choose Four-Finger Pinch, Spotlight may occasionally appear. In that case, try turning off Show Desktop or switching to Five-Finger Pinch.
• On macOS 27, even turning off Show Desktop cannot fully prevent occasional Spotlight triggers. In that case, switching to Five-Finger Pinch is more reliable.
• Using Five-Finger Pinch disables all other system gestures, so you will not see occasional Spotlight triggers and you do not need to turn off Show Desktop.

Old version issue: gestures stop working after wake from sleep

The wake issue can also happen in older versions. This is also a system-level bug:

• After sleep/wake, the system API may fail to obtain finger information from the trackpad.
• BuhoLaunchpad’s internal algorithm will then lose its ability to detect gestures and distinguish between four fingers and five fingers.
• In this situation, you need to restart BuhoLaunchpad to restore gesture recognition.

Because older versions have weaker support for gesture mechanisms, upgrading to the latest BuhoLaunchpad version is recommended for a more stable gesture experience.

Old version workarounds

1. Go to System Settings > Trackpad > More Gestures and turn off Show Desktop.

   

2. Important: after completing the settings, relaunch BuhoLaunchpad from the menu.

   

3. At this point, pinch with four fingers to open BuhoLaunchpad and spread with four fingers to close it.

4. If you turn Show Desktop back on, you can still pinch with four fingers to open BuhoLaunchpad, spread with four fingers to close it, and spread with four fingers again to show the Desktop.