Why my application icons wiggle when I press ALT key in Launchpad?

Question

I tried Launchpad first time today and went through the common modifier keys & their combinations to see if some hidden options appear.

When I pressed ⌥ ALT all the apps started wiggling. What does it mean?

bmike · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-02T14:39:51.347

5

Wiggle is the edit mode. (so you can delete or uninstall the apps that came from the app store)

Holding alt is the quickest way to enter edit mode.

edited Aug 02 '11 at 14:39

answered Aug 02 '11 at 14:11

bmike

2

What is "edit mode" then? I can reorder the apps even while nothing wiggles. Is it something else? – Jari Keinänen Aug 02 '11 at 14:28
2

I'll clarify the answer - it makes it so you can delete apps from the app store - i was wrong to say reorder. iOS has trained me to think you can only reorder icons in edit mode - but that's not so on the Mac Launchpad. Confusingly (to me), you can even launch an app in edit mode. – bmike Aug 02 '11 at 14:39

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 13:30

0

If you click and hold them they also start wiggling. It lets you drag them around, to re-arrange them, and also delete apps from the Mac App Store.

answered Aug 02 '11 at 13:30

Paul Eccles

Holding also wiggles—true. But I can drag them and rearrange them even when they're not wiggling; hence I presume that wiggling doesn't mean just draggability. – Jari Keinänen Aug 02 '11 at 14:16

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 02 '11 at 14:26

0

When they are wiggling you can rearrange them AND delete/remove apps that you yourself have downloaded. System apps (like iOS) cannot be deleted.

answered Aug 02 '11 at 14:26

Chris

System apps and non-Appstore apps, it seems. Would the Appstore apps wiggle too if I had them or would they stand still? – Jari Keinänen Aug 02 '11 at 14:32

3 Answers3