A simple shell script to switch back and forth between older Launchpad and newer Spotlight on macOS 26+.

switch-launchpad.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -euo pipefail
IFS=$'\n\t'

# Checking whether the platform is right
[ "$(uname -s)" = "Darwin" ] || { echo "Not macOS (Darwin)" >&2; exit 1; }

# Checking whether the version is right
version=$(sw_vers -productVersion)
[ "${version%%.*}" -ge 26 ] || { echo "Require macOS 26+" >&2; exit 1; }

# Setting the desired target/domain, key, and dictionary subkey
target='/Library/Preferences/FeatureFlags/Domain/SpotlightUI.plist'
key='SpotlightPlus'
sub='Enabled'

# Creating the target directory if it does not exist
sudo mkdir -p -- "$(dirname -- "$target")"

# Switching the current value if there is one
default='true'
current=$(plutil -extract "$key.$sub" raw -- "$target" 2>/dev/null || echo "$default")
if [ "$current" = "$default" ]; then
  default='false'
  echo 'Switching back to older Launchpad'
else
  echo 'Switching back to newer Spotlight'
fi

sudo defaults write "$target" "$key" -dict "$sub" -bool "$default"
echo 'Please, restart your Mac now'