Launcher only shows up after you install a Chrome app from the Web store

May 21, 2013 08:24 GMT  ·  By

Google has ported its cool Chrome OS app launcher to OS X via Chromium, the open source project that shares most of its code with the popular web browser, Google Chrome.

The app launcher provides “the same experience as the app launcher on Chromebooks, but for other platforms,” according to Google itself a while back.

You’ll need to download Chromium to see it display in your Dock as shown above, and you’ll need at least one app from the Chrome Web Store to make the magic happen.

The UI has a lot in common with Apple’s own Grid view for the Applications folder in OS X.

If you happen to have a lot of Chrome apps installed, multiple pages will be automatically created for you in the Chrome OS app launcher.