Usability Problems in macOS APP Shortcut
I’ve noticed a significant usability issue when adding custom shortcuts under System Settings → Keyboard → App Shortcuts. I’m posting here to confirm whether others have the same experience and whether there are known workarounds.
When adding a new shortcut, macOS requires choosing the target application from a long alphabetical list. In my case, I have around 170+ apps installed, and selecting one requires scrolling through the entire list each time. There is no search bar, filter, or “remember last used app” behavior.
Before macOS Ventura (approximately macOS 13?), the system behaved differently:
- After adding a shortcut for an app, clicking “+” again would automatically preselect the last-used application.
- This made adding multiple shortcuts for the same app very fast and intuitive.
The current behavior requires repeatedly scrolling through a long list for each new shortcut, which is slow and easy to mis-navigate due to sensitive scrolling.
[Edited by Moderator]
MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.1