Two years ago I called Raycast the launcher Apple wishes it made. Apple, it seems, agreed—it’s adding all kinds of features to macOS later this year that duplicate a number of Raycast features.
Tahoe—which is currently in a public beta and will be widely available in the fall—includes a number of new features. One stands out: an overhauled version of Spotlight that adds a lot of new functionality. A few of these capabilities overlap directly with things that Raycast does. You can do things like write text messages or reminders without leaving Spotlight, for example. Eventually you'll be able to interact directly with third-party apps. There's also a clipboard manager, which is one of the nicer features.
As a longtime Raycast user, I couldn't help but wonder how this new Spotlight compares with Raycast, so I installed Tahoe in a virtual machine and gave it a spin. Here's what I found.
How the New Spotlight Works
Spotlight is launched from the menu bar or by using the keyboard shortcut Command + Space, same as always. But the initial launch screen you see the first couple of times is a little different; it's telling you what the new Spotlight can do.
You can just type a search query and ignore these instructions if you want to (and I'm sure many users will). You can start typing to find files, applications, and information from the internet, the same as before.
But there are four modes outside this default: Applications, Files, Actions, and Clipboard. You can switch between these modes by using the right and left arrow keys or by using the Command key in combination with a corresponding number. You'll see a simpler overlay when you do so.
The first two modes limit your search to only files or applications installed on your computer. Neither of these are new features, exactly, but using them filters your results, meaning things like internet links and word definitions won't show up. They reduce clutter, basically.
It's the third and fourth tools that are the most interesting. Let's break them down.
Actions Are the Best New Feature
The third tab in the new spotlight is Actions, which is understandably the one that people are most excited about. From here you can interact with macOS applications without leaving Spotlight.
So, for example, you could write an entire email using the “Send Email” action. Just type the message, who you want to send it to, and the subject line, then hit enter—the email will go out.
There are all kinds of actions included out of the box. You can add calendar appointments and reminders and set timers. You can send text messages or start FaceTime calls. You can even set dedicated keyboard shortcuts for any of these actions.
It's also the exact kind of thing that, until now, Raycast did that Spotlight could not. The difference is one of implementation. Apple's approach currently only works with Mac applications that implement the Spotlight feature. Right now, it’s basically limited to just Apple's own tools, but that is going to change; according to Apple’s presentation for developers, third-party applications will also be able to add actions that are executable from within Spotlight. I couldn't find any non-Apple applications that currently implement this, but I'm sure that will change as we get closer to the fall.
Raycast, meanwhile, can be enhanced by user-built extensions that you can easily install from the built-in store. This has a downside, mostly that if you want to connect an application, you're going to have to install and configure the extension yourself. That's not hard, though—the built-in store offers hundreds of these extensions, and you can install them with a few keystrokes. These extensions also can connect with any service, not just those that have Mac apps, meaning web-only services like Google Docs are supported. Many of these extensions offer features that Spotlight never will, such as custom menu bar icons for things like calendar appointments or the currently playing song in Spotify. I could go on; Raycast's approach is simply more flexible.
Right now, for power users, I think Raycast is the better choice. That might change as more applications add support for Spotlight, though, especially given the fact that users don’t need to install anything or set anything up to get new capabilities in Spotlight.
An Actual Clipboard Manager
Windows has had a clipboard manager for years—just press Windows-V and you'll see a list of everything you've copied lately. There have always been many third-party applications that give you a more powerful clipboard on the Mac, including Raycast.
The new macOS update adds this feature to Spotlight, making it easy to go back and find that thing you copied earlier today. It's the kind of feature you don't realize you need until you start relying on it, and I'm glad macOS finally offers it.
What Raycast Has That Spotlight Doesn’t
With these new features, Spotlight is a great deal more powerful than before, but it isn't a one-for-one Raycast replacement. The biggest advantage Raycast has over Spotlight, at this point, is the Raycast store, which makes the launcher compatible with way more applications and services than Spotlight will have for a long time.
But there are other features. Raycast can manage windows, allowing you to set keyboard shortcuts for things like docking a window to the left or right side of the screen. It has a built-in snippet manager, allowing you to save things that you find yourself retyping constantly, so you can quickly paste them. There's also a distraction blocker tool called Focus. Raycast has, over the years, added all kinds of features that were previously popular bits of dedicated software, and Apple isn't likely to copy all of them.
The Raycast team, for their part, isn't worried about the newly enhanced Spotlight. In a post on X the company’s CEO, Thomas Paul Mann, said the new features will give users a taste for an application like Raycast. “People will run into limitations and want more from a launcher, which is where we step in,” he wrote.
I'm not sure how true that is, but I look forward to seeing how everything develops. I, for one, will probably use both options for a while and see which I prefer.
