Spotlight and Launchpad not working after macOS26 update

It seems as though spotlight and launchpad have stopped wortking after 'upgrading' to macOS26.

I can no longer open apps easily.

Previously:

I would either press Command + Space or use the trackpad to open launchpad. Then I would start typing the first letter or two of the application name and press enter. This was a very reliable way to open an app.

After updatating to macOS26:

1. Launchpad

When I open the 'new launchpad' using the trackpad, I can see a list of my apps. As soon as I start typing the application name, all apps disappear. It doesn't show the app that was clearly in the list previously. See the below example when attemping to start Affinity:

Obvioulsy, this makes whatever the new launchpad is pretty useless as I now have to scroll down to find the application I want to start.

2. Spotlight

Spotlight is even more useless. I press Command + Space and start typing the application name. If I'm lucky, the application MIGHT appear after waiting 5 seconds or so. In most cases, the application won't appear at all. See below while searching for Affinity.

I have not changed the spotlight defaults in system settings at all to reproduce this. Out of despiration, I tried unticking ALL results from apps and ALL results from System EXCEPT Apps. This did not change the result.

Conclusion:

Obviously, this has taken a sub-1 second process that I do multiple times an hour to a 10-20 infurating process where I need to manually scroll and search through my list of applications.