SUMMARY

Not sure where to put this exactly, so I went with generic KDE. Could be Plasmashell, but better safe than sorry.

On Plasma 5.22, when opening the Application Launcher (either by clicking the button or, as in 99.9% of my cases, pressing the Super/Meta button), I would immediately be able to start typing a search and have the relevant application displayed. Since upgrading to the 25th Anniversary edition (5.23) I've noticed that this is no longer the case. When opening the app launcher, it seems to auto-select the "Favorites" section and highlight my most opened app (in my case, Brave Browser), and I cannot search unless I physically click on the search bar. This is quite annoying, since the whole point of hitting Meta+typing was an extremely fast way to open apps, but now I have to click Meta, move mouse to the search bar, and then type my search. This is a pretty big disruption to my workflow, and the issue has persisted over multiple reboots.


STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Boot into KDE Plasma 5.23
2. Click Super/Meta to open App Launcher
3. Attempt to type a search, but nothing happens until the search bar is physically clicked with the mouse

OBSERVED RESULT

The "Favorites" section of App Launcher is auto-selected, and my most commonly opened app is auto-highlighted in blue, and thus my search inputs are ignored since an app is highlighted automatically.


EXPECTED RESULT

Upon opening Application Launcher with Super/Meta, I should be able to begin typing a search immediately (as was the case with 5.22) and have the menu reflect my search.


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: 
macOS: 
Linux/KDE Plasma: Arch Linux on X11 and kernel 5.14.12
(available in About System)
KDE Plasma Version: 5.23.0
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.87.0
Qt Version: 5.15.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION