diff --git a/modules/launcher.tsx b/modules/launcher.tsx
index 4b42328d..5015b5b5 100644
--- a/modules/launcher.tsx
+++ b/modules/launcher.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { bind, execAsync, Gio, register, timeout, Variable } from "astal";
+import { bind, execAsync, Gio, GLib, register, timeout, Variable } from "astal";
 import { Astal, Gtk, Widget } from "astal/gtk3";
 import fuzzysort from "fuzzysort";
 import type AstalApps from "gi://AstalApps";
@@ -45,6 +45,17 @@ const getIconFromMode = (mode: Mode) => {
     }
 };
 
+const getEmptyTextFromMode = (mode: Mode) => {
+    switch (mode) {
+        case "apps":
+            return "No apps found";
+        case "files":
+            return GLib.find_program_in_path("fd") === null ? "File search requires `fd`" : "No files found";
+        case "math":
+            return "Type an expression";
+    }
+};
+
 const launchAndClose = (self: JSX.Element, astalApp: AstalApps.Application) => {
     const toplevel = self.get_toplevel();
     if (toplevel instanceof Widget.Window) toplevel.hide();
@@ -196,8 +207,12 @@ const Results = ({ entry, mode }: { entry: Widget.Entry; mode: Variable<Mode> })
             shown={bind(empty).as(t => (t ? "empty" : "list"))}
         >
             <box name="empty" className="empty" halign={Gtk.Align.CENTER} valign={Gtk.Align.CENTER}>
-                <label className="icon" label="apps_outage" />
-                <label label="No results" />
+                <label className="icon" label="bug_report" />
+                <label
+                    label={bind(entry, "text").as(t =>
+                        t.startsWith(">") ? "No matching subcommands" : getEmptyTextFromMode(mode.get())
+                    )}
+                />
             </box>
             <box
                 vertical
diff --git a/scss/launcher.scss b/scss/launcher.scss
index a72389ae..543d7992 100644
--- a/scss/launcher.scss
+++ b/scss/launcher.scss
@@ -81,8 +81,14 @@
 
         .empty {
             color: scheme.$subtext0;
+            font-size: lib.s(18);
+            padding: lib.s(10) 0;
 
             @include lib.spacing;
+
+            .icon {
+                color: scheme.$subtext0;
+            }
         }
 
         .result {