Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

https://novalauncher.com/nova-is-here-to-stay

by KORraN • 6 months ago

255 169 6 months ago

novalauncher.com

ChrisArchitect• 6 months ago

the timing of this

Nova Launcher added Facebook and Google Ads tracking

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

(lots of good discussion about alternatives in this thread by the way)

JohnFen4• 6 months ago

We will keep data collection minimal and purpose driven, and we will be clear about what is collected and why. We do not sell personal data.

I don't believe this at all. If they aren't lying, then why did they add new trackers?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

consp2• 6 months ago

We do not sell personal data.

Companies usually treat "anonymized" data as non personal. So in their eyes they aren't selling your personal data but their "non-personal" data. The fact it isn't does not matter because profit.

The fact they added Facebook and google trackers and not listed a why is obvious enough. Fortunately for me it did not update yet and is now gone.

bux932• 6 months ago

They don't sell the data, since it's collected by Facebook and not sent to the company itself? Smart (also, evil) if true.

herrherrmann• 6 months ago

Ugh, quite annoying. My next phone might be an Android (instead of the current iPhone), and I was looking forward to returning to Nova Launcher, after having used it many years ago as my favorite launcher. This feels like a big no-go now.

What are other good customizable launchers on Android nowadays?

bastard_op• 6 months ago

I've been using lawnchair as a launcher that is open source (apache) since the first news broke months when the previous dev/owner warned people what was coming, and it works just fine. Not quite as versatile as Nova Launcher, but with 100% less adware now that the new adware company is running up in people with a bait and switch.

Enshittification is real!

mbirth• 6 months ago

Early on, Lawnchair implemented a blacklist to hide apps they deemed “bad”. They only removed it after lots of protest from users. That has “burned” this launcher for me.

fooqux2• 6 months ago

Depends what you want, I guess. The nice thing about Android is we still have many options.

I recently moved to AIO Launcher and I've been really enjoying it. I'm sure it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea though.

turbocon• 6 months ago

Much less popular but I switched to Kvaesitso from Nova about a month ago and it's been amazing and it's open source. Much more opinionated than Nova but it matched how I used Nova so I really enjoy it.

[1] https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

chroma_zone• 6 months ago

I paid for "Square Home" a couple years ago and I'm very happy with it. It's highly customizable. The Windows Phone style layout probably isn't for everyone but it works well for me.

cfiggers2• 6 months ago

I know this is weird, but.......

I'm really happy with Microsoft Launcher.

trog• 6 months ago

Same! And I feel weird about it. The only issue I have is sometimes the task switcher hangs or fails and I can't easily switch tasks, but aside from that it ticks a lot of boxes.

pteraspidomorph• 6 months ago

I used Nova for years and went through this research before, having tested many alternatives. Octopi is what you're looking for. It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides. They also update often with improvements and fixes!

Markoff• 6 months ago

Lawnchair newest beta, though they still didnt fix years old bug with dark/black font on dark/black background in folders/drawer

also resizing/padding widgets ain't as good as Nova, but for sure much better than Octopi which is completely weird, tried yesterday, chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock

switched yesterday to Lawnchair from Nova after 10+ years, seems OK besides those few quirks, but still keeping Nova as backup, will see after 2 weeks testing how is the stability, if I can remove even nova backup

cheald2• 6 months ago

Nova has been my favorite launcher for years, but after this, I may have to look elsewhere. Even as a paid user, I don't have much confidence that I'm not being sold off for ad exploitation.

Tostino• 6 months ago

I read another post this morning that there was already an update last night with a bunch of tracking code added, and additional permissions required (that didn't trigger anything for the user to know of those additional permissions).

I am a paid Nova user from a decade ago, but haven't used it in ages fwiw.

cheald2• 6 months ago

I guess mine hasn't updated yet. I'm a paid user, but I'll be migrating elsewhere. What a disappointment.

consp2• 6 months ago

I missed the post yesterday. Good to read it today. Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi (interestingly the same name as the Pi-based 3D printing webservice). Only missing features so far is more icons on the drawer in width and top-used. Then again insta-search also solves this.

post_break• 6 months ago

When a company says that they're here to stay after an acquisition that usually means the opposite.

iqandjoke• 6 months ago

Like Apple acquired Topsy. Cannot find good free Twitter / X search since then.

j1elo• 6 months ago

Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship.

You can scratch at the very least contribution workflow from that list; anyhow, the original author had already spent months preparing the open source release, ironing out legal and dependency issues, so everything should already be there or pretty close, at least on the technical side of things (arguably one of the biggest sides)

rdmuser• 6 months ago

It was sold back in 2022 to Branch Metrics https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/branch-strikes-...

August 2024 everyone working on it was laid off except the original dev https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/9/24217077/nova-launcher-lay...

September 2025 the original dev left after being told to stop work on open sourcing it https://www.theverge.com/news/773937/nova-launcher-founder-l...

philjackson• 6 months ago

Thanks for taking the time to post these.

esafak• 6 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_(company)

alias_neo2• 6 months ago

Their former name "Branch Metrics", tells you all you need to know about them.

Branch also uses tools for cohort analysis and touchpoint tracking

Just the kind of company I want in my phone.

raybb• 6 months ago

Seems like there might be enough coverage that Nova Launcher is ready for a Wikipedia article now. Previously it was deleted. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Launcher

thefz• 6 months ago

Are you going to add ads? Nova needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and maintenance. We are exploring different options, including paid tiers and other approaches. As many of you have already anticipated, we are also evaluating ad based options for the free version.
If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.

Seems pretty clear.

londons_explore• 6 months ago

Nova launcher used to have loads of great features, but it seems now the best of those features have made it to the stock Google/Samsung launchers

naikrovek• 6 months ago

the url "nova-is-here-to-stay" says to me that Nova will be discontinued in about 90 seconds.

gruez• 6 months ago

"Nova Launcher's Incredible Journey"

branon• 6 months ago

Haven't heard of Nova in a very long time, this was one of the original customizable launchers for Android wasn't it? If it's gone this long without being open-sourced, it might be time to let go. Been using https://kisslauncher.com/ for many years and have no complaints.

bisby2• 6 months ago

KISS is a complete paradigm shift from other phone launchers. It takes some getting used to. It has made me rethink how I use my phone from time to time because I have it set to sort by recently used: I only have a few apps I use regularly it seems.

Not for everyone, but it's my preferred way to use a phone now.

LelouBil3• 6 months ago

Didn't know about KISS, I know Kvaesitso is also a search-focused launcher (that seems to have more features ? I didn't download KISS)

https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

PlatoIsADisease• 6 months ago

I suppose it doesn't matter because there is probably a search or something, but I only use my banking app and children's games every month or 2. I like knowing where they are at. 2 swipes away.

Also, doesn't this mean more attention to the screen? I can blindly pick apps without looking at my screen. Makes it useful when running + audiobook + taking notes.

ryukoposting• 6 months ago

Yeah, I was rocking Nova on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus back in 2012. It was the first time I ever paid for an app. Back then Nova was a huge upgrade to usability, but stock launchers eventually caught up, and by the late 2010s I was really just using it to make my phone look cool. I've heard it's borderline abandonware at this point, which is a shame.

el_duderino• 6 months ago

Yeah but I believe Launcher Pro (~15 years ago) was before Nova.

Preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREpIdgmWSk

Izkata• 6 months ago

There's still nothing that's as configurable as SweeterHome was. It died somewhere around the Android 2 days.

realaaa2• 6 months ago

thanks for that link ! cheers

reddalo• 6 months ago

The Nexus 5 bezel and the Google+ link in the footer don't make this launcher look modern and maintained... but I'll give it a try anyway.

abrugsch• 6 months ago

Looks pretty well maintained[0]:

v3.24.1 Latest
@Neamar released this Dec 4, 2025

[0] https://github.com/Neamar/KISS/releases

fullstop3• 6 months ago

I switched to Smart Launcher Pro, and it seems to scratch the same itch. It was more expensive, though.

Nova carried me for almost a decade, and I'll miss it.

JohnFen4• 6 months ago

That's what I switched to as well after evaluating a half dozen or so other ones.

I agree, it's fine. It's missing a couple of niceties that I enjoyed with Nova, but nothing I can't live without.

fullstop3• 6 months ago

They recently added a bottom dock option, and I was very happy to have that back.

mwkaufma• 6 months ago

Immediate uninstall.

microflash• 6 months ago

What an undeserving fate. A beloved app now being passed from vulture to vulture who rip off every possible morsel they can.

When Branch bought Nova, I moved on to use Lawnchair [1], which is open source. Although it has been in beta like forever, with occasional glitches, it works well enough and has enough features to satisfy my customization cravings.

[1] https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair

theturtletalks• 6 months ago

It’s becoming evident that open-source is the only thing that can cure Enshittification. Every proprietary application will become enshittified, it’s just a matter of when.

saubeidl• 6 months ago

rms was right all along.

charcircuit• 6 months ago

Many open source projects fail to find sustainable funding. If a cure is not financially viable it is not much different than the cure not existing.

jjordan• 6 months ago

The write-up on the link seems promising, at least. I'm sure ads will come to the free version, but they appear to be respecting Nova's legacy and longtime Prime purchasers. Anything is better than the slow decay it has been enduring the last year or two. Can't do much but be cautiously optimistic.

malfist• 6 months ago

Last update introduced a bunch of ads and tracking plugins. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

alias_neo2• 6 months ago

I'll have whatever you're smoking please.

You don't acquire something like this, as a metrics company, who does cohort analysis and touchpoint tracking[0] simply to make a bit of ad revenue.

Nova is dead. No room left for optimism.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_(company)

andrepd• 6 months ago

You can just... not update? It's a launcher, how much more is there to change? I have a version from 2017 on my phone lol.

0x1ch2• 6 months ago

My biggest issue with lawnchair (and most launchers really) is that they all are horribly glitchy on my Pixel 6, and also break the app drawer / switching feature.

I literally just want a vanilla pixel experience, but be allowed to change the search engine on the home screen searchbar... This got me into the weeds on the widget and launcher ecosystem and they're all very bad.

sweetbacon• 6 months ago

This is very good to know! I am currently setting up my old pixel 6 to be a permanent Google home terminal. I was thinking about trying Lawnchair, now I'm not so sure.

JoshTriplett• 6 months ago

I highly recommend Octopi Launcher. It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.

Also great on foldables, since it lets you have a different home screen for different display sizes.

nirui• 6 months ago

Was a Nova user, moved to Lawnchair yesterday. It's not the same experience I got from Nova (for example, the Clock widget don't work), but the adaptation is not unbearable.

I purchased Nova Launcher Prime years ago thinking it was the best investment I put on Google Play, well, maybe I should've spent the money on something else.

cicko• 6 months ago

Time to say goodbye, I guess. It's been a while and things kept going south. Hello Lawnchair, my old friend.

astrolx• 6 months ago

After many years of Nova, switched to Olauncher. I'm a happy person.

whalesalad• 6 months ago

I take it the stock android launcher these days is not good?

fooqux2• 6 months ago

It's "fine". In fact, a lot of the features that Nova pioneered has made its way into the stock launcher.

But it does what it does and that's all. It's been a long, long time since Google believed in the concept of options or customizability. If you want to do something outside the default, well you can go straight to hell. Which is fine, I guess, since we still have great options for launchers out there.

fullstop3• 6 months ago

It's fine, and it works. I have a Pixel, though, and there's no way to disable the google search box on the homescreen. I will never use the search box, yet it dominates a good portion of my screen.

ilvez3• 6 months ago

I think the only reason not to use stock.. I guess once of the main reasons people look elsewhere. And I don't actually need fancy features.

Probably there are more annoyances, but I never get to those since the search just kills it quick.

rpdillon3• 6 months ago

Is there a way to disable "swipe right for news feed"? I hated that inclusion in the Pixel launcher.

rurp• 6 months ago

I hate that search box, it's ridiculous that they force it on users. On the plus side looking up how to get rid of it led me to Lawnchair which I have been happily using for many years at this point.

userbinator• 6 months ago

Isn't the stock one open-source? Even if it isn't, Java is really trivial to decompile reversibly, and removing features is much easier than adding. Take advantage of Android the way it was meant to be taken advantage of.

celsoazevedo2• 6 months ago

It does the job, but it's important to remember that there isn't a "stock Android launcher". Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Xiaomi, etc, develop their own launcher and have different features.

I used Nova mainly because I use 2 phones and it is easier to keep things similar. For example, the app list on my Samsung scrolls horizontally. On my other phone running LineageOS, it's vertically. With Nova, it's the same on both devices.

It was also useful when moving phones, as I could just restore a backup to restore my layout.

mfkp3• 6 months ago

I recently switched to a OnePlus 15 and Nova Launcher had a really annoying 0.5-1 second delay every time you went back home.

I've been a paid Nova user and used it on every android device for the past 10 years or so.

I ended up migrating to the stock OnePlus launcher and it's actually surprisingly good, other than you have to disable the stupid google recommended page every time you reboot the phone, so I'm still open to alternatives.

tetris11• 6 months ago

Trebuchet (a "launcher", heh) is the stock Lineage one, and it is genuinely fine. App screen, home screen, nested folders. Nothing more you really want.

Unfortunately it's built/bundled with Lineage, and you can't find a standalone APK for it anywhere

dzaima2• 6 months ago

That's an OxygenOS 16.0 bug; worked fine on 15.0, and broken on all (~five?) launchers I tested on 16.0. (currently on Octopi Launcher, and just live with that annoying delay until it Hopefully™ gets fixed)

eikaramba2• 6 months ago

see my reply above for a fix

eikaramba2• 6 months ago

let me make your day. this will fix the problem 100% -> https://old.reddit.com/r/oneplus/comments/1p3pcnt/guide_fix_...

I couldn't believe it myself but by basically force closing the settings menu the drawer animation will be gone until you reboot :)

driverdan2• 6 months ago

Unfortunately OnePlus has been doing sketchy things too. I wouldn't trust them with your data.

mfkp3• 6 months ago

Like what? I just checked and it shows that the system launcher on OnePlus has used exactly 0 data.

_DeadFred_2• 6 months ago

I'm really behind on this stuff but what does this mean for Sesame. It's all just dead now, right?

aspbee555• 6 months ago

I was having issues recently with my Pixel phone hanging/freezing/going stupid, it was Nova. I changed to Lawnchair yesterday after learning this and works much better and my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason

algo_trader2• 6 months ago

my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason

Oh man. I just replaced the battery on my 5 year phone - for the sole reason of not having to reconfigure Nova on a new phone :\

mfkp3• 6 months ago

You know you can export your Nova configuration and import it on a new phone, right?

mastermedo• 6 months ago

What a throwback. Nova launcher sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure where to place it in my head. When I saw the logo I was immediately transported to memories of using lineage OS and bricking my new Samsung Note 4. I was trying to customize every button combination to do something smart back then. The good old days when I had the time to fix the phone after every update. I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.

baggachipz3• 6 months ago

I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.

Careful, you'll get blasted for that in these parts. Until about 7 years ago, I had been an Android absolutist. Custom ROMs, launchers, you name it. I sneered at those Apple-loving simpletons. Then, after missing several important phone calls in a day due to the phone 'app' not working properly, I got fed up and got a Nexus 6, the official Google phone and the reference implementation for Android. The phone was big and ugly, but at least I was still using a "real" operating system.

Then, as I went through the app store looking for some needed apps, I realized that I couldn't find what I wanted. What I downloaded and installed turned out to be scams and hijacked the phone as ad-riddled malware. It slowly dawned on me: The Play Store is anarchistic, lawless hellscape.

I was too old for this shit. I went and got an iPhone and never looked back. I turn it on, it does things. I don't have to worry about it. Yes, the software quality isn't near perfect, and they seem to be gradually enshittifying their app store. But at least they make a token effort to keep things in a somewhat curated state.

It's night and day, far as I'm concerned. I've gotten to the point where I just want my things to work. I don't want to spend hours tweaking and troubleshooting. I realize I'm in a cult compound, but it's better than the Mad Max world outside.

NamlchakKhandro2• 6 months ago

your pants are so on fire

celsoazevedo2• 6 months ago

There's nothing wrong with iOS and iPhones. If that's what works best for you, then that's what you should use. With this said...

Most people use their Android phone like iPhone owners do. They use the default launcher, default settings, and things work. Like you, they turn it on and it does things. They'll install their apps for work, social media, etc, just like iOS users. Maybe they'll install a different browser so sync works or have adblocking, but that's it.

Unlocking bootloaders, custom ROMs, perhaps rooting, getting to the point where apps are hijacking your phone (wth?)... I'm not sure if you understand this, but that's very extreme. If you get blasted, it's because that's the equivalent to jailbreaking an iPhone, replacing the OS, and so on. Of course things are going to break.

iOS lets you do a lot of UI customization these days. Home screen(s), widgets, icons, lock screen, etc, some of which I can't do on my Android phone and may have to use a 3rd party launcher! Why don't you spend hours tweaking that stuff, like many do? Why doesn't it bother you that you can do it? Just a guess, but I think you've changed. You no longer care about this stuff and maybe you also don't have the same free time? That's fine, but also shows that the problem wasn't Android or iOS, but the old you that didn't always know when to stop.

On a side note, things have changed a lot in the past few years. These days you don't install a custom ROM if you want features... you get a phone from a brand like Samsung because their UI is packed with features that custom ROMs don't have. You also don't need them for updates when a new phone gives you 5-7 years of support. Most posts I see here about custom ROMs are about privacy and security, removing Google from their phones, stepping away from the cloud and subscriptions, etc. Don't assume that that the wild side of Android is still the same because it isn't, at least not to the extent. You may also want to drop the idea that using Android requires doing all you've mentioned, because almost no one does that. You were the 1% of the 1%.

mbix77• 6 months ago

On any Android phone I immediately install Niagara. Best launcher by far. Makes everything so efficient and beautiful.

NelsonMinar• 6 months ago

Niagara is amazing. It's quite different from other launchers, so either it works for you or doesn't. It perfectly matches what I was doing before, which was searching for apps by name to launch them.

rpdillon3• 6 months ago

Doesn't KISS do this? I'm curious why Niagara when KISS is probably lighter/smaller.

LelouBil3• 6 months ago

There's also the open source Kvaesitso !

[0] https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

drnick1• 6 months ago

Are launchers needed at all? I find the default GrapheneOS interface to be serviceable and I did not know what a "launcher" was until fairly recently.

scblock• 6 months ago

It depends on what you're looking for. I have a Pixel 9a with Graphene on it and wanted to customize my icons which I don't think the stock launcher allows. Went with Lawnchair and set it up mostly the same as the stock Pixel launcher otherwise.

ilvez3• 6 months ago

I was thinking what else deteriorated from best to worst.. Poweramp.

hexagonwin• 6 months ago

i still use it.. how has it gone bad?

ilvez3• 6 months ago

For me it started as simple way to play music on your phone. It had very direct intuitive navigation and control. Now if I look at it, it's complex over-designed and I remember struggling with doing simple things like navigation. Sorry for not being too specific, I haven't used it much over past years and haven't got it installed anymore. When I need to play stuff on my phone directly, I just use VLC.

Probably the profile of user just changed and I'm not falling into one anymore.

tecleandor• 6 months ago

"We are a Swedish company building products that help people get online, used by millions of people worldwide."

So I look for them. They have a "Free wifi connection" / "Wifi passwords map" app. It surprises me because it has a good score on Google Play but then I begin to check the reviews, and a bunch of them go like: "Five stars because if you do a good review you can use it for free".

I install it and on starting it and in the first minute: Asks you to create an account but you can't click on the terms of service or privacy policy, the links don't work. I skip it. It tries to change your default launcher. It tries to change your default browser. It asks you to share your home wifi password with them. Pops up adds everywhere. Tries to get a good review from you.

No thanks, not even near.

ajkjk• 6 months ago

giving anything to the user in return for a good review should be grounds for disqualification from app stores. (and it should be legally required for app stores to enforce it)

nix0n• 6 months ago

Since they claim to be a Swedish company, it might be worth filing a report with the Swedish consumer agency[0].

I am not a lawyer, and especially not a Swedish lawyer, so I can't say how illegal this is in Sweden or what if anything will happen.

[0]https://www.konsumentverket.se/en/articles/report-to-the-swe...

poly2it2• 6 months ago

Apparently they made €7.2 million in profit in 2024.

https://www.allabolag.se/foretag/instabridge-sweden-ab/stock...

NorwegianDude• 6 months ago

SEK, not EUR.

yndoendo• 6 months ago

There almost needs to be an community overlay for app Stores to highlight when applications change ownership. A shadow store might be good too. Those active daily on HN will most likely be informed while the general populous will never be.

I don't see Google or Apple stepping in to share the information directly or improving their stores with the dark patterns they keep deploying to gain profits through disingenuous actions.

Does Amazon still maintain the flaw where old reviews apply to new products when the new product uses the same part / ID number so reviews are not even for the products people are purchasing?

billynomates• 6 months ago

It asks you to share your home wifi password with them.

What?? That is absolutely shameful. They should be removed from the Play Store

vgivanovic• 6 months ago

I've used Nova Launcher for years (don't know if I'm paid), but I'll be happy to pay for an ad free version.

I know there is a long history of companies buying another company for a product and then killing it after a period of time. I'm willing to give Instabridge the benefit of doubt... for a while. If they do decide that Nova Launcher is not a fit, I hope they open source it so that current users are not left on the lurch.

throwa356262• 6 months ago

It's 2026, why are people still using custom launchers?

Serious question from a former Nova Prime user.

manfre• 6 months ago

Why? To avoid using Google search. It's been an inferior search product for years. Last time I used the default launcher on a pixel, I couldn't change it to a better search product, so I changed launcher.

saxonww• 6 months ago

I don't want a big search bar on my home screen, and there's no way around it with the Pixel Launcher except use a different launcher.

XiS• 6 months ago

Honestly... I just wants a launcher with tabs to sort apps in categories (no not app groups).

Nova Prime almost gone, before that Apex Launcher...

And every other launcher seems to just love to just present a search bar to find your apps and use some magic sorting algorithm to sort your apps...

I want predictable, user ordered apps in tabs so I can open one by heart with my eyes closed.

bcraven• 6 months ago

I'm with you... and have yet to find the solution. Somehow only Nova does tabbed app drawer pages (and allows folders within them).

elcapitan3• 6 months ago

Same. I organize my phone into screens by topic (apps and some widgets), that allows me to keep a mental model without remembering app names etc. Will probably be hard to find a 1:1 replacement for Nova Launcher, if it enshittifies :/

AndrewDucker• 6 months ago

I'm still using Apex. Shouldn't I be?

bentcorner• 6 months ago

I appreciate that I can choose to decorate my house as I see fit. At least on my Pixel 10 there's way too much google this and google that. I guess if you're deep into the ecosystem it's a value add but for me a custom launcher lets me remove all that code.

bodge50002• 6 months ago

My phones almost a decade old (OnePlus 5T, so I guess 8 years now), back from the time that launchers were a bit more necessary. If I had a modern android phone I probably wouldnt use a launcher, but then again I probably wouldnt use a modern android phone either

sjw9873• 6 months ago

People want different interfaces for the home screen of their device, obviously.

I want a black background, with a simple A-Z list of the apps I have on my phone, with some hidden. No icons, no transparency effects and animations.

nixosbestos3• 6 months ago

It blows my mind how many stories hit the front page, every day, that bottom out on whining about proprietary software. I've literally been talking about the Win10/11 whining for 3+ years, and yet EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK THERE ARE MORE.

Lawnchair is *EXCELLENT*. I say that as a former Nova Launcher user. And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.

I just cannot fathom people who enjoy this non-stop BS rollercoaster and are happy to be passed from OG dev, to scummy publisher, to ??? publisher. And all just be happy about that instead of ... why am I even typing this shit. The people that care, care and use OSS or migrate when the writing is on the wall. The people that allow themselves to get jerked around and just take it are going to keep just taking it. And whining about it, while changing none of their behavior.

(Totally not related; see HN and the constant cycle of people shitting on decentralization and then being pikachu-shocked when proprietary centralized services do what they always do).

(Though, it's nice to finally, finally see a predominance of anecdotes of Linux experiences that aren't based on 3 year old distro ISOs. EDIT: 3 is generous, I saw people talking about a 20.04 LTS spin less than a year ago and acting like that was indicative of Linux on Desktop).

To be fair, I'm probably just way off base here. A company whose focus is absolutely not an Android Launcher surely won't enshittify or sell it in due course. Surely. Surely, surely, surely. Right? Like last time?

warkdarrior2• 6 months ago

Lawnchair blacklists/used to blacklist apps they did not like. That does seem user friendly.

elcapitan3• 6 months ago

What kind of apps did they blacklist, and why?

nixosbestos3• 6 months ago

I cannot find any indication that this is true.

pjjpo• 6 months ago

Haven't used Nova for a while and at first was curious if this was good for bringing it back from unmaintenance. The heavy focus on sustainability and marketing in this blog makes it seem unlikely though.

Switched to Pear when Nova got unstable after a Pixel upgrade and I noticed it hadn't been updated in years. Been working well though will keep any eye on any other recommendations that show up in this thread.

fenwick67• 6 months ago

Thanks for the lawnchair recommendations, y'all. It's been real, Nova Launcher. Sleep now my sweet prince.

LoganDark• 6 months ago

What this means right now
Nova is not shutting down. Our immediate focus is simple: [...]

So it will be shutting down or gutted into a privacy nightmare. That's all I needed to see.

realaaa2• 6 months ago

yeah nah..

Will Nova become open source?

We know this matters to many of you. It is something we are actively evaluating. Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. We do not have a decision to share yet, but we will be transparent once we do.

julianz• 6 months ago

I used Nova paid for years, but moved back to the stock Samsung launcher when Nova started having issues with widgets not refreshing (Outlook calendar view was the worst, it would work for a day or two and then just get stuck). I guess I should try something else now.

RandyOrion• 6 months ago

Using Lawnchair for more than a year now. No major issues on my device with Android 13 and Lineage OS 22.2. Will not look at other alternatives for a long time.

jerrygoyal• 6 months ago

I've been a nova user for the last 7 years or so.

greatgib• 6 months ago

"building products that help people get online"

To me looks sounds like the motto of a company made to defraud people of their money.

Otherwise, very sad the demise and enshittification of this Launcher that was really one of the very good one around the good old time of the nexus 5.

voidey• 6 months ago

Nova Launcher Prime was good, but nkw I use Pie launcher which is OSS and minimal. Although it has very less features when compared.

NamlchakKhandro2• 6 months ago

Niagra Launcher is where it's at for stable out of your way intuitive.

BatteryMountain• 6 months ago

I got fed up with Nova and all the others to the point that I've built my own launcher in two evenings. Its just a black screen (no wallpaper or widgets) with a list of alphabetical scrollable apps (almost like how Windows Phone / Lumia looked), no icons/colours. Just black with white text & accents. You can tag an app as a favourite and it will show at the top. Thats it. No internet connection, no real customizations. It works amazingly well and fast and looks awesome on OLED. Once you are used to it, everything else (incl iOS) looks like a circus.

If you are an app developer, remember to add a black/oled theme to your apps. A good chunk of my apps have them and they fit so well with my launcher.

sjw9873• 6 months ago

I've never done Android app development. How simple or advanced are we talking to build something like this?

This sounds like my exact setup with Octopi. Just I have 4 scrollable home screens with the 4 most used apps as large white icons.

batrat• 6 months ago

I use Niagara Launcher because of the simplicity and quick access to every app. I highly recommend to everyone who wants a fast launcher and clean look.

globular-toast• 6 months ago

Closed source. Fool me once...

martsa1• 6 months ago

Niagara is exquisite.

LelouBil3• 6 months ago

Personally, I stopped using Nova launcher years ago.

Now I use Kvaesitso, which is search-focused exactly how I used to configure Nova.

https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

gytdev2• 6 months ago

I am a paying Nova Prime user and I really love that I can press on an app to open it. OR swipe up on a app to open a directory where I put similar apps

gytdev2• 6 months ago

Hope the dev will opensource it and do smth like what Maps.me did wirh Organic maps

paprikanotfound• 6 months ago

A few years I started working on a launcher, built from scratch with jetpack compose. It has all the basic functionality, and some very nice details like multi touch support, similar to iOS. Though I never released it since I got burnt out and I stopped using Android. This is making me want to go back to it and finish it.

sjw9873• 6 months ago

Sad news. I've been using Nova for years now, across multiple devices.

Thankfully my build is super minimalistic and another launcher was able to replicate it pretty quickly. Black wallpaper, white icon pack, list app drawer with a few folders, 4 scrollable home screens with large white icons for the most frequent apps (browser, Gemini, personal lifestyle logging app, Signal conversation with wife).

The idea that there might be ads (albeit on the free tier) is ridiculous, but then again that is the final frontier for adtech companies. I've often thought the Google stock launcher will likely soon have ads, just like Microsoft started trying to slip them in with Windows 10.

bodge50002• 6 months ago

I tried a few alternatives last night but ended up going with Lawnchair. I miss some of the deeper customisation of Nova, but its otherwise nice and stable and, most importantly, not spyware.

I'm not sure if this would actually affect me in the short term as a Nova Prime user (unsure if the extra trackers were added there too), but in the long term it certainly would

llmthrow0827• 6 months ago

Can someone explain why launchers matter so much to them? All the apps I use are on a single page and it's just one button press; what more would I need than that?

bux932• 6 months ago

OEM launchers often include annoying anti-features, like a screen you can't remove and that has the brand's voice assistant. They also tend to be slow, bad at search, and have all kinds of unnecessary phone-home functionality like sharing your location with their owners (austensibly to show the weather forecast).

Besides, I have a work phone and a private phone - different brands, same launcher.

ChoGGi• 6 months ago

I have lawnchair now (from Nova), I use it to remove the search bar, add more buttons to the dock, and a custom icon pack (though I think that'll work on stock launcher).

I assume I switched to using it since Google changed something I found annoying?

andrewaylett• 6 months ago

Shout out for Smart Launcher, which I'm very much enjoying: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ginlemon.flowe...

alexp2021• 6 months ago

I see Nova has been very popular. Why did the original developer sell it? There must be some business model for these sorts of popular apps that don't involve selling it? Crowdfunding?

mancerayder• 6 months ago

I use Nova for to remove the Google search bar on the Pixel desktop. And as a secondary benefit, Nova remembers app locations when I change phones.

What should I do that's hassle-free? Is there an open source equivalent that's likely to stay alive in a year or three?

baby_souffle• 6 months ago

Smart launcher is a pretty good replacement. It isn't a one to one but they have been pretty responsive to users asking for certain missing features.

Pricing is pretty reasonable and the team is responsive.

vladstudio• 6 months ago

Uninstalled. Thanks HN

etyhhgfff• 6 months ago

TLDR; Nova will add ads, will not go open source and might shutdown.

Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

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