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Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

novalauncher.com

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Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#161

Post by AnonyX387 »

0x1ch wrote: post #55
sweetbacon wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

To be fair, this was probably six or so months ago when I last went through this. Niagra had the launcher / app switching issue, so did Lawnchair, even Nova Launcher (before I knew of what had happened to them). It could have been a general bug for all launchers except the OEM.

Haven't seen the app switching issues with Lawnchair for a long time, both on pixel 6 and pixel 9. So I think this might finally be resolved..

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#162

Post by yndoendo »

tecleandor wrote: post #56

"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…

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?

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#163

Post by baby_souffle »

mancerayder wrote: post #153

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?

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#164

Post by billynomates »

tecleandor wrote: post #56

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

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#165

Post by AndrewDucker »

XiS wrote: post #84
throwa356262 wrote: post #75

It's 2026, why are people still using custom launchers? Serious question from a former Nova Prime user.

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.

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#167

Post by ilvez »

hexagonwin wrote: post #142
ilvez wrote: post #53

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

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#168

Post by brovonov »

nixosbestos wrote: post #152
warkdarrior wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I cannot find any indication that this is true.

From the little research I did, they do appear to certain block apps.

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/blob/b0ecfb84...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7azc2i/deleted_by_...

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/issues/940

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/pull/902

From the dev themselves in that PR

> @dasBiest: It's our business to prevent unauthorized use of iconpacks.

> Just like Substratum is keeping you away from using pirated themes for example.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#169

Post by brovonov »

elcapitan wrote: post #130
warkdarrior wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What kind of apps did they blacklist, and why?

It seems to be pirated icon packs. see the other comment in this same parent comment.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#170

Post by ChoGGi »

llmthrow0827 wrote: post #138

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?

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?

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