Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher • Hacker News Board

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#21

Post by bisby » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:17 PM UTC

branon wrote: post #14

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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#22

Post by cicko » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:18 PM UTC

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#23

Post by cheald » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:19 PM UTC

Tostino wrote: post #8

cheald wrote: post #5

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.

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.

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#24

Post by aceki » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:26 PM UTC

mbirth wrote: post #19

bastard_op wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

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.

For those curious, see this gem of a closed PR:

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/pull/905

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#25

Post by JohnFen » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:28 PM UTC

fullstop wrote: post #15

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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#26

Post by JohnFen » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:33 PM UTC

aceki wrote: post #24

mbirth wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

For those curious, see this gem of a closed PR: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/pull/905

I found this discussion (linked to in the PR) more illuminating: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7azc2i/comment/dpg...

I tried Lawnchair out when figuring out what I was going to replace Nova with. I didn't end up choosing it, but if I had known they tried to do this (even if it only made it to the alpha channel) I wouldn't have even bothered to try it out.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#27

Post by astrolx » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:34 PM UTC

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#28

Post by ryukoposting » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:35 PM UTC

branon wrote: post #14

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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#29

Post by whalesalad » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#30

Post by mfkp » Tue, Jan 20, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

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.