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Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

novalauncher.com

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Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#31

Post by colordrops »

JohnFen wrote: post #26
aceki wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

9 years ago. I've been using the launcher and it works great. Does everything I needed from Nova and it's open source. Every project has hiccups.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#32

Post by tetris11 »

mfkp wrote: post #30

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 op…

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#33

Post by theturtletalks »

microflash wrote: post #18

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#34

Post by turbocon »

herrherrmann wrote: post #4

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?

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/

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#35

Post by fooqux »

whalesalad wrote: post #29

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#36

Post by JohnFen »

colordrops wrote: post #31
JohnFen wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

9 years ago. I've been using the launcher and it works great. Does everything I needed from Nova and it's open source. Every project has hiccups.

I'm certainly not going to say nobody should use it.

But I assume the dev then is the dev now. That he was OK introducing something like that, even 9 years ago, tells me that his values and my values are very far apart.

I did actually evaluate it (before I knew this history) and it didn't meet my needs, so I chose something else purely on technical grounds anyway.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#37

Post by jjordan »

microflash wrote: post #18

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#38

Post by philjackson »

rdmuser wrote: post #9

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...

Thanks for taking the time to post these.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#40

Post by malfist »

jjordan wrote: post #37
microflash wrote: post #18

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

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.

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