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Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

novalauncher.com

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Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#41

Post by saubeidl »

theturtletalks wrote: post #33
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.

rms was right all along.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#42

Post by fullstop »

whalesalad wrote: post #29

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#43

Post by fullstop »

JohnFen wrote: post #25
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.

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#44

Post by el_duderino »

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

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#46

Post by 0x1ch »

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

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#47

Post by mastermedo »

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#49

Post by sweetbacon »

0x1ch wrote: post #46
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

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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#50

Post by dzaima »

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…

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)
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