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Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

novalauncher.com

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Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#51

Post by ilvez »

fullstop wrote: post #42
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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#54

Post by algo_trader »

aspbee555 wrote: post #45

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

> 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 :\

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#55

Post by 0x1ch »

sweetbacon wrote: post #49
0x1ch wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#56

Post by tecleandor »

"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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#57

Post by ajkjk »

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…

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)

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#58

Post by chroma_zone »

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?

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.

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#59

Post by Izkata »

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.

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

Re: Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

#60

Post by charcircuit »

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.

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.
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