After Working on it alone for a year, the founder and original developer of Nova Launcher Kevin Barry has stopped working on Nova Launcher and the open sourcing efforts. More Info: https://teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.html
I had noticed that Nova had been falling behind for the last couple of years, but I didn’t know why. I’ve been using it for over 10 years.
It sounds like a case of “buy it, kill it” which is pretty sad. If it had been open sourced we might have been able to improve it and keep it alive.
Yeah, they laid off the whole team behind Kevin. I would quit too, if I saw my creation fall that way.
What team? He wrote he was the only one working on Nova for the past year.
Yea because they laid everyone off already
I stopped using it years ago when it got bought and immediately injected with spyware. Neo Launcher or Lawnchair are very similar to Nova. Lawnchair gets more active development, but I use Neo because it’s nearly the same as Nova.
Neo launcher hasn’t had a release for 3 years, sadly.
Lawnchair is alright but it is missing a bunch of features compared to Nova.
Yea, running from repo there are updates, but yea, sad it has stagnated for releases. It’s why I’m starting to look at Lawnchair again.
I’m still using Nova Launcher, can you elaborate on the spyware part?
They were acquired by Branch Analytics, and right after the APK went up in size by 150% with no visible changes.
It then asks for location and accessibility (to see notifications) permissions.
They then got rid of most of the staff, leaving a sole developer.
No one knows what it sends back home (at least not the last time I read about it, which was years ago).
Everyone knew Nova was dead once it was sold. Surprised old mate held on this long.
Still haven’t found a replacement launcher that matches all it’s functionality.
KISS launcher is FOSS and a bit different, but many ex. Nova users flocked to it after it was bought.
I never used nova, but I’m so used to KISS now, it’s the first thing I install on a new phone. It’s also funny to lend the phone to someone, because nobody understands it as it’s very different (especially how I set it up).
I was already a long time KISS launcher user after the sale (long time nova user)
Recently discovered Kvaesitso and I have fully switched! It is just a bit more featureful than KISS while still being very clean and now when people use my phone for something, they can actually find apps too which is nice.
Oh wow. I guess I really live under a rock. I honestly did not know it was bought. 😬
I did. Love KISS Launcher more than I loved Nova back in the day.
Same. I really need padding adjustments for my custom home screen, and I haven’t seen anything else that lets you remove widget padding and adjust padding around each home screen page and the dock :/
And the ability to set my own widget as the persistent search bar widget.
I guess when I get tired of my current setup and start reworking it maybe I’ll just blow it all up and start over with another launcher and work within their constraints.
Padding and grid / snap to half-grid makes it so easy to get things lined up exactly how you like.
I also like having slide actions on the dock… I have a phone icon. If you tap on it, it opens a folder with my most common 9’ish contacts as direct dials. If I slide up on it, it opens the phone app. Repeat for other icons on the dock and you get over a dozen potential actions from 4 icons.
Not sure if anything else offers this.
Yep. I forgot, I really need snap to half grid too.
And actively use swipe actions on app icons.
Things are super messy cause I haven’t finished updating stuff after changing phones and a couple things are broken while I make changes, but I can’t do this with any other launcher, sadly
For people like me who are worried about the data collection of Nova, we can try asking to remove it.
I had no idea it was sold to an analytics company. That’s real sad.
Having used pixel phones as long as they’ve been around, and used some AOSP based OS, I cannot imagine what it would be to not be able to block network access on a per-application basis.
Calculator app? No, you don’t need to read my contacts or network access to ship it to God knows who. Keyboard app that is an ipso keylogger, also no. Launcher, no… Image gallery? Fuck off.
I trust companies to do the wrong thing, always. They all sell your data. If they ever get caught, the punishment will be less than what they made by it, so why wouldn’t they.
I turned off internet connectivity for Nova and the Nova launcher prime with tracker control, I figure that may help.
Wow what a betrayal, poor guy. He works for an open source release for a year and they just rip it away from him. Fuck Alex Austin.
It’s not even the 6th yet! …which tells me he’s in Europe and that makes Nova a little cooler.
iPhone guy but of course I have Nova Prime on my backup phone. I wanna say I had a couple other apps he made, too? Tesla Coil sounds familiar. But it’s been almost 10 years since an Android phone was my main phone.
So Nova should be usable for a few more years at least… but… what’s everyone gonna replace it with? For what I use my S10 for, it should be good enough. I mainly need the launcher to support custom grid sizes, larger icons, and custom icons since my Android phone is a cosplay prop. (It’s meant to look and act like the NookPhone from Animal Crossing. It’s fully functional — you open Nook Music and it’s Apple Music which I’m subscribed to, as long as it has WiFi it will play, and it has a lot of stuff downloaded. And of course the browser is Firefox with uBlock Origin — it’s just Redd the fake art purveyor on a globe rather than the red panda we all know and love.)
Try Kvaesitso its free and open source: https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso
Does not have widgets/has some limited plugins. Can’t have apps pinned on screen. Looks nifty but it’s unusable for me :(
Well, you can add some apps and widgets on home screen. 1.For Apps: Settings > Home screen > Dock. After that add the apps you want on home screen to Favorites. 2. For Widgets: Settings > Home screen > Enable Show Widgets on Home screen. After doing that Swipe up that will show widgets. Go to end to edit widgets and add whatever widget you like.
Other than that yeah it is different , it is supposed to be different. Like, how Niagara launcher is different. If you want something more like nova launcher then I’d suggest Lawnchair.
Amazing recommendation. I’ve used Nova for years, and while its different, Kvaesitso is stunning. So smooth, and it surfaces apps and actions I use all the time better than Nova.
Is the dev Lithuanian? Noticed a weather data app in the repo.
I enjoy Niagara launcher. The paid version is a bit pricey but the free tier is pretty solid as well.
Yeah Niagara is great and very usable at the free tier
I use KISS Launcher. Always fast, predictable and easy to find anything I want.
The other Tesla Coil app I used was Widget Locker. Back in the days before Android had flashlight controls on the system tray, I had a lock screen shortcut for the flashlight.
Yes, Widget Locker! I used that too. Now there’s KWGT (I think that’s how it’s spelled) and also KLWP and KLCK. Kustom is the brand and their apps make widgets, live wallpapers, and lock screens, respectively. But Widget Locker came first IIRC.
Neo Launcher.
It’s great. The only downside is not having a release schedule. It had one or two annoying bugs in the past but nothing serious.
I didn’t read anything about nova for the past years, I even forgot that it was a thing.
Edit: there has been no fdroid or github release since 2022. There are still commits in the repo but I don’t know if the published version on telegram is the one from github. Does this make it closed source now?
Do you like your iPhone?
I just came to iOS from a Razer Phone 2 (S9 generation), but I used jailbroken iPhones forever, until the 6 or so.
… And I don’t like it. All the gestures, everything is unintuitive, and I can’t change hardly anything! My old jailbroken 5 was more feature rich, yet somehow simple and snappy too. Every app nickels and dimes you, and I feel like I’m struggling to restrict thier access to things.
I made the mistake of getting it for older family thinking it’d be easier, and they can hardly even function.
Does anyone know of a good replacement launcher that supports Private Space?
Lawnchair supports it.
I think Lawnchair is the closest visual / UX replacement to Nova that I’ve found, but it is missing many features compared to Nova 🙁.
Also, I’m starting to learn Private Space is a pain, as amongst other shortcomings it forces you to use a logged-in Play Store to install apps (“private”, my ass!). You can install apks via ADB, but who can be bothered to do that.
Under the hood, it looks like Private Space uses another hidden user, so I think I’ll just make another user logged into nothing and switch to it occasionally instead of using private space.
“Private” from other people who may have access to your phone, but not private from Google. I use it to segment my work and personal stuff, and can still get notifications for both accounts, where as separate users wouldn’t get that.
I’ve been very Happy with Kvaesito which supports private space, but it’s not a typical launcher format
What’s the appeal of all these alternative launchers? Stock launcher works fine and I’ve never felt like anything was missing. I’m a poweruser on PC but I can hardly think of anything I’d want to do with a phone along poweruser lines.
Personally, the customisability without the effort. You get a hundred bells and whistles to make your phone look and feel unique, things that stock android should really provide but doesn’t.
People want to interact with their devices in ways that fall outside the blessed functions permitted by the corporate designed pattern deemed appropriate for them. If corporate UI works for you, that’s great for you, but it doesn’t for everyone.
I have no idea why you’re so confrontational. I asked a question. I never judged anyone for their preferences. Nobody seems to be able to have a normal conversation on the internet…
It wasn’t meant to be confrontational, sorry about that! I’m not judging anyone who is comfy with the stock experience, just saying that it’s not for everybody.
Consistency between devices. Android isn’t android, everyone mucks with it, especially Samsung.
What’s going on, should I stop using Nova? I never paid for it and I like the way it functions…
What’s nova launcher? All I can find is a seemingly proprietary Android launcher with a Twitter as only social media. Doesn’t scream FOSS to me.
Nova Launcher was a very popular launcher many years ago. Its not Foss. If you read the post you’d known that the developer was working to make it open source but now stopped.
Note that the linked article answers your FOSS question.
Why would anyone give Nova launcher internet access to begin with?
I paid for Nova years ago, and have been happily using it ever since. For me, it’s set up in a really minimalist way that fits how I like to use my phone. I’ve never had any need to switch away from it because it works for my needs. Is there any reason I should consider switching away from it :?
When the next version of Android breaks support for it…
I just hope there won’t be any enshittification phases, just abandon it or remove it from play store if open sourcing it as-is is not possible.
