I hate being hinted and asked to click on the link, so I save you a click:
It’s the end of an era: the founder and original developer of Nova Launcher — Kevin Barry — has stepped away from the development of the iconic custom launcher. This essentially marks the end of the road for the launcher, as it is unlikely to receive updates or new features. For years now, Nova Launcher has been the go-to launcher for power Android users, standing out for its plethora of customization options and features.
Now that Nova is in literal limbo, if not allegedly in the hands of some data miner, there should be talk about substitutes.
- This app may share these data types with third parties
- This app may collect these data types
That talk about substitutes happened when it was initially handed over to said data miner, and anybody concerned should have switched back then. I did, moving to Lawnchair, and never looked back. Oodles of other options are doubtlessly available.
I’m quite satisfied with lawn chair too
Lawnchair was too bare bones for me. However, I was able to recreate 90%+ of my Nova setup with Neo.
Hasn’t had a release since 2023 🫤
I would be so happy if Kevin got accidentally ‘hacked’ and the source leaked, by now im so ingrained in nova that it just feels wrong switching.
I hate being hinted and asked to click on the link, so I save you a click:
Are you using a different client? Without teaser texts? The Lemmy website mentions Nova in the teaser.
I’m on the PC and using Firefox, viewing Lemmy directly rather than on mobile.
Android’s most beloved launcher may be done for good
I see only this.
Seems like lemmy.world has the opengraph/teaser stuff disabled? When I open the post on lemmyworld, without an account, it doesn’t have a teaser at all.
If you open this comment source link it may very well show.
The interoperability of ActivityPub is nice, but all these differences make it confusing and cumbersome too.
In a Reddit AMA, the then-Branch CEO Alex Austin also revealed that if Kevin ever left Branch, they would open-source Nova Launcher’s code and release it to the community.
We still have hope if they keep their promise!
Big unlucky.
Read a bit further:
Two years later, Kevin Barry left Branch and is no longer involved in Nova’s development. In his announcement, Barry revealed that he had been the sole developer for the past year, spending recent months preparing to open source Nova Launcher and clean up its codebase. However, Branch ultimately asked him to stop both development and his open-sourcing efforts.
Yeah, I read it. But they still promised open source, nothing about Barry working on it or not.
That’s why I said “keeping their promise”
The fact that the company forced him to stop getting ready to open source it strongly suggests they aren’t interested in it being open sourced.
Are you being sarcastic?
No, that wasnt intended.
Austin is the CEO of a spyware company, while these days it’s not seen this way, it’s not too far from being a leader of a criminal organization (in my humble opinion).
I might be misremembering but wasn’t it bought out by one of those data harvesting companies a while ago?
Yes
For those coming looking for alternatives, this mega comparison chart is what I used to select an alternative launcher when I switched.
I would strongly recommend checking this site for the trackers in an app if you’re at all concerned about privacy. Links to each app’s exodus privacy report is also at the end of the table linked above.
Nice list. I recently started using Fossify Launcher and have been pretty happy with it. It’s simple but does what I need. Thought I’d mention it as it’s absent from that list.
Fossify is a tad too basic for me. I use the dialler and calculator. Both have slight issues. The calculator always starts with zero so tapping 1416 will give you 14016.
Dialler doesnt seem to wake or respond as quick as others.
I take it as it is given I know it is private and open but still there are gaps in UI and UX with foss that I wish were a bigger priority.
So if Neo started updating again I think it is the closest open source match?
100%
I stuck with Neo for ages waiting for updates to fix the last few issues…and they never came. Neo would be perfect if someone forked it and continued development.
I’m very thankful to Kevin for this amazing launcher that I’m still using to this day.
Also a bit disapointed he trusted Branch and gave them the opportunity to ruin it.
It’s always capitalism
You make it sound as if human greed as part of the human condtion will suddenly and magically disappeared under any other form of trade or political system. That is not what literal history has us shown to be the case, over, and over again.
What fucked it up was he selling to the wrong company. But we do not know why he did it. For all we know, he was tired to taking lead in the project and wanted to cash out. He was entitled to do that, or what is the option, force him to work on it just for your needs or to sell to only the company that you or I approved of? What gives us the right to force their hand?
It sucks but that is what he wanted. We both agree that it us unfortunate though. It is too bad.
That human nature will disappear when provided an egalitarian society is the biggest lie I see parroted over and over again by folks who also demand I read theory.
Our nature isn’t a result of our systems, our systems are a result of our nature
The human condition is dictated by the hegemonic system that is governing.
Monopoly™ the game is structually engineered so that players kill the competition and secure the entire board. Would playing by the game’s rules make me inherently a capitalist jerk? No, because they dictate my behaviour and not following them would put me outside the realm of the game (i.e. the system) resulting in my loss (decay).
If the capitalist system incentivizes me to outcompete others and hoard my wealth and, conversely, punishes me for my altruism; then, I am forced to play by the rules of such a system.
“Human nature” is much more complex to be reduced to just greed. This is what’s so cool about being humans, we are so malleable and can be many many things either at once or separately.
Edit: I want to give some concrete examples to what I’m saying. Initially, the Google leadership was skeptical about AI funding, because of privacy and environmental concerns. Yet, as rival competition grew they backpedaled because this would mean their spot as the strongest teck company would be usurped. The late hop into AI funding and development heavily impacted their prospects and they remain falling behind in this respect (source). Here, we have an exemplary case of how the system automatically punishes hood deeds and reinforces predatory and greedy acts.
Man probably needed to eat. What a system we’ve got.
if it’s nova launcher I’m gonna be pissed.
edit: it’s nova launcher. fucking fuck.
Hey by any chance do you have the last APK file and the SHA256 of that file ?
Oh wait, it this it ?
Name: com.teslacoilsw.launcher_8.1.1-81001_minAPI26(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
Size: 11970405 bytes (11 MiB)
SHA256: 30bccfdd995969089ad364a7a6bb7bbea482a703fbfb30ebccad6418aa977fecIs there an x86_64 version ?
Just making sure we’ve got the last version saved
Oh wait, it’s not open source ? And they’ve been acquired in 2022 ?
date of acquisition 2022-07-19
Ok, last one before the acquisition, just in case
Name: com.teslacoilsw.launcher_8.0.2-80002_minAPI26(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)_apkmirror.com.apk
Size: 12580956 bytes (11 MiB)
SHA256: 61a760413387dde99f2a2ef4b065caf278b575c8028cc5b3092f05192cfee258
I don’t even know how to use Android without Nova…
Why does nothing good ever last?
I switched to Niagara a few years back because Nova didn’t have good support for foldables and tbh I haven’t looked back. It’s very different but once you get used to it it’s much faster than a traditional launcher.
I’ve been using Niagara for about 6 months now and love it. Having the alphabet down the side of the home screen for immediate 2 tap access to any app is so slick.
I switched to Niagara a few years ago when Nova was sold. True game changer once you get used to it (which doesn’t take too long). It works great on phone or tablet. And there is still something SO satisfying about watching the alphabet and apps move with your thumb. It’s so smooth and the haptic feedback is perfect (running on Pixel 7, GrapheneOS, and a cheap old Samsung tablet A8).
Random video showing the UI within the first minute:
Yep, have been using and currently using Nova for the last 8 years I think. Suuucks to see it go as I couldn’t find a viable search based launcher like Nova when it was sold.
I like Olauncher a lot but I can’t do like a feature comparison with Nova, I never used it. Hope you find something good to replace it with though!
Fuck, I’ve been using this since I got an android phone in 2008. RIP.
God DAMMIT.
I don’t know why, but this is some proverbial straw for me today. Motherfuck.
Same. I loudly exclaimed “FUUUUUUCK” as I read the article, much to the confusion of my partner.
Its Lawnchair or nothing for me.
I used to use lawnchair but there was some lag with it. Now I use whatever default launcher there is that graphene has
KISS has been the only reasonable launcher ever since Android ruined it’s overview system.
Does anyone have recommendations to replace Nova?
There’s no direct replacement. The features I use are in Pear launcher so I use that. You have to look through launcher comparisons to find the features you need.
Also, I’m surprised purple are still using Nova. I thought most people abandoned it after it got sold.
I installed it on my HTC one and have used the exact same wallpaper and layout ever since. Change is scary and let’s be real.
Who the ACTUAL fuck pays attention to the launcher they are using. They find one they like and then unless something breaks they forget they are even using one.
It has been owned by a data mining company for a number of years.
Sure, but the duration of the ownership doesn’t matter a whole lot in this sort of situation. If you’ve missed the news about the selling when it happened, it’s relatively unlikely you’ll learn about it afterwards. I don’t periodically do a background check of all the devs and owners of my apps.
because it is much more stable, plenty of customisation and ofc one time payment.
I’m using it without updates
It’s very much not a classic launcher and takes some getting used to, but Kvaesitso is nice.
I’m using Kvaesitso as well. But just looked at the permissions and I am shocked. Don’t know when the permissions changed, but I’m switching right now.
Pretty sure that just has to do with how widgets are integrated
that’s because you can integrate your contacts, calendar and more… calm down
Also it’s GPL so feel free to edit as desired. Users not stuck with dev choices like some of the other options being mentioned here.
Those are for widgets that you choose to enable. Hard to access search features without permission to search, if you don’t want them, all you have to do is … not enable them / disable them if you flipped the on …
Kvaesitso is awesome, updates regularly, and was the best launcher I found that worked for my use case transition from Nova.
Granted I avoided trying a lot of the Freemium ones, or others.that were corporate controlled. Not interested in a forced migration 2.0, open source is nice cause it can always be forked if something happens.
It’s a launcher, it can do a heck of a lot of things, and needs permissions to be able to do so.
But you don’t actually have to allow any of them in modern Androids if you don’t need those features. Nova Launcher also has quite a list, but I haven’t actually enabled any of them, it has never asked to, and everything works fine.
Is it not open source and on F-Droid? I used it before switching to Niagara.
It took me two tries to get used to Kvaesitso but now I love it. I was using Nova until the Branch acquisition, then briefly tried lawnchair but had to move on as it wasn’t very stable. Once I realised I could start apps by pressing enter after searching I found it much quicker than scrolling through an app drawer. Unless you can’t remember the name of the app that is.
I love my Niagara Launcher ! it’s a different concept than most launchers, and looks pretty spartan on first glance, but it’s sleek, efficient and can look absolutely fabulous. The Pro stuff is a bit pricey, but it has a good privacy policy, autodelete data older than a year, and are GDPR compliant.
autodelete data older than a year
okay, but why do they collect the data in the first place?
telemetry and crash reporting, and stuff like public statistics. Here’s the “Easy to read” privacy policy: https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/109-privacy-policy-summary
They explicitly state that they sell a launcher, not data.
if you are asking about combinations of customisations, flexibility and stability. none atm.
Have been using Neo Launcher since it had the features I needed from Nova (mostly hiding most apps from the app list while having them on the home screen in some folder so that it isn’t a mess when you want to find something specific). It hasn’t been updated in a while, but it works perfectly fine for me.
I have used and enjoyed lawnchair for the past year. It’s quite minimal and I’ve found it very stable.
I switched from Nova to Smart Launcher and haven’t looked back.
I’ve been using smart launcher for years it’s automatic categorization is amazing. Though, wanting change, I recently started using Niagara, and like the minimalist approach too.
I switched to Niagara after Nova added the shitload of trackers, and i love it. At first i thought: what, i should only place 7 elements on my homescreen? But it really works and it didn’t even take a day of active use that i knew i had to get the Pro version. Was the first time i ever put down money on a launcher, but i’ve been using it for years now and hope i will never need to replace it, because there’s nothing that comes close.
Edit: damn, i read like a goddamn adbot. No, i am really human and like it lol.
Bot Disproval: Xi Pooh Bear Tienanmen Square Gaza Uyghur GenocideI put more. But the ones I use less are on the bottom. So it’s there for quick use, but I don’t have it there all the time.
Action launcher is a good replacement that I don’t see recommended. Still updated, stuffed with features. The main one I miss on other launchers is “covers” which let you promote one app as the default for a folder, you can swipe it instead of tapping to open the folder or tap to open the default. I only really use about 10 or so apps super regularly, so it’s great as I just have a single home screen that I rarely need to leave
I actually switched from Action Laucnher to Nova because the former kept crashing.
I used it exclusively from Nexus and Pixel and now on the Fairphone 6. Probably works better on more stock android? Idk it is pretty solid for me and I recommend it
Octopi Launcher seems quite promising.
Trebuchet seems good…?
I’ve been using Hyperion for a few years. I mostly wanted something with app drawer folders like nova offered and this was the best I could find
Niagara launcher has been my go to for years now
I find the ckncept interesting, but I often don’t remember the name of an app. I need to see its icon.
It shows native icons by default
If it’s not on the primary list, however, they get sorted alphabetically when scrolling through.
By default, sure, but they still show an icon so i dont know why that would matter here
Looks great, but i don’t think i can live without widgets. Especially for home-assistant and calendars
Mine for the last 3 years
gahdam…end of an era. This sucks.
