Nova Launcher feels the "massive" layoffs at the firm that acquired it in 2022.
Back in July 2022, when mobile app metrics firm Branch acquired the popular and well-regarded Nova Launcher for Android, the app’s site put up one of those self-directed FAQ posts about it. Under the question heading “What does Branch want with Nova?,” Nova founder and creator Kevin Barry started his response with, “Not to mess it up, don’t worry!”
Branch (formerly/sometimes Branch Metrics) is a firm concerned with helping businesses track the links that lead into their apps, whether from SMS, email, marketing, or inside other apps. Nova, with its Sesame Search tool that helped users find and access deeper links—like heading straight to calling a car, rather than just opening a rideshare app—seemed like a reasonable fit.
Barry wrote that he had received a number of acquisition offers over the years, but he didn’t want to be swallowed by a giant corporation, an OEM, or a volatile startup. “Branch is different,” he wrote then, because they wanted to add staff to Nova, keep it available to the public, and mostly leave it alone.
Two years later, Branch has left Nova Launcher a bit too alone. As documented on Nova’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, and transcripts from its Discord, as of Thursday Nova had “gone from a team of around a dozen people” to just Barry, the founder, working alone. The Nova cuts were part of “a massive layoff” of purportedly more than 100 people across all of Branch, according to now-former Nova workers.
If I was able to choose icons for some apps myself after applying a theme, I would immediately switch to Lawn Chair.
But for now it’s still Nova Launcher without internet access for me…
Anyone know if any alternative supports app-drawer paging? Ive tried around six in the last few days, and none so far have. I’m open to trying other workflows but the “catch all” dock isn’t it.
I like to keep my home screen with a few widgets and the dock - stuff I want to see often, but not open an app for like weather and calandar.
When I open the app drawer I see a page full of everything I use daily, then I can swipe to the other pages organized for work apps, games, and other crap.
Folders don’t work as well because they usually sorted at the top of the screen and not quickly reached.
I’ve tried some of the minimislt scrolling launchers, but 1) I dont remember the exact name of every app and 2) for me, having to scroll through a list 100+ apps to get to “outlook”(for work) is not faster than having a page of my 20 most used apps.
Long answer, summarized from a form post: the original dev got sick and launcher was left in limbo.
Someone eventually contacted dev, the dev got better but “left android” and gave the person permission to open source it.
It is now avalible on GitHub, but does not seem to have an apk for download.
Love this list and I use Pear launcher currently on my Android 15 beta device. It has some quirks but overall I am happy with it over stock. Especially since I can add folders to the bottom bar.
Okay, I’m seeing a lot of “alternatives” posted. But to all of you recommending minimal launchers: They are NOT an alternative for Nova.
I’ve used Nova for near on 10 years now, always trying other launchers for a while. In those 10 years I realized that I want a fully fledged “traditional” launcher, not a list-based one where I have to search for my apps.
Thank you. I’ve been thinking the same thing. People keep posting things that aren’t remotely close to Nova. I’m beginning to think there’s just nothing else at their level. Lawnchair seems like the closest so far but it’s still not customizable enough and the Google feed implementation randomly broke and I couldn’t get it to work again (amongst other annoyances and performance issues).
It’s a shame. Years ago, I adored their luncher, before I found Niagara and found how amazing it was. It will be sad to see it go, but these things happen. The luncher market is so full, you need to be special to stand out.
I felt like Nova’s not being special was what made it special. It was the closest to stock android while having a bunch of little tweaks here and there that allowed for more custom setups.
Lawnchair is open source and basically identical in my experience, though i think i’m using some new version of it that’s technically not stable or something?
you can’t change the main home screen. there are threads going back 6 years asking for that feature and they’ve just been ignored so I think I’ll avoid it
Wish Lawnchair didn’t have some sort of ghosting when it won’t react to any inputs for like quarter of a second after minimizing the currently active app. Guess it’s a Samsung thing but still, not found on a default launcher. Otherwise would definitely switch to Lawnchair.
id imagine it would work till google force deprecates it due to not being updated in a recent time window, which them it would be delisted on the play store
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If I was able to choose icons for some apps myself after applying a theme, I would immediately switch to Lawn Chair. But for now it’s still Nova Launcher without internet access for me…
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Anyone know if any alternative supports app-drawer paging? Ive tried around six in the last few days, and none so far have. I’m open to trying other workflows but the “catch all” dock isn’t it.
I like to keep my home screen with a few widgets and the dock - stuff I want to see often, but not open an app for like weather and calandar.
When I open the app drawer I see a page full of everything I use daily, then I can swipe to the other pages organized for work apps, games, and other crap.
Folders don’t work as well because they usually sorted at the top of the screen and not quickly reached.
I’ve tried some of the minimislt scrolling launchers, but 1) I dont remember the exact name of every app and 2) for me, having to scroll through a list 100+ apps to get to “outlook”(for work) is not faster than having a page of my 20 most used apps.
Lightning Launcher if it still exists
From what I found, the short answer is no.
Long answer, summarized from a form post: the original dev got sick and launcher was left in limbo. Someone eventually contacted dev, the dev got better but “left android” and gave the person permission to open source it.
It is now avalible on GitHub, but does not seem to have an apk for download.
Love this list and I use Pear launcher currently on my Android 15 beta device. It has some quirks but overall I am happy with it over stock. Especially since I can add folders to the bottom bar.
I’ve switched to LawnChair a few months back. It’s not perfect and I miss some features of Nova but I don’t want to support that anymore.
Okay, I’m seeing a lot of “alternatives” posted. But to all of you recommending minimal launchers: They are NOT an alternative for Nova.
I’ve used Nova for near on 10 years now, always trying other launchers for a while. In those 10 years I realized that I want a fully fledged “traditional” launcher, not a list-based one where I have to search for my apps.
Thank you. I’ve been thinking the same thing. People keep posting things that aren’t remotely close to Nova. I’m beginning to think there’s just nothing else at their level. Lawnchair seems like the closest so far but it’s still not customizable enough and the Google feed implementation randomly broke and I couldn’t get it to work again (amongst other annoyances and performance issues).
I use neo launcher which comes close. The lack of recent updates is concerning though.
Edit: found that they have some pre releases in their telegram.
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There are zero good alternatives.
Been using Niagara for nearly ten years, I think. Absolutely perfect launcher IMO.
Nova launcher for over a decade now.
It’s a shame. Years ago, I adored their luncher, before I found Niagara and found how amazing it was. It will be sad to see it go, but these things happen. The luncher market is so full, you need to be special to stand out.
I felt like Nova’s not being special was what made it special. It was the closest to stock android while having a bunch of little tweaks here and there that allowed for more custom setups.
Lawnchair is open source and basically identical in my experience, though i think i’m using some new version of it that’s technically not stable or something?
Lawnchair is what I switched to after Nova Launcher was purchased. Honestly, I have few complaints, it’s been plenty good enough for me.
I switched and didn’t notice much difference
you can’t change the main home screen. there are threads going back 6 years asking for that feature and they’ve just been ignored so I think I’ll avoid it
change how?
if you have multiple home screens, you can’t change which one is the default one. you can’t add empty home screens, either.
any other lauchers that allow you to change app icons?
Action launcher.
saved
Lawnchair as well
Wish Lawnchair didn’t have some sort of ghosting when it won’t react to any inputs for like quarter of a second after minimizing the currently active app. Guess it’s a Samsung thing but still, not found on a default launcher. Otherwise would definitely switch to Lawnchair.
That’s a known issue with all third party launchers. I assume Google purposefully doesn’t fix it.
yeah, they just kinda do that sometimes -_-
Good. It was a great launcher.
GOAT launcher. Hopefully it doesn’t meet its demise. The features should be implemented into stock android experience…
Link please?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/309070/goat-slingers
Lol…thanks!
What link are you referring to?
GOAT launcher, obviously
Oh, i was just referring to Nova as the Great Of All Time (GOAT) 👍
Gotcha! I thought you were recommending a better, alternative launcher.
Shame about Nova though. It was (is, I suppose) a decent launcher.
+est
Does this mean it’s going to become unusable or something? I’ve been using it for years. I’ve got icons, and an app drawer, and that’s it.
I guess i’m not using 90% of it, given the reaction, and my.lack of noticing anything’s changed.
id imagine it would work till google force deprecates it due to not being updated in a recent time window, which them it would be delisted on the play store
Oh. Well shit…
Bought Nova just to nearly kill it. Fuck you Branch