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Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

61 points

by KORraN

1 hour ago

| past

| 19 comments

| novalauncher.com

| HN

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rdmuser

1 hour ago

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It was sold back in 2022 to Branch Metrics https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/branch-strikes-...

August 2024 everyone working on it was laid off except the original dev https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/9/24217077/nova-launcher-lay...

September 2025 the original dev left after being told to stop work on open sourcing it https://www.theverge.com/news/773937/nova-launcher-founder-l...

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philjackson

5 minutes ago

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Thanks for taking the time to post these.

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microflash

55 minutes ago

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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

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jjordan

8 minutes ago

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The write-up on the link seems promising, at least. I'm sure ads will come to the free version, but they appear to be respecting Nova's legacy and longtime Prime purchasers. Anything is better than the slow decay it has been enduring the last year or two. Can't do much but be cautiously optimistic.

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malfist

2 minutes ago

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Last update introduced a bunch of ads and tracking plugins. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

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theturtletalks

17 minutes ago

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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.

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saubeidl

1 minute ago

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rms was right all along.

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branon

1 hour ago

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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.

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ryukoposting

25 minutes ago

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Yeah, I was rocking Nova on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus back in 2012. It was the first time I ever paid for an app. Back then Nova was a huge upgrade to usability, but stock launchers eventually caught up, and by the late 2010s I was really just using it to make my phone look cool. I've heard it's borderline abandonware at this point, which is a shame.

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bisby

43 minutes ago

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KISS is a complete paradigm shift from other phone launchers. It takes some getting used to. It has made me rethink how I use my phone from time to time because I have it set to sort by recently used: I only have a few apps I use regularly it seems.

Not for everyone, but it's my preferred way to use a phone now.

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mfkp

23 minutes ago

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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 open to alternatives.

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tetris11

20 minutes ago

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Trebuchet (a "launcher", heh) is the stock Lineage one, and it is genuinely fine. App screen, home screen, nested folders. Nothing more you really want.

Unfortunately it's built/bundled with Lineage, and you can't find a standalone APK for it anywhere

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cheald

1 hour ago

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Nova has been my favorite launcher for years, but after this, I may have to look elsewhere. Even as a paid user, I don't have much confidence that I'm not being sold off for ad exploitation.

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Tostino

1 hour ago

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I read another post this morning that there was already an update last night with a bunch of tracking code added, and additional permissions required (that didn't trigger anything for the user to know of those additional permissions).

I am a paid Nova user from a decade ago, but haven't used it in ages fwiw.

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cheald

42 minutes ago

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I guess mine hasn't updated yet. I'm a paid user, but I'll be migrating elsewhere. What a disappointment.

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post_break

1 hour ago

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When a company says that they're here to stay after an acquisition that usually means the opposite.

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fullstop

1 hour ago

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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.

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JohnFen

32 minutes ago

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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.

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_DeadFred_

2 minutes ago

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I'm really behind on this stuff but what does this mean for Sesame. It's all just dead now, right?

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herrherrmann

1 hour ago

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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?

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turbocon

14 minutes ago

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Much less popular but I switched to Kvaesitso from Nova about a month ago and it's been amazing and it's open source. Much more opinionated than Nova but it matched how I used Nova so I really enjoy it.

[1] https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

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TheCraiggers

44 minutes ago

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Depends what you want, I guess. The nice thing about Android is we still have many options.

I recently moved to AIO Launcher and I've been really enjoying it. I'm sure it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea though.

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bastard_op

1 hour ago

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I've been using lawnchair as a launcher that is open source (apache) since the first news broke months when the previous dev/owner warned people what was coming, and it works just fine. Not quite as versatile as Nova Launcher, but with 100% less adware now that the new adware company is running up in people with a bait and switch.

Enshittification is real!

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mbirth

47 minutes ago

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Early on, Lawnchair implemented a blacklist to hide apps they deemed “bad”. They only removed it after lots of protest from users. That has “burned” this launcher for me.

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aceki

34 minutes ago

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For those curious, see this gem of a closed PR:

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/pull/905

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JohnFen

27 minutes ago

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I found this discussion (linked to in the PR) more illuminating: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7azc2i/comment/dpg...

I tried Lawnchair out when figuring out what I was going to replace Nova with. I didn't end up choosing it, but if I had known they tried to do this (even if it only made it to the alpha channel) I wouldn't have even bothered to try it out.

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colordrops

20 minutes ago

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9 years ago. I've been using the launcher and it works great. Does everything I needed from Nova and it's open source. Every project has hiccups.

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JohnFen

10 minutes ago

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I'm certainly not going to say nobody should use it.

But I assume the dev then is the dev now. That he was OK introducing something like that, even 9 years ago, tells me that his values and my values are very far apart.

I did actually evaluate it (before I knew this history) and it didn't meet my needs, so I chose something else purely on technical grounds anyway.

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j1elo

1 hour ago

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> Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship.

You can scratch at the very least contribution workflow from that list; anyhow, the original author had already spent months preparing the open source release, ironing out legal and dependency issues, so everything should already be there or pretty close, at least on the technical side of things (arguably one of the biggest sides)

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astrolx

26 minutes ago

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After many years of Nova, switched to Olauncher. I'm a happy person.

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JohnFen

1 hour ago

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> We will keep data collection minimal and purpose driven, and we will be clear about what is collected and why. We do not sell personal data.

I don't believe this at all. If they aren't lying, then why did they add new trackers?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

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cicko

42 minutes ago

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Time to say goodbye, I guess. It's been a while and things kept going south. Hello Lawnchair, my old friend.

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londons_explore

1 hour ago

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Nova launcher used to have loads of great features, but it seems now the best of those features have made it to the stock Google/Samsung launchers

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whalesalad

23 minutes ago

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

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fullstop

1 minute ago

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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.

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TheCraiggers

11 minutes ago

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It's "fine". In fact, a lot of the features that Nova pioneered has made its way into the stock launcher.

But it does what it does and that's all. It's been a long, long time since Google believed in the concept of options or customizability. If you want to do something outside the default, well you can go straight to hell. Which is fine, I guess, since we still have great options for launchers out there.

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naikrovek

1 hour ago

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the url "nova-is-here-to-stay" says to me that Nova will be discontinued in about 90 seconds.

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gruez

59 minutes ago

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"Nova Launcher's Incredible Journey"

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mwkaufma

59 minutes ago

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Immediate uninstall.

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ChrisArchitect

1 hour ago

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the timing of this

Nova Launcher added Facebook and Google Ads tracking

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46686655

(lots of good discussion about alternatives in this thread by the way)

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thefz

1 hour ago

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> Are you going to add ads? > Nova needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and maintenance. We are exploring different options, including paid tiers and other approaches. As many of you have already anticipated, we are also evaluating ad based options for the free version.

> If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.

Seems pretty clear.