Nova Launcher's Founder and Sole Developer Has Left (theverge.com) 20
Kevin Barry, founder and sole developer of Nova Launcher, has left parent company Branch Metrics after being told to stop work on both the launcher and an open-source release. While the app remains on Google Play, the launcher's website currently shows a 404 error. The Verge reports: Mobile analytics company Branch Metrics acquired Nova in 2022. The company's CEO at the time, co-founder Alex Austin, said on Reddit that if Barry were to leave Branch, "it's contracted that the code will be open-sourced and put in the hands of the community." Austin left Branch in 2023, and now with Barry officially gone from the company, too, it's unclear if the launcher will now actually be open-sourced.
"I think the newer leadership since Alex Austin left has put a different focus on the company and Nova simply isn't part of that focus in any way at all," Cliff Wade, Nova's former customer relations lead who left as part of the 2024 layoffs, tells The Verge. "It's just some app that they own but no longer feel they need or want." Wade also said that "I don't believe Branch will do the right thing any time soon with regards to open-sourcing Nova. I think they simply just don't care and don't want to invest time, unless of course, they get enough pressure from the community and individuals who care."
Users have started a change.org petition to ask for the project to be open-sourced, and Wade says it's a "great start" to apply that pressure. Wade said he hasn't personally seen Barry's contract, so couldn't corroborate the claim of a contractual obligation to open-source Nova. Still, he said that the community "deserves" for the launcher to be open-sourced. "Branch just simply needs to do the right thing here and honor what they as a company have stated as well as what then CEO Alex Austin has stated numerous times prior to him leaving Branch."
"I think the newer leadership since Alex Austin left has put a different focus on the company and Nova simply isn't part of that focus in any way at all," Cliff Wade, Nova's former customer relations lead who left as part of the 2024 layoffs, tells The Verge. "It's just some app that they own but no longer feel they need or want." Wade also said that "I don't believe Branch will do the right thing any time soon with regards to open-sourcing Nova. I think they simply just don't care and don't want to invest time, unless of course, they get enough pressure from the community and individuals who care."
Users have started a change.org petition to ask for the project to be open-sourced, and Wade says it's a "great start" to apply that pressure. Wade said he hasn't personally seen Barry's contract, so couldn't corroborate the claim of a contractual obligation to open-source Nova. Still, he said that the community "deserves" for the launcher to be open-sourced. "Branch just simply needs to do the right thing here and honor what they as a company have stated as well as what then CEO Alex Austin has stated numerous times prior to him leaving Branch."
what is it? (Score:3, Insightful)
"one of the most recognizable names in Android launchers".
What's an "Android launcher"?
Re:what is it? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
On Android you can mostly customize and replace the main GUI, the icon pages, app menu etc. Pretty sure it started as a way to give the carriers and OEMs a skin system since Android couldn't do the Apple "fuck you just be glad we're letting you have it at all" to the carriers.
Re: (Score:3)
It's more a case of the modular nature of Android. The Launcher is nothing more than a contained GUI, it wasn't granted to the OEMs, it's a core part of the OS design to be like that, the Launcher is its own program and that is substitutable at the whim of whomever builds the Android image. Much like XFCE vs Gnome, vs KDE.
Re: (Score:2)
Pretty sure it started as a way to give the carriers and OEMs a skin system
Just the opposite in fact. It's an alternative desktop Interface for your android phone in case, for whatever reason, you don't like the interface your carrier gave you,
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
It's an app that lets you app your other apps together, I think.
Of all the things that no one cares about, no one cares about this thing the most.
Re: (Score:2)
It performed the same function on your phone as KDE/Gnome/Xfce perform on your computer - but as a life long windows user, you're probably unaware of even the possibility of doing things like that, so you don't care about it.
Re:what is it? (Score:4, Informative)
"one of the most recognizable names in Android launchers". What's an "Android launcher"?
It's what you get when you hit the home screen button on your phone. It's how you "launch" applications. It can include the home screen, the lock screen and the app drawer. Nova was the best of the third party launchers. SOO customizable. It's going to be frustrating to have to pick up a new one. Nova let me launch three different apps depending on how I swiped the icon on my home screen. I designed my setup and I haven't changed it in years. It's so convenient. Heck I paid for pro to unlock all the features even though I honestly only use about 1/3 of them.
Re: (Score:2)
Remember that Toomy beer ad with the giant trebuchets on top of office towers, yeeting people into the clouds to make it rain beer?
It's sorta like that.
Nova = great (Score:5, Interesting)
Nova Launcher is/was a great app. I used it for years on a few different phones to have a SANE launcher that worked when phone manufactures had to muck around with their launchers to the point they were stupid, slow, buggy, and yet very limited.
That said, I haven't needed Nova Launcher since I moved to Samsung phones/tablets, because the launchers have worked properly for many years now.
It is a shame the project is being destroyed.
Re: (Score:3)
Nova Launcher is/was a great app. I used it for years on a few different phones to have a SANE launcher that worked when phone manufactures had to muck around with their launchers to the point they were stupid, slow, buggy, and yet very limited.
That said, I haven't needed Nova Launcher since I moved to Samsung phones/tablets, because the launchers have worked properly for many years now.
It is a shame the project is being destroyed.
Yeah likewise I used Nova on earlier versions of Android, but Samsung's OneUI is pretty well sorted now, and they also have the Good Lock suite that adds a bunch of extra tweaks.
Re: (Score:2)
That said, I haven't needed Nova Launcher since I moved to Samsung phones/tablets, because the launchers have worked properly for many years now.
This! Nova launcher was a god send back in 2013, but for the past 8ish years I haven't felt the need to replace any launcher. Sure Nova is more customizable, but back in the day it was more about having core functionality (e.g. the ability to hide apps you don't use). I honestly stopped bothering once OEM launchers became competent.
Try Lawnchair? (Score:3)
I must have gotten them from F-droid or likely droid-ify, very good for open source sw.
But why do these people put a hyphen in their name? Harder to type, harder to find, imo.
Is this a serious loss? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
I mean, there are dozens of launchers for Android, and I have yet to come across one that does anything above and beyond what the default launcher does, and which is something more substantial than just more bells and whistles.
One man's bell is another man's preference.
I'll speak for myself. I prefer a sparse "home" screen. Only one widget, which starts my car. Only four icons, which have third-party icons which are thin lines, making them subtle and a matching theme. In addition to those icons, I can double-tap anywhere on the screen to launch a fifth program. Swipe gestures allow more, and opening up a full list of programs in nice tabs that I control the density and appearance of.
I grant that it's all personal, but No
Re: (Score:2)
There is nothing like Nova's default app drawer groups and customization out there in the world of bland lifeless so called Android "launchers" that doesn't actually do anything more than the default does. The only reason I've kept it this long is there isn't a good replacement to the app drawer, this will suck.
Re: (Score:3)
Nova let me turn off animations and effects I didn't care to see and because it allowed me to back up and restore my home screen layout, it made the process of switching to a new device completely painless, even across different Android versions and OEMs. My Android experience has been identical for the last dozen years even as I used LG, Pixel and Samsung phones and a half-dozen different tablets from cheapies to premium models.
Microsoft Launcher probably isn't going anywhere, but I'm still pissed at Micro
Honestly, it hasn't been updated in over a year (Score:2)
That said, if it's de-listed whenever I get a new phone/tablet, I'm going to be very sad, as the other launchers I've tried merely allow you to make the default suck differently.