alt.hn

1/20/2026 at 7:06:56 PM

Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher

 https://novalauncher.com/nova-is-here-to-stay

by KORraN

1/20/2026 at 7:46:35 PM

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...

by rdmuser

1/20/2026 at 8:55:13 PM

Thanks for taking the time to post these.

by philjackson

1/20/2026 at 10:35:17 PM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_(company)

by esafak

1/21/2026 at 12:01:36 PM

Their former name "Branch Metrics", tells you all you need to know about them.

> Branch also uses tools for cohort analysis and touchpoint tracking

Just the kind of company I want in my phone.

by alias_neo

1/20/2026 at 9:36:19 PM

"We are a Swedish company building products that help people get online, used by millions of people worldwide."

So I look for them. They have a "Free wifi connection" / "Wifi passwords map" app. It surprises me because it has a good score on Google Play but then I begin to check the reviews, and a bunch of them go like: "Five stars because if you do a good review you can use it for free".

I install it and on starting it and in the first minute: Asks you to create an account but you can't click on the terms of service or privacy policy, the links don't work. I skip it. It tries to change your default launcher. It tries to change your default browser. It asks you to share your home wifi password with them. Pops up adds everywhere. Tries to get a good review from you.

No thanks, not even near.

by tecleandor

1/20/2026 at 9:38:45 PM

giving anything to the user in return for a good review should be grounds for disqualification from app stores. (and it should be legally required for app stores to enforce it)

by ajkjk

1/20/2026 at 10:12:36 PM

Since they claim to be a Swedish company, it might be worth filing a report with the Swedish consumer agency[0].

I am not a lawyer, and especially not a Swedish lawyer, so I can't say how illegal this is in Sweden or what if anything will happen.

[0]https://www.konsumentverket.se/en/articles/report-to-the-swe...

by nix0n

1/21/2026 at 1:30:48 AM

The Sweden that gave us Spotify and Candy Crush (the game that showed every tech company that they need to incorporate really really awful manipulation of users)?

That country loves their evil software.

by _DeadFred_

1/21/2026 at 3:00:23 PM

There almost needs to be an community overlay for app Stores to highlight when applications change ownership. A shadow store might be good too. Those active daily on HN will most likely be informed while the general populous will never be.

I don't see Google or Apple stepping in to share the information directly or improving their stores with the dark patterns they keep deploying to gain profits through disingenuous actions.

Does Amazon still maintain the flaw where old reviews apply to new products when the new product uses the same part / ID number so reviews are not even for the products people are purchasing?

by yndoendo

1/21/2026 at 3:43:00 PM

> It asks you to share your home wifi password with them.

What?? That is absolutely shameful. They should be removed from the Play Store

by billynomates

1/20/2026 at 8:05:56 PM

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

by microflash

1/20/2026 at 9:23:09 PM

My biggest issue with lawnchair (and most launchers really) is that they all are horribly glitchy on my Pixel 6, and also break the app drawer / switching feature.

I literally just want a vanilla pixel experience, but be allowed to change the search engine on the home screen searchbar... This got me into the weeds on the widget and launcher ecosystem and they're all very bad.

by 0x1ch

1/20/2026 at 10:12:11 PM

I highly recommend Octopi Launcher. It's simple, has customization you might want without requiring it in order to be useful, and works great on various phones.

Also great on foldables, since it lets you have a different home screen for different display sizes.

by JoshTriplett

1/20/2026 at 9:26:49 PM

This is very good to know! I am currently setting up my old pixel 6 to be a permanent Google home terminal. I was thinking about trying Lawnchair, now I'm not so sure.

by sweetbacon

1/20/2026 at 9:31:15 PM

To be fair, this was probably six or so months ago when I last went through this. Niagra had the launcher / app switching issue, so did Lawnchair, even Nova Launcher (before I knew of what had happened to them). It could have been a general bug for all launchers except the OEM.

by 0x1ch

1/21/2026 at 2:38:01 PM

Haven't seen the app switching issues with Lawnchair for a long time, both on pixel 6 and pixel 9. So I think this might finally be resolved..

by AnonyX387

1/20/2026 at 8:52:24 PM

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.

by jjordan

1/21/2026 at 1:41:08 PM

You can just... not update? It's a launcher, how much more is there to change? I have a version from 2017 on my phone lol.

by andrepd

1/21/2026 at 12:06:55 PM

I'll have whatever you're smoking please.

You don't acquire something like this, as a metrics company, who does cohort analysis and touchpoint tracking[0] simply to make a bit of ad revenue.

Nova is dead. No room left for optimism.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_(company)

by alias_neo

1/20/2026 at 8:43:58 PM

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.

by theturtletalks

1/20/2026 at 9:43:37 PM

Many open source projects fail to find sustainable funding. If a cure is not financially viable it is not much different than the cure not existing.

by charcircuit

1/20/2026 at 9:58:48 PM

So, you're not wrong.

People that work for money will want money, and ultimately can be bought.

People that work for love produce the best they can with limited resources, and are often broke.

I don't think we've found a way to bridge the gap. I've come to generally rely on work people do for love, and I contribute to them, but it's clearly not sustainable unless they have another source of income.

Anyone who solves this will produce immense value.

by rpdillon

1/21/2026 at 8:29:25 AM

What's to solve? Here's the way the gap is supposed to work and often does: People work for love or money on a product. Other people love the product and are happy to purchase it. This creates income for the original producer and a beneficial product for the consumer. If a product is successful and popular enough, the capitalist cycle gains momentum for both parties to continue the relationship.

by UberFly

1/21/2026 at 12:30:08 PM

Yet we have seen, time and time again, that those who do things for the love of money will cash out. Heck, even those who do so for the love of creating will cash out when they want to move on. While open source doesn't eliminate this possibility, at least it disincentivises it.

While I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions, exceptions that we rarely hear about because they are smaller companies that don't monopolise our attention, it is important to realize that capitalism is just a high level theory. It says things that sound good. over a long enough time period and a large enough samples it may be roughly correct. Yet it has no value over short time periods, small samples, or when it's underlying assumptions are violated.

That last bit is particularly important, even though it probably isn't applicable to Nova Launcher. Everything from the asymmetry of information, to anti-competitive actions of the business itself, to regulation will disrupt those assumptions.

by II2II

1/21/2026 at 2:27:35 AM

Apt analogy as pharmaceutical industry is also kinda similar.

by chanux

1/20/2026 at 8:59:06 PM

rms was right all along.

by saubeidl

1/21/2026 at 1:06:47 AM

as always

by LtWorf

1/21/2026 at 11:59:40 AM

Was a Nova user, moved to Lawnchair yesterday. It's not the same experience I got from Nova (for example, the Clock widget don't work), but the adaptation is not unbearable.

I purchased Nova Launcher Prime years ago thinking it was the best investment I put on Google Play, well, maybe I should've spent the money on something else.

by nirui

1/20/2026 at 7:55:03 PM

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.

by branon

1/20/2026 at 8:17:12 PM

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.

by bisby

1/21/2026 at 12:37:36 PM

I suppose it doesn't matter because there is probably a search or something, but I only use my banking app and children's games every month or 2. I like knowing where they are at. 2 swipes away.

Also, doesn't this mean more attention to the screen? I can blindly pick apps without looking at my screen. Makes it useful when running + audiobook + taking notes.

by PlatoIsADisease

1/21/2026 at 2:26:28 PM

Yes. Search works for finding things once every few months. Or, I've found that they tend to not really be that far down the list, because I only use a few apps per month anyway, so "1 month ago" is actually pretty recent in that regard.

But I also have specific apps pinned. Messaging, Browser, Camera all have fixed icons across the bottom of the screen, so I could blindly pick those as well as on any other launcher.

And in some cases, it means more attention, but more intent - which I find good. I'm far less likely to randomly open an app just because I see it on the screen. "Oh I havent played this game in a few months" never pops up (unless I scroll the complete app list, which it still has).

It's a trade off, for me, it means faster (but not no look - but tbh, I never have had that level of accuracy with any launcher) access to my most common used apps, and a slight decrease in rarely used apps. So I save half a second 10 times a day, and lose 5 seconds once a week. It's a tradeoff that I'm willing to make based on my particular usage patterns.

by bisby

1/21/2026 at 7:21:58 AM

Didn't know about KISS, I know Kvaesitso is also a search-focused launcher (that seems to have more features ? I didn't download KISS)

https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

by LelouBil

1/21/2026 at 11:18:59 AM

The Nexus 5 bezel and the Google+ link in the footer don't make this launcher look modern and maintained... but I'll give it a try anyway.

by reddalo

1/20/2026 at 8:35:14 PM

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.

by ryukoposting

1/20/2026 at 9:42:19 PM

There's still nothing that's as configurable as SweeterHome was. It died somewhere around the Android 2 days.

by Izkata

1/21/2026 at 1:32:46 AM

thanks for that link ! cheers

by realaaa

1/20/2026 at 7:35:23 PM

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.

by cheald

1/20/2026 at 7:45:40 PM

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.

by Tostino

1/21/2026 at 9:42:26 AM

I missed the post yesterday. Good to read it today. Uninstalled after reading this and switched to Octopi (interestingly the same name as the Pi-based 3D printing webservice). Only missing features so far is more icons on the drawer in width and top-used. Then again insta-search also solves this.

by consp

1/20/2026 at 8:19:01 PM

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

by cheald

1/20/2026 at 7:38:07 PM

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

by post_break

1/21/2026 at 2:06:11 AM

Like Apple acquired Topsy. Cannot find good free Twitter / X search since then.

by iqandjoke

1/20/2026 at 9:24:25 PM

What a throwback. Nova launcher sounded familiar, but I wasn't sure where to place it in my head. When I saw the logo I was immediately transported to memories of using lineage OS and bricking my new Samsung Note 4. I was trying to customize every button combination to do something smart back then. The good old days when I had the time to fix the phone after every update. I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.

by mastermedo

1/20/2026 at 9:53:04 PM

> I've since moved to the apple ecosystem... Set and forget.

Careful, you'll get blasted for that in these parts. Until about 7 years ago, I had been an Android absolutist. Custom ROMs, launchers, you name it. I sneered at those Apple-loving simpletons. Then, after missing several important phone calls in a day due to the phone 'app' not working properly, I got fed up and got a Nexus 6, the official Google phone and the reference implementation for Android. The phone was big and ugly, but at least I was still using a "real" operating system.

Then, as I went through the app store looking for some needed apps, I realized that I couldn't find what I wanted. What I downloaded and installed turned out to be scams and hijacked the phone as ad-riddled malware. It slowly dawned on me: The Play Store is anarchistic, lawless hellscape.

I was too old for this shit. I went and got an iPhone and never looked back. I turn it on, it does things. I don't have to worry about it. Yes, the software quality isn't near perfect, and they seem to be gradually enshittifying their app store. But at least they make a token effort to keep things in a somewhat curated state.

It's night and day, far as I'm concerned. I've gotten to the point where I just want my things to work. I don't want to spend hours tweaking and troubleshooting. I realize I'm in a cult compound, but it's better than the Mad Max world outside.

by baggachipz

1/21/2026 at 4:44:42 AM

There's nothing wrong with iOS and iPhones. If that's what works best for you, then that's what you should use. With this said...

Most people use their Android phone like iPhone owners do. They use the default launcher, default settings, and things work. Like you, they turn it on and it does things. They'll install their apps for work, social media, etc, just like iOS users. Maybe they'll install a different browser so sync works or have adblocking, but that's it.

Unlocking bootloaders, custom ROMs, perhaps rooting, getting to the point where apps are hijacking your phone (wth?)... I'm not sure if you understand this, but that's very extreme. If you get blasted, it's because that's the equivalent to jailbreaking an iPhone, replacing the OS, and so on. Of course things are going to break.

iOS lets you do a lot of UI customization these days. Home screen(s), widgets, icons, lock screen, etc, some of which I can't do on my Android phone and may have to use a 3rd party launcher! Why don't you spend hours tweaking that stuff, like many do? Why doesn't it bother you that you can do it? Just a guess, but I think you've changed. You no longer care about this stuff and maybe you also don't have the same free time? That's fine, but also shows that the problem wasn't Android or iOS, but the old you that didn't always know when to stop.

On a side note, things have changed a lot in the past few years. These days you don't install a custom ROM if you want features... you get a phone from a brand like Samsung because their UI is packed with features that custom ROMs don't have. You also don't need them for updates when a new phone gives you 5-7 years of support. Most posts I see here about custom ROMs are about privacy and security, removing Google from their phones, stepping away from the cloud and subscriptions, etc. Don't assume that that the wild side of Android is still the same because it isn't, at least not to the extent. You may also want to drop the idea that using Android requires doing all you've mentioned, because almost no one does that. You were the 1% of the 1%.

by celsoazevedo

1/21/2026 at 1:44:39 PM

I care about privacy more than most people, so custom ROMs and the like were the "best" way to achieve that. I understand that most people don't do that. They just use the phone they got with their wireless plan to install gmail and whatsapp and facebook or whatever. The time I bailed on Android was when I also realized that Google was no longer the "don't be evil" company (yes yes, I know it never was, but they went mask-off). So, I've cut Google and Meta products out of my life and put all my privacy eggs in one basket, trying to reduce the attack surface with the one company who performatively claims to care about that. You're right, I changed and got old and don't have the time nor willpower to battle my phone anymore. I'm sure Android is just fine to use now, but I want no part of Google.

*edit* and everything I see about their Play Store is that it's still a lawless hellscape.

by baggachipz

1/21/2026 at 4:37:25 AM

your pants are so on fire

by NamlchakKhandro

1/21/2026 at 1:37:09 PM

no u

by baggachipz

1/20/2026 at 9:22:35 PM

I was having issues recently with my Pixel phone hanging/freezing/going stupid, it was Nova. I changed to Lawnchair yesterday after learning this and works much better and my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason

by aspbee555

1/20/2026 at 9:30:24 PM

> my battery is no longer draining for no apparent reason

Oh man. I just replaced the battery on my 5 year phone - for the sole reason of not having to reconfigure Nova on a new phone :\

by algo_trader

1/20/2026 at 9:55:14 PM

You know you can export your Nova configuration and import it on a new phone, right?

by mfkp

1/21/2026 at 11:14:57 AM

The irony, Mrs Morissette, is that Nova caused the battery to appear to fail, and would drain the battery still on a new phone

by algo_trader

1/20/2026 at 11:58:43 PM

I offer a Nova-configuration-transfer service for $49.95. Send me your old and new phones, a printed list of passwords, and a prepaid return envelope.

by warkdarrior

1/20/2026 at 7:48:21 PM

> 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.

by thefz

1/20/2026 at 10:36:11 PM

I've used Nova Launcher for years (don't know if I'm paid), but I'll be happy to pay for an ad free version.

I know there is a long history of companies buying another company for a product and then killing it after a period of time. I'm willing to give Instabridge the benefit of doubt... for a while. If they do decide that Nova Launcher is not a fit, I hope they open source it so that current users are not left on the lurch.

by vgivanovic

1/21/2026 at 12:26:06 AM

Thanks for the lawnchair recommendations, y'all. It's been real, Nova Launcher. Sleep now my sweet prince.

by fenwick67

1/20/2026 at 8:37:20 PM

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.

by mfkp

1/20/2026 at 8:40:40 PM

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

by tetris11

1/20/2026 at 9:27:11 PM

That's an OxygenOS 16.0 bug; worked fine on 15.0, and broken on all (~five?) launchers I tested on 16.0. (currently on Octopi Launcher, and just live with that annoying delay until it Hopefully™ gets fixed)

by dzaima

1/20/2026 at 9:45:38 PM

see my reply above for a fix

by eikaramba

1/20/2026 at 11:10:21 PM

Damn, what a funky "fix". Thanks! (luckily I can take the simplified version since I already use button navigation)

by dzaima

1/21/2026 at 12:10:39 AM

Unfortunately OnePlus has been doing sketchy things too. I wouldn't trust them with your data.

by driverdan

1/20/2026 at 7:31:37 PM

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?

by herrherrmann

1/20/2026 at 8:46:54 PM

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/

by turbocon

1/20/2026 at 7:47:46 PM

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!

by bastard_op

1/20/2026 at 8:13:33 PM

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.

by mbirth

1/20/2026 at 8:26:07 PM

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

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

by aceki

1/20/2026 at 8:33:42 PM

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.

by JohnFen

1/20/2026 at 8:40:14 PM

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.

by colordrops

1/20/2026 at 8:50:33 PM

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.

by JohnFen

1/21/2026 at 5:38:42 AM

I used Nova for years and went through this research before, having tested many alternatives. Octopi is what you're looking for. It can do pretty much everything Nova did for me and more besides. They also update often with improvements and fixes!

by pteraspidomorph

1/21/2026 at 7:53:26 AM

Lawnchair newest beta, though they still didnt fix years old bug with dark/black font on dark/black background in folders/drawer

also resizing/padding widgets ain't as good as Nova, but for sure much better than Octopi which is completely weird, tried yesterday, chaotic settings, can't even disable background picture for dock

switched yesterday to Lawnchair from Nova after 10+ years, seems OK besides those few quirks, but still keeping Nova as backup, will see after 2 weeks testing how is the stability, if I can remove even nova backup

by Markoff

1/20/2026 at 8:16:41 PM

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.

by fooqux

1/20/2026 at 9:39:37 PM

I paid for "Square Home" a couple years ago and I'm very happy with it. It's highly customizable. The Windows Phone style layout probably isn't for everyone but it works well for me.

by chroma_zone

1/21/2026 at 12:17:00 AM

I know this is weird, but.......

I'm really happy with Microsoft Launcher.

by cfiggers

1/21/2026 at 4:15:52 AM

Same! And I feel weird about it. The only issue I have is sometimes the task switcher hangs or fails and I can't easily switch tasks, but aside from that it ticks a lot of boxes.

by trog

1/21/2026 at 12:46:34 PM

Yeah, I used to have an issue where it would repeatedly request accessibility permissions even though they were already granted. But I haven't seen that one in months and haven't noticed any other glitches or bugs whatsoever.

I like how completely adjustable the home screen grid is (icon size, number of rows, number of columns, whether or not to allow sub-grid arrangement, whether to have vertical or horizontal page layout).

I like the number of shortcut gestures available (tap home on home screen, swipe up/down, two finger swipe up/down, double tap, double tap + swipe up/down, pinch in/out), and that they're all completely remappable to launch any installed app, or installed app quick action, or trigger any of like a dozen launcher actions (like opening the app drawer, opening the notification shade, locking the screen, etc).

I like how the dock can be swiped up to show a second (or, if you want, third or fourth etc) row of apps in like a "mini app drawer" just for things I use often and want there instead of picking a page where they live.

I like the widgets that it ships with (I use the combo clock + weather one).

I like that I can have the app drawer organize alphabetically (or not, if I wanted).

I like that I can turn off pretty much anything that I don't want (the news feed page, especially, but also you can have almost any of the launcher UI elements hidden by default).

And it's stable, has no ads, and nearly no pop-ups. It just lets me set what I want and then gets out of the way and works 99.9% of the time.

It's just... It's Microsoft Launcher, is the only thing.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by cfiggers

1/21/2026 at 6:04:49 AM

I got fed up with Nova and all the others to the point that I've built my own launcher in two evenings. Its just a black screen (no wallpaper or widgets) with a list of alphabetical scrollable apps (almost like how Windows Phone / Lumia looked), no icons/colours. Just black with white text & accents. You can tag an app as a favourite and it will show at the top. Thats it. No internet connection, no real customizations. It works amazingly well and fast and looks awesome on OLED. Once you are used to it, everything else (incl iOS) looks like a circus.

If you are an app developer, remember to add a black/oled theme to your apps. A good chunk of my apps have them and they fit so well with my launcher.

by BatteryMountain

1/21/2026 at 9:47:36 AM

I've never done Android app development. How simple or advanced are we talking to build something like this?

This sounds like my exact setup with Octopi. Just I have 4 scrollable home screens with the 4 most used apps as large white icons.

by sjw987

1/20/2026 at 9:25:59 PM

On any Android phone I immediately install Niagara. Best launcher by far. Makes everything so efficient and beautiful.

by mbix77

1/20/2026 at 9:44:08 PM

Niagara is amazing. It's quite different from other launchers, so either it works for you or doesn't. It perfectly matches what I was doing before, which was searching for apps by name to launch them.

by NelsonMinar

1/20/2026 at 10:04:21 PM

Doesn't KISS do this? I'm curious why Niagara when KISS is probably lighter/smaller.

by rpdillon

1/21/2026 at 1:54:05 AM

Haven't tried KISS, just looked at screenshots. Niagara tries to be slightly customizable and aesthetically pleasing. I've been using (and paying for) it for years. Its plenty lightweight to be snappy on even older model phones.

by sanex

1/20/2026 at 7:39:25 PM

> 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)

by j1elo

1/21/2026 at 6:34:01 AM

I use Niagara Launcher because of the simplicity and quick access to every app. I highly recommend to everyone who wants a fast launcher and clean look.

by batrat

1/21/2026 at 6:37:33 AM

Closed source. Fool me once...

by globular-toast

1/21/2026 at 8:34:05 AM

Niagara is exquisite.

by martsa1

1/20/2026 at 7:56:06 PM

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.

by fullstop

1/20/2026 at 8:28:39 PM

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.

by JohnFen

1/20/2026 at 9:00:56 PM

They recently added a bottom dock option, and I was very happy to have that back.

by fullstop

1/21/2026 at 1:31:11 PM

I use Nova for to remove the Google search bar on the Pixel desktop. And as a secondary benefit, Nova remembers app locations when I change phones.

What should I do that's hassle-free? Is there an open source equivalent that's likely to stay alive in a year or three?

by mancerayder

1/21/2026 at 3:36:42 PM

Smart launcher is a pretty good replacement. It isn't a one to one but they have been pretty responsive to users asking for certain missing features.

Pricing is pretty reasonable and the team is responsive.

by baby_souffle

1/20/2026 at 7:52:57 PM

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

by naikrovek

1/20/2026 at 8:01:07 PM

"Nova Launcher's Incredible Journey"

by gruez

1/21/2026 at 9:43:48 AM

Sad news. I've been using Nova for years now, across multiple devices.

Thankfully my build is super minimalistic and another launcher was able to replicate it pretty quickly. Black wallpaper, white icon pack, list app drawer with a few folders, 4 scrollable home screens with large white icons for the most frequent apps (browser, Gemini, personal lifestyle logging app, Signal conversation with wife).

The idea that there might be ads (albeit on the free tier) is ridiculous, but then again that is the final frontier for adtech companies. I've often thought the Google stock launcher will likely soon have ads, just like Microsoft started trying to slip them in with Windows 10.

by sjw987

1/20/2026 at 8:34:48 PM

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

by astrolx

1/21/2026 at 9:51:23 AM

Can someone explain why launchers matter so much to them? All the apps I use are on a single page and it's just one button press; what more would I need than that?

by llmthrow0827

1/21/2026 at 2:15:03 PM

OEM launchers often include annoying anti-features, like a screen you can't remove and that has the brand's voice assistant. They also tend to be slow, bad at search, and have all kinds of unnecessary phone-home functionality like sharing your location with their owners (austensibly to show the weather forecast).

Besides, I have a work phone and a private phone - different brands, same launcher.

by bux93

1/21/2026 at 11:24:46 PM

I have lawnchair now (from Nova), I use it to remove the search bar, add more buttons to the dock, and a custom icon pack (though I think that'll work on stock launcher).

I assume I switched to using it since Google changed something I found annoying?

by ChoGGi

1/21/2026 at 12:20:00 AM

Haven't used Nova for a while and at first was curious if this was good for bringing it back from unmaintenance. The heavy focus on sustainability and marketing in this blog makes it seem unlikely though.

Switched to Pear when Nova got unstable after a Pixel upgrade and I noticed it hadn't been updated in years. Been working well though will keep any eye on any other recommendations that show up in this thread.

by pjjpo

1/21/2026 at 9:49:09 AM

I tried a few alternatives last night but ended up going with Lawnchair. I miss some of the deeper customisation of Nova, but its otherwise nice and stable and, most importantly, not spyware.

I'm not sure if this would actually affect me in the short term as a Nova Prime user (unsure if the extra trackers were added there too), but in the long term it certainly would

by bodge5000

1/21/2026 at 9:18:29 AM

A few years I started working on a launcher, built from scratch with jetpack compose. It has all the basic functionality, and some very nice details like multi touch support, similar to iOS. Though I never released it since I got burnt out and I stopped using Android. This is making me want to go back to it and finish it.

by paprikanotfound

1/21/2026 at 1:58:56 AM

I used Nova paid for years, but moved back to the stock Samsung launcher when Nova started having issues with widgets not refreshing (Outlook calendar view was the worst, it would work for a day or two and then just get stuck). I guess I should try something else now.

by julianz

1/21/2026 at 7:16:49 AM

Personally, I stopped using Nova launcher years ago.

Now I use Kvaesitso, which is search-focused exactly how I used to configure Nova.

https://kvaesitso.mm20.de/

by LelouBil

1/20/2026 at 7:08:50 PM

the timing of this

Related:

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)

by ChrisArchitect

1/21/2026 at 10:34:38 AM

I see Nova has been very popular. Why did the original developer sell it? There must be some business model for these sorts of popular apps that don't involve selling it? Crowdfunding?

by alexp2021

1/20/2026 at 9:29:52 PM

I was thinking what else deteriorated from best to worst.. Poweramp.

by ilvez

1/21/2026 at 11:00:58 AM

i still use it.. how has it gone bad?

by hexagonwin

1/21/2026 at 6:53:20 PM

For me it started as simple way to play music on your phone. It had very direct intuitive navigation and control. Now if I look at it, it's complex over-designed and I remember struggling with doing simple things like navigation. Sorry for not being too specific, I haven't used it much over past years and haven't got it installed anymore. When I need to play stuff on my phone directly, I just use VLC.

Probably the profile of user just changed and I'm not falling into one anymore.

by ilvez

1/21/2026 at 1:24:44 AM

> What this means right now

> Nova is not shutting down. Our immediate focus is simple: [...]

So it will be shutting down or gutted into a privacy nightmare. That's all I needed to see.

by LoganDark

1/21/2026 at 2:54:03 AM

Using Lawnchair for more than a year now. No major issues on my device with Android 13 and Lineage OS 22.2. Will not look at other alternatives for a long time.

by RandyOrion

1/20/2026 at 9:27:18 PM

Are launchers needed at all? I find the default GrapheneOS interface to be serviceable and I did not know what a "launcher" was until fairly recently.

by drnick1

1/20/2026 at 9:50:14 PM

It depends on what you're looking for. I have a Pixel 9a with Graphene on it and wanted to customize my icons which I don't think the stock launcher allows. Went with Lawnchair and set it up mostly the same as the stock Pixel launcher otherwise.

by scblock

1/21/2026 at 7:18:02 AM

I am a paying Nova Prime user and I really love that I can press on an app to open it. OR swipe up on a app to open a directory where I put similar apps

by gytdev

1/20/2026 at 7:19:50 PM

> 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

by JohnFen

1/21/2026 at 9:50:48 AM

> We do not sell personal data.

Companies usually treat "anonymized" data as non personal. So in their eyes they aren't selling your personal data but their "non-personal" data. The fact it isn't does not matter because profit.

The fact they added Facebook and google trackers and not listed a why is obvious enough. Fortunately for me it did not update yet and is now gone.

by consp

1/21/2026 at 2:17:12 PM

They don't sell the data, since it's collected by Facebook and not sent to the company itself? Smart (also, evil) if true.

by bux93

1/20/2026 at 7:48:34 PM

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

by londons_explore

1/21/2026 at 3:04:11 AM

I've been a nova user for the last 7 years or so.

by jerrygoyal

1/20/2026 at 8:02:00 PM

Immediate uninstall.

by mwkaufma

1/21/2026 at 4:29:25 AM

Nova Launcher Prime was good, but nkw I use Pie launcher which is OSS and minimal. Although it has very less features when compared.

by voidey

1/20/2026 at 8:18:06 PM

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

by cicko

1/21/2026 at 1:30:44 AM

yeah nah..

Will Nova become open source?

We know this matters to many of you. It is something we are actively evaluating. Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. We do not have a decision to share yet, but we will be transparent once we do.

by realaaa

1/20/2026 at 8:58:08 PM

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

by _DeadFred_

1/20/2026 at 10:55:53 PM

It's 2026, why are people still using custom launchers?

Serious question from a former Nova Prime user.

by throwa356262

1/20/2026 at 11:54:28 PM

I don't want a big search bar on my home screen, and there's no way around it with the Pixel Launcher except use a different launcher.

by saxonww

1/21/2026 at 12:10:12 AM

Honestly... I just wants a launcher with tabs to sort apps in categories (no not app groups).

Nova Prime almost gone, before that Apex Launcher...

And every other launcher seems to just love to just present a search bar to find your apps and use some magic sorting algorithm to sort your apps...

I want predictable, user ordered apps in tabs so I can open one by heart with my eyes closed.

by XiS

1/21/2026 at 3:33:28 AM

I'm with you... and have yet to find the solution. Somehow only Nova does tabbed app drawer pages (and allows folders within them).

by bcraven

1/21/2026 at 4:33:57 PM

I'm still using Apex. Shouldn't I be?

by AndrewDucker

1/21/2026 at 7:54:59 AM

Same. I organize my phone into screens by topic (apps and some widgets), that allows me to keep a mental model without remembering app names etc. Will probably be hard to find a 1:1 replacement for Nova Launcher, if it enshittifies :/

by elcapitan

1/20/2026 at 11:40:51 PM

Why? To avoid using Google search. It's been an inferior search product for years. Last time I used the default launcher on a pixel, I couldn't change it to a better search product, so I changed launcher.

by manfre

1/21/2026 at 6:06:30 AM

I appreciate that I can choose to decorate my house as I see fit. At least on my Pixel 10 there's way too much google this and google that. I guess if you're deep into the ecosystem it's a value add but for me a custom launcher lets me remove all that code.

by bentcorner

1/21/2026 at 9:41:23 AM

My phones almost a decade old (OnePlus 5T, so I guess 8 years now), back from the time that launchers were a bit more necessary. If I had a modern android phone I probably wouldnt use a launcher, but then again I probably wouldnt use a modern android phone either

by bodge5000

1/21/2026 at 9:54:53 AM

People want different interfaces for the home screen of their device, obviously.

I want a black background, with a simple A-Z list of the apps I have on my phone, with some hidden. No icons, no transparency effects and animations.

by sjw987

1/21/2026 at 7:19:30 AM

Hope the dev will opensource it and do smth like what Maps.me did wirh Organic maps

by gytdev

1/20/2026 at 11:15:31 PM

It blows my mind how many stories hit the front page, every day, that bottom out on whining about proprietary software. I've literally been talking about the Win10/11 whining for 3+ years, and yet EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK THERE ARE MORE.

Lawnchair is *EXCELLENT*. I say that as a former Nova Launcher user. And Lawnchair is fully OSS and actively developed.

I just cannot fathom people who enjoy this non-stop BS rollercoaster and are happy to be passed from OG dev, to scummy publisher, to ??? publisher. And all just be happy about that instead of ... why am I even typing this shit. The people that care, care and use OSS or migrate when the writing is on the wall. The people that allow themselves to get jerked around and just take it are going to keep just taking it. And whining about it, while changing none of their behavior.

(Totally not related; see HN and the constant cycle of people shitting on decentralization and then being pikachu-shocked when proprietary centralized services do what they always do).

(Though, it's nice to finally, finally see a predominance of anecdotes of Linux experiences that aren't based on 3 year old distro ISOs. EDIT: 3 is generous, I saw people talking about a 20.04 LTS spin less than a year ago and acting like that was indicative of Linux on Desktop).

To be fair, I'm probably just way off base here. A company whose focus is absolutely not an Android Launcher surely won't enshittify or sell it in due course. Surely. Surely, surely, surely. Right? Like last time?

by nixosbestos

1/21/2026 at 12:26:28 AM

Lawnchair blacklists/used to blacklist apps they did not like. That does seem user friendly.

by warkdarrior

1/21/2026 at 9:09:53 AM

What kind of apps did they blacklist, and why?

by elcapitan

1/21/2026 at 7:52:42 PM

It seems to be pirated icon packs. see the other comment in this same parent comment.

by brovonov

1/22/2026 at 7:12:44 AM

Ok I see. That's a random stance, but nothing that worries me too much.

by elcapitan

1/21/2026 at 1:28:54 PM

I cannot find any indication that this is true.

by nixosbestos

1/21/2026 at 7:50:57 PM

From the little research I did, they do appear to certain block apps.

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/blob/b0ecfb84...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7azc2i/deleted_by_...

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/issues/940

https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/pull/902

From the dev themselves in that PR

> @dasBiest: It's our business to prevent unauthorized use of iconpacks.

> Just like Substratum is keeping you away from using pirated themes for example.

by brovonov

1/23/2026 at 2:34:04 PM

Props for doing the research and posting the links - I stand obviously corrected. I get why they did it, but it also leaves a bad taste in my mouth. :( Sigh.

by nixosbestos

1/21/2026 at 4:38:27 AM

Niagra Launcher is where it's at for stable out of your way intuitive.

by NamlchakKhandro

1/21/2026 at 2:06:01 PM

Uninstalled. Thanks HN

by vladstudio

1/20/2026 at 8:37:17 PM

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

by whalesalad

1/20/2026 at 8:59:37 PM

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.

by fullstop

1/20/2026 at 9:27:17 PM

I think the only reason not to use stock.. I guess once of the main reasons people look elsewhere. And I don't actually need fancy features.

Probably there are more annoyances, but I never get to those since the search just kills it quick.

by ilvez

1/20/2026 at 10:39:09 PM

Is there a way to disable "swipe right for news feed"? I hated that inclusion in the Pixel launcher.

by rpdillon

1/20/2026 at 10:56:10 PM

Yeah it can be turned off in stock launcher (at least I did on my Pixel 9 Pro XL).

by blazerunner

1/21/2026 at 6:29:36 AM

Isn't the stock one open-source? Even if it isn't, Java is really trivial to decompile reversibly, and removing features is much easier than adding. Take advantage of Android the way it was meant to be taken advantage of.

by userbinator

1/20/2026 at 11:38:34 PM

I hate that search box, it's ridiculous that they force it on users. On the plus side looking up how to get rid of it led me to Lawnchair which I have been happily using for many years at this point.

by rurp

1/21/2026 at 2:30:52 AM

It does the job, but it's important to remember that there isn't a "stock Android launcher". Google, Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola, Xiaomi, etc, develop their own launcher and have different features.

I used Nova mainly because I use 2 phones and it is easier to keep things similar. For example, the app list on my Samsung scrolls horizontally. On my other phone running LineageOS, it's vertically. With Nova, it's the same on both devices.

It was also useful when moving phones, as I could just restore a backup to restore my layout.

by celsoazevedo

1/20/2026 at 8:49:24 PM

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.

by fooqux

1/21/2026 at 4:24:59 AM

> "building products that help people get online"

To me looks sounds like the motto of a company made to defraud people of their money.

Otherwise, very sad the demise and enshittification of this Launcher that was really one of the very good one around the good old time of the nexus 5.

by greatgib

1/21/2026 at 6:47:44 PM

TLDR; Nova will add ads, will not go open source and might shutdown.

by etyhhgfff