Technology

there have been enough reasons to ditch nova in the past years, in case someone is still using it

• 2022 acquired by branch metrics, data harvesting company https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/branch-strikes-twice-with-nova-launcher-and-sesame-search-acquisition
• 2024 nearly everyone laid off https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/9/24217077/nova-launcher-layoffs-only-original-developer-remaining
• 2025 original dev left after being told to stop working on the open source efforts https://www.theverge.com/news/773937/nova-launcher-founder-left-kevin-barry-branch-open-source-android
• 2026 fb and google ads tracking https://lemdro.id/post/lemdro.id/35049920
• 2026 (this post) evidences for built-in AI that harvests your data https://www.androidauthority.com/nova-launcher-ai-plus-subscription-apk-teardown-3658932/

What a great advertisement for almost any other launcher.

Lawnchair is my go to if anyone wants a pretty simple and customizable launcher that respects your privacy.

Excellent. Lawnchair it is then.

What have they done to my boy

Total enshittification. Practically conned then kicked out the original team so that they make their own intrusive changes.

Hell, any data they harvest will and can be sold to other parties. God knows how much fucking lunatic Peter could be offering them.

If anyone is stubborn enough and until someone makes a near 1:1 version -- and Lawnchair is functionally close to what Nova does -- do backup the existing settings, uninstall the app, roll back to the pre-2022 7.0.57b version, sideload install, then from GPlay disable auto-updating for the app. Yeah, and put restrictions on the app from trying to do telemetry.

Lawnchair is a pretty good FOSS launcher.

You know some people beat this drum that more people should pay for good software and that it guarantees it's longevity and independence, and so I did buy the pro version of Nova years ago and now we are here, I think when it comes to software unless it's open source and you can have full control over it then it's not worth anything, as it's only matter of time before it either gets deleted or enshitified, that's why I started shifting to open source alternatives for most things

You just solved one of my long-standing problems! I've been looking for a launcher that could replace Nova for me, but I hadn't been able to find anything that really did the job. Octopi for the win!

I am in the process of moving over my highly-customized setup now. And I made the larger of the two donations, in support of the app.

Thanks for suggesting it and thanks to the developer who built it!

Anyone that gives a single shit about their data being sold to third parties should have dumped Nova a long time ago.

Moved to action launcher after the sale. Enshittification was inevitable.

well if you didn't jump ship in 2022 i guess this is your time

Thanks for the reminder! I had switched to Lawnchair, but I just realized I had forgotten to uninstall Nova. Fixed!

Fuck all this. Stock android degoogled/Lineageos should be standard for every phone.

Next phone I get will be 100% degoogled. Hopefully a full Linux distro is out by then. I wish there was a Linux distro for phones that was just the regular OS but with adaptive standards like how websites change with desktop and mobile and Windows size changes.

Lawnchair runs fine on GrapheneOS.

Yeah it's time. Nova was great but now it's fully enshitified. I went with Niagara. There's a short learning period, less than a week for me to feel comfortable, but I love it. Very simple and clean.

I'm surprised people are still using this. I haven't used Nova for almost a decade.

I've been quite happy with Niagara for the last few months.

damn i remember the good old days with Nova where everything was so smooth. Evie launcher too. And even we have many problems with them, Microsoft launcher was good in the beginning.

What does any of this do? What problem or need is it addressing? I'm honestly so confused by 99% of technology these days, it seems to be nothing more than an electronic pacifier for an entire generation of ADHD addicts.

I switched from Nova to Niagara a couple years ago and I'm very happy with it

Lawnchair for graphene

Oh yay creepware. Anyone know a good launcher with support for tablets?

Used Nova for close to ten years. Switched last year to Kvaesitso.

I recommend everyone still using Nova to look into options and switch. It's not as scary as it seems.

So basically any advantage over the native launcher is void?

The hell happened? First it was ads, now this bs. It was such a good launcher too.

What possible use could AI be in a launcher?

Somebody please give me a lightweight alternative.

Had the pro version for years. I dont want niagra or lawnchair. The pixel launcher sucks.