I’ve been utilizing Nova Launcher on my Android telephones and tablets for nearly a decade. It’s my favourite launcher by a large margin because of its flexibility and deep customization choices. However some current strikes by the corporate that purchased Nova two years in the past have put the way forward for the app in severe jeopardy.
Developer Kevin Barry launched the primary model of Nova Launcher in late 2014, and it was an instantaneous hit among the many still-thriving Android neighborhood. Nova makes use of the identical sliding house web page setup as most Android navigation programs, together with Google and Samsung’s “default” house screens, however focuses on giving customers as many choices as potential.
With quick efficiency, frequent introductions of latest options like compatibility with Google’s Uncover information feed by way of a secondary program, and nigh-endless methods to make your property display look and work simply the best way you need it to, Nova has remained the go-to launcher for a lot of of Android’s most enthusiastic followers.
However Barry couldn’t sustain with all of the options he wished so as to add, to not point out supporting new variations of the working system and tons of of latest cellphone designs yearly, on his personal. He rapidly expanded his improvement crew and made Nova right into a thriving enterprise by way of the Nova Prime improve, a $5 one-time add-on that brings much more choices and superior options. The improve has been downloaded greater than 5 million occasions as of in the present day.
Barry offered the Nova app, and primarily his personal job and people of his coworkers, to Department Metrics in 2022. As Ars Technica experiences, Department is an analytics firm that helps company prospects create and observe hyperlinks going into their websites, apps, and different factors of entry. Department now owns the copyright for Nova Launcher, in response to the app’s personal About web page.
Nova/Department
Nova/Department
Nova/Department
Final week the official Nova Launcher Twitter account stated that in a spherical of company-wide layoffs, Department has eradicated the roles of greater than ten folks engaged on Nova. A now-unemployed neighborhood supervisor went into deeper particulars on Discord. Kevin Barry is now as soon as once more the one particular person actively growing Nova, ten years after he began…however doing it for another person.
Lengthy-time customers have seen a drop in Nova’s normal unequalled high quality for the final yr or so. Bugs and efficiency points that had been sometimes mounted inside just a few weeks have lingered for months or extra, and substantive updates (Nova is now in its eighth main launch) are coming extra slowly. Latest evaluations on the Google Play Retailer point out that main bugs, like disappearing icons, freezing house screens, and damaged searches have change into commonplace.
With assets and dealing energy slashed to the bone by Department after years of an increasing scope, Barry should now maintain up Nova Launcher on his shoulders like a software program developer Atlas.
I’m nonetheless utilizing Nova on my cellphone, regardless of a scarcity of help for its folding kind issue and, sure, the bugs that I too have encountered extra often as of late. It’s nonetheless the very best and most versatile choice I’ve tried, together with Samsung’s folding-friendly OneUI launcher. However I can’t say I’m enthusiastic for this launcher’s future within the arms of the present proprietor. I hope one other Android developer, impressed by Nova and different launchers developed with a lot neighborhood enter, can fill its sneakers.
Or maybe that Kevin Barry can depart Nova to linger below the stewardship of Department, and begin contemporary with a brand new program. Such issues have been identified to occur.
