1y ago

NovaLauncher: Today marks 1 year since our announcement that we've joined the Branch and Sesame teams! 🎉 That also means it has been 1 year since we promised your data would be safe...

nitter.net Nova Launcher (@NovaLauncher)

Today marks 1 year since our announcement that we've joined the Branch and Sesame teams! 🎉 That also means it has been 1 year since we promised your data would be safe and (shocker) we were telling the truth! Thank you for sticking with Nova Launcher! ❤️

Nitter link provided instead of Twitter post. Screenshot below.

122 comments

Why do you need to trust a launcher with your data at all? Why does it ever leave your device? This made me very skeptical about them.
- A launcher needs a lot of privileges to do its work. I have to trust it that it does not collect/send anything to anywhere.
  
  My AOSP launcher has zero permissions, except one that I optionally enabled to see notifications so it can do the little notification dots on my app icons.
- Just install DuckDuckGo browser app and let it block any the trackers, job done. I've been using Nova on a new pixel 7a for a couple of months now and really happy with it (especially vs the incredibly stupid stock launcher, with its un-movable pointless widgets taking up half the home screen)
  edit the DDG browser app runs a VPN which blocks trackers, I'm not making it up
  
  Just so you're aware why people are disagreeing with you - an installed browser does not change the behavior of HTTP calls made in other applications.

I can understand the flak they're having, but honestly Nova is the first thing I install on all my Android devices. Its so convenient and versatile
- I used to too. Now just using the default one because can't be bothered to find an alternative

Didn't believe them then, don't believe them now.
RIP Nova.
- Can't blame the dev for selling out. I would for a windfall and retire.
  But it's time to move on. Wouldn't touch Nova with a 1000 ft pole.
  
  That's the thing I don't get when people - me included - complain about something like this. As if I wouldn't sell ASAP. Finally some money for all that time spent on this!

Been using lawnchair since forever, I try to avoid closed source apps as much as possible, so Nova was never an option for me.
- The play store says lawnchair isn't available because it was made for an older version of Android... The versions on F-Droid are 2 years old too ...
  
  Get the alphas at lawnchair.app
- Just wish it would get more development.
  The last Alpha is from August 8 and even then the current iteration is a shell of what Lawnchair was during the V2 Alpha days
  
  Consider using Neo Launcher. It's open source and actively developed and is basically what lawnchair aimed to be.

the FLOSS alternative https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher/
I don't have a play store link if you do please post it for those in need
- Thanks for sharing! They don't seem to have a Play Store listing, but they do have an F-Droid link on the IzzyOnDroid repo. Can also add their GitHub releases to Obtainium for easy updating.
  
  And now I just learned about Obtainium. Thank you!
  
  Thank you for Obtainium reference
- It hasn't been updated since October 2022. Is it still in active development?
  
  I beleive there is another release planned. They are slow tho. I think very much a volunteer project.
  
  Yes. They are working on re-basing the launcher:
  https://github.com/NeoApplications/Neo-Launcher/issues/346

Anyway, I just wish KISS offered a better widget customization.
- I love KISS. Anyone picking up my phone would just see a blank screen with seemingly no function unless you know to swipe.
  
  Mine just looks like a terminal with a pipboy scan lines background I love it so much I forget phones are supposed to have icons and can't figure out how anyone can find apps without a search bar
- True but I pair KISS with the Panels App and tuck some widgets into the side bar. Not perfect as I can't get PowerAmp widget to work. 🙁

I made the jump to Niagara and have enjoyed it so far. I really enjoyed Nova, but there's no going back at this point.
- ~~I've been on nova for like...a decade. What am I missing out on?~~
  Nevermind, it's free so I tried it. Definitely not my cup of tea...does anyone have any suggestions more similar to how Nova works? I like my icon gestures
  
  I've been using neo launcher. Definitely not as feature rich as nova but it fulfills my wanta.

Not updated since Dec 2021.
- Yeah, this is what makes the announcement weird.
- There are apks of the beta 8.x version on their site

I was like "Wait, aren't I using nova?"
And sure enough I was.
The fact that I don't care is a good thing. It means it doesn't piss me off and make me want to use something else.

And still no sign of the long-promised version 8 going out of beta yet ffs...
- Then again I've weaned myself off Nova Launcher last year by purchasing the Fold 4.

I'm still on Nova because it just works so right for me, many others I tried didn't.
My needs are very basic
A home screen I can place icons in specific positions (eg not forced auto sort)
folders (drag multiple icons on top of each other to create a group/folder)
Message count on icons, e.g my Whatsapp icon should show a little number indicating amount of new messages
and finally, an app drawer showing all apps in a single list (without any fancy grouping)
Maybe this is normal now but years ago Nova seemed to be the only one that offered all these basic features together

Smart Launcher 6 has matured and is very fast and stable.
I personally use Neo Launcher because it has a unique feature.

I wanted a consistent launcher across different devices over time. I eventually settled on Nova Launcher, paid for it, and really liked it. I have been using it for about a decade. I just abandoned it a few hours ago because I finally determined why my tablet was grinding and halting. Nova Launcher was using over 600 MB of memory as well as leaking memory. My tablet is running like it's brand new again. I am unhappy about not being able to use it, but I'm a lot happier that I'm able to use my tablet again.

I stopped using third party launchers since they began to suck because the full screen gestures, I think since A11.
- What issues do you have?
  
  Short unresponsiveness to other inputs when you return home while having gesture navigation turned on. It's very annoying.
- QuickSwitch used to be the perfect fix for this but basically no launchers other than Lawnchair wanna integrate it and Lawnchair is kinda dead 😵‍💫
  
  Yeah I know, I think Pixel Launcher Extended uses it, that's why it behaves so great.
- They're a lot better in Android 13 from my experience
  
  Not for me mate, nothing beats smoothness of Pixel Launcher, or whatever stock launcher that comes with the ROM... Or that uses Quickswitch for custom ROMs.
  
  Exactly, the small lag from multitasking on home that many people were complaining about is gone in A13. Not many people talked about that though.

I have decided to stick with the stock GrapheneOS launcher.

I am so glad that Nova sold to that data mining owner of a company. If they hadn't I would have still been using Nova and would not have come across KISS launcher.
So fast, so efficient, with a real nice search feature. KISS has brought me great pleasure. Nova I hardly used any of the myriads of features and I was just there for the hype.

Im not even sure what this all means? Ive been using Nova Launcher since my Galaxy Note 2, though... maybe I should stop using it?
- This means that around a year ago nova was sold to a data collection company. But nova team declared that this had no impact on the launcher.
  this is declared for mostly every company takeover, and very rarely happens in practice.
  What to do, is up to you. Many stopped using nova .
  
  I immediately stopped using Nova after 8-plus years following that announcement.
  
  Interesting. Maybe its time to give the stock Samsung launcher a try, I guess?
- The version on the Play Store hasn't been updated since Dec 14, 2021 and it still works better than any other alternative imo. However, I am planning to stop using it when they eventually force us to update to the new version (which is the current beta they share through discord).
  
  Same, and instead the day I need to migrate

Stopped using Nova because gesture animations started to get janky on my Note20 and persist on my S23 Ultra.
Been using Lawnchair since then.
- The animations seem to be much better on nova beta 8 / android 13 here's a video I just took: https://giphy.com/gifs/KzsTFd0JIvCc9MWI52
  Idk if it would be the same case with Samsung's android ui though. Lawnchair is still a good choice, just not actively being developed right now.
  
  I tried Nova again after a long time ant it's good again, thanks! Tried a bunch lol, hyperion is pretty great, Smart Launcher is the smoothest but I came back to Nova anyway

I really like Nova, but also prefer to keep as much of my data to myself so I blocked Nova access to the internet via app permissions. Also blocked branch domains on my pi-hole for peace of mind.

122 comments