The Questionable Future of Nova Launcher
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Made with Paint.NET because AI generated thumbnails seem generic
Author's Note
I have been meaning to write this post after Nova Launcher would have been taken off the Play Store after Branch laid off the original developer, Kevin Barry, but since the launcher has been acquired by Instabridge, the launcher is still receiving updates, though not for the benefit of everyone.
What is a "Launcher"?
If you're a lifelong iOS user or just haven't bothered customizing your Android homescreen deeply enough, an Android launcher basically shows your phone's main view, which includes the homescreen and app drawer. People use custom Android launchers, like Nova Launcher, when the customizations offered by the builtin launcher aren't enough, or if they aren't big fans of the builtin launcher's look.
That should give enough context for the later sections.
The Early Years
One of the earliest screenshots I could find for the launcher on my Galaxy S6
I have been using Nova Launcher since roughly about late 2016. I can't remember the exact reason that prompted me to download it in the beginning, but what I like about this launcher is it gives me the stock Android look on top of extra customizations regardless of which phone I buy. I wanted to replicate the look of the launcher that was being shown on Google Pixels, and I still feel that the Pixel Launcher has the definitive look of an Android Launcher.
In 2019, I bought Nova Launcher Prime for $5.39 USD so that I could make use of notification badges on the icons. I felt that the product was already of great value for free, and the price was pretty low for a lifetime purchase of extra features.
Nova Launcher 7 on a OnePlus 9 running OxygenOS 12. This image was taken in 2021
Two years later, Nova Launcher 7 was released, which added some new features and modernized the stock Android look I was a fan of. I had some hiccups running it on OnePlus's OxygenOS, but ultimately discovered that I just needed to redo my settings from scratch to fix the issues. It was otherwise fine. I didn't even care that it was unable to properly handle gesture-based app opening and closing animations (which according to the dev team was an Android issue rather than a Nova issue).
The Acquisition
In mid 2022, Nova got acquired by Branch while the 8.0 release was still in beta. Branch wanted Nova Launcher for four things: research, development, expertise and feedback. Kevin Barry, the creator of the launcher, also explained that this would lead to more experimentation and better integration with Sesame search, which they have been working alongside with for a while. Many people were rightfully concerned about the status of the project, given that Branch was an analytics and deep links company. Both Cliff Wade, Nova Launcher's community manager, as well as the at the time CEO of Branch, Alex Austin tried to reassure the userbase that Nova Launcher would still be in good hands, and that if the lead developer, Kevin, were to leave, then the code would be open-sourced.
"And if Kevin were to ever leave, it's contracted that the code will be open sourced and put in the hands of the community."
- Alex Austin, CEO of Branch during 2022 on Reddit
Nova Launcher 8 on a Galaxy S21 FE. Unfortunately, this was taken from a video recording I made in 2024, hence the poor quality of the image. This is the only recording of Nova I have before the 8.1 stable releases.
The acquisition gave me some concern, and made me look into other launchers. However, I ultimately decided to stay with Nova Launcher, and turn off any tracking I end up finding. I liked the improved animations and the Material You theming that showed up in the beta. I ended up sticking with the beta since the then stable 7.0 release hadn't seen any updates for 2 years. Nova Launcher 8.0 finally reached stable on May 2024. The launcher already had enough polish by the time it reached stable, so I didn't notice much difference when jumping away from the beta. A month later, 2 beta builds for 8.1 were released.
The Layoffs
On August 7th 2024, a good chunk of the Nova Launcher team except the main developer had been laid off by Branch. This included Cliff Wade as well as Rob Wainwright, who was another core developer working alongside Kevin. Kevin assured that he has always been and would remain the main developer, but also warned that he would have to cut scope for the next 8.1 releases.
To address some of the confusion. I'm the original creator of Nova and still employed at Branch to be developing Nova more or less how I always have. However I have less resources. This is hugely disappointing and I'm going to miss working with so many talented people including Cliff and Rob and many others that don't have a presence on this discord.
I unfortunately still don't know too much. As one might expect after a big layoff things are a bit chaotic at Branch right now.
I am planning on wrapping up some Nova 8.1 work and getting more builds out. I am going to need to cut scope compared to what was planned.
- Kevin Barry, via Mishaal Rahman on Reddit
About a year and a month later, with no additional releases in sight, Kevin Barry announced that he left Branch after he was asked to stop his work on Nova Launcher as well as the open sourcing efforts by Branch. Alex Austin, who made the comment about the contract obligation for open sourcing Nova, had left the company in 2023, and there was little indication that Branch would follow up on the open source promise.
At that point, many people, me included, believed that Nova Launcher was dead. It was disheartening to read about Branch essentially forcing the team's hand on the app, but it also reminded me that very rarely have users of the product benefitted from an acquisition made by a larger company in the long term.
Under New Management
Less than 2 months later, Branch started releasing newer 8.1.x builds. Rob explained that while the changes were made by the original team for 8.1.3, they couldn't make any promises regarding data collection and analytics. 8.1.3 added some new features, while releases 8.1.4 to 8.1.6 were mainly bug fixes. There were no newer releases made by Branch after November 12th.
On January 20th 2026, the Nova Launcher website announced that the launcher had been acquired by Instabridge, a company that develops an app that provides users with affordable internet connectivity. Instabridge explained that they acquired the launcher to basically keep it going for the community. They also hinted on adding ads to the launcher to monetize development, as well as including a subscription for Nova Prime, while honoring current and past Prime one-time purchases. As for the open source initiative, they mentioned that it was something that they were "actively evaluating". A day later, Kevin, in an article on The Verge, mentioned that he hadn't been contacted by Instabridge and that most of the "prep work" and "heavy lifting" for open sourcing 8.1 had been done, and that "they just need to make a decision".
It’s complicated to build, maintain and monetize a launcher. I’d love to see them develop Nova completely as a true open source project, but I also understand that might not fit their business. I think the community would be happy to see just a code drop of Nova 8.1 as open source.
I already completed the prep work for this. Cleaning the code, removing some dependencies, stripping API keys, etc. Branch legal approved it, and I’m sure Instabridge legal just reviewed everything for the acquisition. The heavy lifting is done. They just need to make a decision. The time to do it is also now. Nova 8.1 is already a bit dated, so users will be eager to see what they can do with Nova 9. But until they make an open source release of Nova, that is going to dominate the community discussion.
Even if Nova 9 remained closed source, this would show the community that Nova is in the right hands after all this uncertainty. It sounds like they’re confident in their vision for Nova, so open sourcing 8.1 wouldn’t be a threat. And it would go a really long way with the community.
- Kevin Barry to The Verge
On January 23rd, Cliff Wade posted his meeting notes from yesterday's meeting with Instabridge on Reddit. In a nutshell, he made the following points:
- Open Sourcing Nova: Carl, the CEO of Instabridge, and Kevin were both willing to contact each other, but Carl contacted Kevin via Twitter, which Kevin doesn't use. As for open sourcing, Carl stated that it was a matter of figuring out what to open source and how to open source it. It was also a matter of what the original contract between Kevin and Branch said.
- Acquiring Nova: Carl's justification for Instabridge acquiring Nova was that he felt Nova was still the golden standard of Android apps, and that Nova had better retention numbers globally compared to Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
- Ads: Instabridge has included ads in the free version of the launcher to keep the acquisition sustainable. There was discussion of where to include the ads as Instabridge did not want to include too many ads in the app. There was also discussion of providing free Internet access in return for viewing more ads, however, that discussion was brief and was not "something that is happening right away and possibly never will".
- Customer Support: According to Cliff, support for Nova was non-existent since he was laid off since Branch wanted it that way. Carl explained that they have rerouted support emails to rapidly set up a new support system.
- The Deal Between Instabridge and Branch: According to Cliff, the deal appeared to only take a few months. Carl stated that David, the new CEO of Branch was not involved in any way apart from signing the final deal. The deal was pushed through by the at-the-time General Manager, Harish T., from Branch's side.
- Communication: Cliff feels that communication is something Instabridge wants to do, but is aware that they're being cautious while doing it. He noted that the initial post about the acquisition was a better start at communication compared to Branch, which according to Cliff, had "legal and PR teams that strictly controlled and often prohibited communication".
- Privacy and GDPR Compliance: Carl affirmed that Instabridge will be committing to privacy and complying with GDPR as they are a Swedish company. Cliff acknowledged that Branch was also trying to be GDPR compliant. Carl also noted that they couldn't find any evidence of malicious data tracking of Nova under Branch, adding that Nova didn't even have a "user database". This was written since Cliff felt the community was paranoid of data collection while Nova was under Branch.
Cliff concluded his notes saying that he enjoyed the meeting with Instabridge and didn't feel like it was "corporate style". The meeting also went longer than he expected. He added that Instabridge should be as reasonably transparent as they can be about Nova for the community, and that they should be willing to listen to feedback. He also said that ads on Nova makes sense for him and Rob, as they help keep Nova sustainable and can be done non-obtrusively, but that they should never be used for Prime users.
Aftermath
Nova Launcher has still been receiving updates, but now there are no longer any patch notes mentioned in the Play Store, which is a sharp contrast to pre-Branch and Branch-era updates. Not even the generic "we fixed some bugs" patch notes, just nothing at all. The Twitter account for Nova hasn't posted any updates since Kevin left, and the beta page on the Nova Launcher website only lists changes till 8.1.1, so as far as I am aware, there is no easy and official way to get an idea of what each update includes apart from just opening the app every once in a while and looking for any changes. There has been no news about the source code release to this day either. Cliff has mentioned that he neither sees himself nor Kevin going back to Nova. They both now work at Skylight.
Notice that the lifetime option for Nova Prime is missing here. It can still be bought on the Play Store
The app now features an AI assistant, which can only be accessed via a "Nova Plus" subscription, which goes for either $15/month or $100/year. Personally, I don't see myself using an AI assistant for anything more than complex queries and the occassional job application coding assignment that requires LLMs. As for Nova Prime, it can still be purchased for a one-time $30 fee on the Play Store, which is significantly higher than what I paid for back in 2019, or a yearly subscription of $5. It should be noted that during setup, the app will only show you the subscription options. Tapping on "Restore purchase" seems to show a toast message saying "No subscription found" even when the lifetime Prime app is installed. The app makes very little effort to advertise the lifetime purchase option to the user.
An audible ad for TikTok on the app drawer
Without a subscription or purchase of Nova Prime, you will be shown ads on the app drawer, the Nova settings menu, the search dropdown and the Nova Now page if that is enabled. The ads can also play audio themselves, which can be disruptive if you're trying to be discreet.
List of tracker libraries found with TrackerControl
Because of the implementation of ads, the app now comes bundled with tracker libraries. Most of these trackers get activated on the free version of the app. However, even with Nova Prime activated and the "Error & usage reporting" option disabled, the app will still send Firebase and Amplitude analytics data.
My Thoughts
While I have already had Nova Prime for ages now, and I personally haven't experienced a lot of changes or bugs from my end, I am not sure I can recommend the launcher to others in its current state due to the ads. While I understand that ads are necessary to sustain development, they're still pretty disruptive. At the very least, they should not be playing audio while the user is using the app drawer.
I am also concerned about how the app will change in the long term. I don't expect any further substantial changes while Nova is still on version 8, but I can't help but wonder what happens when Nova 9 comes out. Will it have more unnecessary AI integrations? Will Nova 9 only be ad-free for people who are on a subscription? Will it be buggier than previous releases? During the early days of the Branch acquisition, Branch's CEO sounded like he meant well, but given what came after, it's hard for me to trust Instabridge, especially given the lack of official communication about their plans for the launcher despite their early desire to be more transparent. Personally, I'd like to see the open source release of the launcher to assuage my concerns for its future.
All in all, I can't help but wonder if the developers selling the launcher to Branch was a good idea in the first place. On one hand, selling to Branch led to Nova being in the current state that it's in, but on the other hand, Nova Launcher had trouble sustaining itself according to Kevin.
Nova Launcher has historically been just a one-time sale consumer product. I’ve tried over the years other things such as licensing to OEMs or rev-share for links, but those have just been small pieces. Now Nova Launcher is also a Research and Development project which means trading some of the burden of monetization for the burden of experimentation. I’ve always been very careful about how I release new features. By monetizing with a one time purchase, I heavily relied on press coverage of new features to attract new users. But this meant that the new features need to be stable and attractive enough for users to purchase Prime for. It also meant that I couldn’t release something pretty experimental, attract users to purchase it, and then completely overhaul it without upsetting them.
- Kevin Barry on Nova's monetization before Branch's acquisition
I will be sticking to Nova in the meantime, though if I do end up having to find an alternative, I don't know which launcher I'd go with.
Let me know your thoughts via e-mail at mmkthecoolest@proton.me