I’ve been using Nova Launcher on my Android phones and tablets for almost a decade. It’s by far my favorite launcher thanks to its flexibility and deep customization options. But some recent decisions by the company that bought Nova two years ago have put the app’s future in jeopardy.
Developer Kevin Barry released the first version of Nova Launcher in late 2014, and it was an immediate hit with the still-thriving Android community. Nova uses the same sliding homepage setup as most Android navigation systems, including Google and Samsung’s “default” home screens, but strives to give users as many options as possible.
With fast performance, frequent introductions of new features like compatibility with Google’s Discover news feed via a sidebar, and nearly endless ways to make your home screen look and function exactly how you want it to, Nova has remained the go-to launcher for many of Android’s most enthusiastic fans.
But Barry couldn’t handle all the features he wanted to add alone, let alone support new versions of the operating system and hundreds of new phone models each year. He quickly expanded his development team and turned Nova into a thriving business with the Nova Prime upgrade, a $5 add-on that brings even more options and advanced features. The upgrade has been downloaded more than five million times to date.
Barry sold the Nova app, and essentially his own work and that of his colleagues, to Branch Metrics in 2022. As Ars Technica reports, Branch is an analytics company that helps enterprise clients create and track links to their sites, apps, and other entry points. Branch now owns the copyright to Nova Launcher, according to the app’s About page.
Nova/Branch
Nova/Branch
Nova/Branch
Last week, the official Nova Launcher Twitter account announced that, as part of a company-wide layoff, Branch had cut the jobs of over ten people working on Nova. A now-unemployed community manager gave more in-depth details on Discord. Kevin Barry is once again the only person actively developing Nova, ten years after its inception… but he’s doing it for someone else.
Longtime users have noticed a decline in Nova’s usual quality over the past year or so. Bugs and performance issues that were typically fixed within weeks have persisted for months or more, and substantial updates (Nova is now on its eighth major release) have been arriving more slowly. Recent reviews on the Google Play Store indicate that major bugs like disappearing icons, frozen home screens, and broken searches have become commonplace.
With resources and working power reduced to the bare minimum by Branch after years of expansion, Barry must now carry Nova Launcher on his shoulders like an Atlas software developer.
I still use Nova on my phone, despite the lack of support for its foldable form factor and, yes, the bugs that I too have encountered more frequently lately. It is still the best and most flexible option I have tried, including Samsung’s foldable OneUI launcher. But I can’t say that I am enthusiastic about the future of this launcher in the hands of the current owner. I hope that another Android developer, inspired by Nova and other launchers developed with so much community input, can take its place.
Or maybe Kevin Barry could leave Nova to stay under Branch and start fresh with a new program. This kind of thing has happened before.
