The Questionable Future of Nova Launcher | Pasta's Corner

The Questionable Future of Nova Launcher

Published on 2026-07-28

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...