468
PSA: Nova Launcher has been owned by analytics company Branch since 2022
(www.androidpolice.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
468 points (100.0% liked)
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It pisses me off that apps I've paid for become tainted like this.
To be fair, i paid like $3, 10 years ago..... So, not a great revenue stream for the developer
Obviously selling to an ad company is not good, but i'm not sure what the alternative is in a world where everyone expects everything for free
So, not a great revenue stream for the developer
For context Nova Prime has over 5+ million paying users, and it's $6 when I check the Play Store.
The dev was just a single guy, who later hired someone to help with support and artwork. But if $30 million in revenue wasn't good enough, I'm not sure what else you could expect.
Had no idea about the user base numbers. I withdraw my objections lol
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I've been using Kvaesitso launcher from fdroid and really liking it so far.
I'm using Niagara launcher and I am very happy with it. But I would definitely use Kvaesitso if I hadn't already paid for lifetime premium Niagara.
Version 8 removed some stuff i used, so now im trying out Niagara and Smart launcher. The latter is really close to Nova.
Shameless plug for the best android launcher ever made imao
KISS Launcher (Blazingly fast launcher focused on search) https://f-droid.org/packages/fr.neamar.kiss/
I'm not really a fan of "clean" and "minimalist" launchers when they get to the point of impeding my productivity. And keeping a curated list can tap into muscle memory, improving speed further.
For example:
I've got 13 apps I can launch with a single tap, 13 more one extra swipe away (unless you count the swipe into my app drawer, which would bring it up to ~32 more).
Just something to keep in mind when looking for a launcher: you might want to find your definition of fast. If KISS works for you, all the more power to you. But I lament the lack of FOSS launchers that are more Nova-esque.
It sounds like you have something that works for you, and that's great! But I don't think it's accurate to pigeonhole this other approach as being "for minimalists." I've used KISS Launcher for a long time and I don't think of it as especially clean or minimalist. It's a powerful and flexible way to launch pretty much anything.
I too have built a muscle memory, and mine is tapping a few letters to filter through apps and launch the one I want. The same approach works when finding a contact in KISS. And from the same box I can also launch a web search with my default search engine, or enter a URL to visit directly in my browser. Where things get a little nuts is that this same search filters through apps' intents as well: hidden shortcuts to launching specific functionality within the app.
All of these searches happen as I type, as quickly as I type, with results weighted by my launch history. And if for whatever reason I want to scroll through a complete drawer of my apps (it happens), that's one tap away. I'd say KISS manages to be both maximalist and instant.
This approach may require more taps, but less thinking. I never have to start by asking "Am I looking for a tier-1 tap app? Tier-2 swipe app? A drawer app?" Every app (and contact, search, URL or intent) is a few keystrokes away, always the same muscle memory, and that's my idea of fast.
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True, I have one page with a few folders and gestures added to several icons. I've been using this setup for a few years so switching to different apps goes crazy fast.
I second this. I've been using KISS exclusively for years and I love its workflow. My homescreen is totally clean except the quick-launch bar, and I can find all my apps within seconds instead of having to swipe through a sea of pages or folders of icons.
I'm actively trying the launcher as an alternative to Nova (I was still on Version 7, so might as well start jumping ship before things happen). I got very used to widgets on other launchers, so this is nice if you like that "clean" look and actually remember what your apps are named. I'm bad at both of those ideas. Good launcher otherwise.
Going to take the moment to plug Action Launcher! I've been using it for years and it's fantastic!
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Just to note, I'm on v8.0.14 and there has been 0 bytes of data coming in and going out.
I have 7.0.58 and also 0 bytes. But once I disabled internet connection for nova completely I got nagging notification about that really fast
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My favourite launcher is ADW1, but it's extremely outdated now. ADW2 was nice too, but also stopped receiving updates.
When this acquisition first happened, I went hunting for a replacement and found one on Fdroid called OpenLauncher which felt very similar to Nova in terms of features. Unfortunately it appears to not be updated for the latest versions of Android, but might still be worth looking into
Unfortunately it appears to not be updated for the latest versions of Android, but might still be worth looking into
Man, dead project is definitely not worth looking into
Could be forked, could have a PR, could be that it works fine in newer versions but the author hasn't updated the repo for Fdroid to reflect which versions it works on.
I have no idea if any of those are the case, but that's what I mean when I say it's worth looking into.
I really find i like discreet launcher from fdroid https://github.com/falzonv/discreet-launcher.
That link doesn't work
There's a period at the end of it. Remove that and it'll work
Works for me.
I get the GitHub 404 page
That's odd, it's working for me.
The app or frontend you're using you're using is probably smart enough to ignore the period at the end of the link
Yep, the link is in blue, while the period is in white, because I'm using dark mode. So clearly, the period is being ignored.
Thanks for sharing. The default launcher on my phone is terrible and I hate having to move to different layouts every time I switch phones (which only happens every 5+ years, but is still annoying) so I have been using Nova for many years.
Just turned off its internet access on both data and wifi, let's see if it complains about it.
As a note: I can see that it only transfered a few hundred kilobytes in the past month, which isn't a lot, but it's still more than zero.
I greatly appreciate this
I had no fucking clue for two years. How much longer would I have remained ignorant? Frightening.
Well, the weird thing is they haven't actually done anything to the app yet. Looks like they're just focusing on the next major release. The version that has been available in the store for the last 2 years hasn't been fucked with.
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I mean if you install apps from commercial stores then this is the norm. If its not explicitly proven to be tracking and analytics free, then its usually not.
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It was unfortunate, but not unexpected. Neo Launcher is a decent alternative, though it's not quite on par with Nova, and their development has been very slow the last year. Benefit of GrapheneOS, I can just disable Nova's network access, so I don't really have to compromise here thankfully.
I've disabled network access to Nova on a stock Android phone with NetGuard https://netguard.me/
And if you worry about how to update NetGuard automatically you can do it with Obtainium
Just checked the app on my phone, 0 bites used, I don't really think they get any live data from it.
Not yet. Nova Launcher 8 is the problem version and it's still in beta. If you're still using version 7, particularly 7.0.57, then it's the version from before the buyout and it's clean. It's suspected they turned some analytics on with 7.0.58, but even that still looks clean to me. That is the only update they've pushed since the buyout.
My guess is they didn't want to fuck with the current version, they just wanted to devote their focus to getting all the tracking shit into the upcoming major release.
If you disable auto updates now, you'll probably be fine until it stops working
Nova 8 shows 0 bytes used with error and usage reporting toggled off in advanced settings, so it seems they respect that setting.
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Ive never seen it sending data except the optional analytics that can easily be turned off so far i sadly also didn't find a good alternative
If you're still using Nova 7, it's fine. If you installed the beta for version 8, that's the one they've been working on after the buyout.
Yikes! I've been using it since like 2018 and liking it. Any alternatives?
Switched to Niagara after Nova was bought off, but lately using the KISS launcher which does the job similar to Niagara when configured, and it's FOSS.
Lawnchair is quite basic.
I've seen a lot of people suggest lawnchair 2 will be checking it out myself.
I switched to Niagara and while it's not anything similar I've really enjoyed learning it.
You can find some solid open source alternatives here, the ones I like most are Lawn Chair and Kvæsitso:
https://alternativeto.net/software/nova-launcher/?license=opensource
lawnchair indeed ☞ https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/app.lawnchair
That's the outdated version.
It's best to use the latest nightly build from here:
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