this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2024
286 points (96.7% liked)

Android

30076 readers
163 users here now

DROID DOES

Welcome to the droidymcdroidface-iest, Lemmyest (Lemmiest), test, bestest, phoniest, pluckiest, snarkiest, and spiciest Android community on Lemmy (Do not respond)! Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules


1. All posts must be relevant to Android devices/operating system.


2. Posts cannot be illegal or NSFW material.


3. No spam, self promotion, or upvote farming. Sources engaging in these behavior will be added to the Blacklist.


4. Non-whitelisted bots will be banned.


5. Engage respectfully: Harassment, flamebaiting, bad faith engagement, or agenda posting will result in your posts being removed. Excessive violations will result in temporary or permanent ban, depending on severity.


6. Memes are not allowed to be posts, but are allowed in the comments.


7. Posts from clickbait sources are heavily discouraged. Please de-clickbait titles if it needs to be submitted.


8. Submission statements of any length composed of your own thoughts inside the post text field are mandatory for any microblog posts, and are optional but recommended for article/image/video posts.


Community Resources:


We are Android girls*,

In our Lemmy.world.

The back is plastic,

It's fantastic.

*Well, not just girls: people of all gender identities are welcomed here.


Our Partner Communities:

[email protected]


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Back in July 2022, when mobile app metrics firm Branch acquired the popular and well-regarded Nova Launcher for Android, the app's site put up one of those self-directed FAQ posts about it. Under the question heading "What does Branch want with Nova?," Nova founder and creator Kevin Barry started his response with, "Not to mess it up, don't worry!"

Branch (formerly/sometimes Branch Metrics) is a firm concerned with helping businesses track the links that lead into their apps, whether from SMS, email, marketing, or inside other apps. Nova, with its Sesame Search tool that helped users find and access deeper links—like heading straight to calling a car, rather than just opening a rideshare app—seemed like a reasonable fit.

Barry wrote that he had received a number of acquisition offers over the years, but he didn't want to be swallowed by a giant corporation, an OEM, or a volatile startup. "Branch is different," he wrote then, because they wanted to add staff to Nova, keep it available to the public, and mostly leave it alone.

Two years later, Branch has left Nova Launcher a bit too alone. As documented on Nova's official X (formerly Twitter) account, and transcripts from its Discord, as of Thursday Nova had "gone from a team of around a dozen people" to just Barry, the founder, working alone. The Nova cuts were part of "a massive layoff" of purportedly more than 100 people across all of Branch, according to now-former Nova workers.

...

(page 2) 29 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

If I was able to choose icons for some apps myself after applying a theme, I would immediately switch to Lawn Chair. But for now it's still Nova Launcher without internet access for me..

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I use DNA launcher

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

Good. It was a great launcher.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

GOAT launcher. Hopefully it doesn't meet its demise. The features should be implemented into stock android experience...

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What link are you referring to?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Oh, i was just referring to Nova as the Great Of All Time (GOAT) 👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I still use it, removed auto-update from the store. Hopefully it doesn't just poof.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How do you turn off auto-update for a single app?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago
  1. Go to Play Store
  2. Go to app.
  3. Click on 3 dot menu in upper right corner.
  4. Deselect "Enable auto update"
[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is your version from before it got sold to the ad company?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

Not them, but same dealio here, and yes.

Version 7.0.57 was the latest version before the acquisition. You can still get it off apkpure.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Oooooh good idea

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's still my launcher of choice and I'm going to ride it until the wheels fall off.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Yeah same. Since nothing comes even halfway close, might as well use it.

Plus, the thing is AFAIAC feature complete. So as long as Barry can keep working on bugs cropping up with new versions, I'm happy with what I got.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 8 months ago

I stayed away because I was worried it would drain battery faster

[–] [email protected] 59 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Used to be my favorite launcher and I, too, abandoned it. Sad, really.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I moved to Hyperion. It's essentially the same just less polished

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I've been trying off and on to use Hyperion for a while now but it's just been too buggy for me

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (6 children)

I still use it. Where did you move to?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

I switched to smart launcher and bought lifetime cause I feel like its actually a really great option I never heard of or tried until I stopped using nova. Lawnchair is good too but for now im sticking with smart launcher.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

I went back to action launcher which I really like.

I basically have one home screen with links to my most used stuff.

It has covers which I believe originated here but was later possible on Nova. Basically you make folders of apps that you can tap to open, but you can set that to swipe instead so that the tap just opens the first app in the folder

So for example I listen to podcasts way more often than music from my phone, so I have a folder for audio where I can tap to open podcasts or swipe to open the folder and get to music.

I then have a slide in drawer that has the weather and my calendar and that's basically it. Very rarely need to go to the main app list once this is set up. I will likely never change this as I don't really use that many apps regularly.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I was using the pro version, but later switched to Lawnchair. Still using Lawnchair, it's great.

https://lawnchair.app/

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (6 children)

It was my go to launcher for years, but this weekend I decided it was time to see what else there was. I ended up on Niagara Launcher and have been liking it! Took about a day to get used to it- it's definitely different. There's not really an app drawer, and as far as I can tell there's only one home screen and one place for widgets (you can have more than one, but you flip through them). I like how simple it is and how quickly I can get to everything.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

I used to use nova and switched to Niagara a couple of months ago. It very different but super sleek

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›