Branch Metrics sucks. They fired almost of all people working for Nova.

  • FurtiveFugitive@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Meh. Nova is the best launcher in my opinion but I’ve already been version locked to the last release before this company bought it. I’ve basically given up in anyone else replicating the features I want. So I’ll be using this version of Nova until Google finally breaks it.

    • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Same! I refuse to update it and got a little annoyed at a post I saw where the dev (at least I think it was him) said “hey it’s 1 year later and the world hasn’t exploded”. Found that a little annoying.

      Let’s hope he gets control of the app back and can do nova again, without this shit baked in.

      Edit: guess I should have RTFA first. Gross

      • FurtiveFugitive@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 months ago

        7.0.57. I’ve had no android issues with this version. I don’t feel like I’m missing any features by refusing to update.

  • nul9o9@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Fucking hell.

    I’ve been using Nova for years, it’s nice there are replacement recommendations on this thread.

  • all4one@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    I’m still looking for a launcher similar to nova. The two big things I want are the swipe action on homescreen icons. For example I set the swipe up on my phone app to directly call someone. And I have the swipe up on other apps open a separate app instead. Other thing is being able to create folders of apps in the app drawer.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      Same! Except I use swipe up to go to Google voice and swipe down to go to contacts.

      Folders are also clutch. I don’t want to search for my apps.

  • Steve@communick.news
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Nova is still my primary.
    I just disable all its network and data permissions. It all still works just fine, and doesn’t have any way to send any data home.

    I’ve tried most all the others, and always come back to Nova

        • ModerateImprovement@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          3 months ago

          That disable the app itself from accessing the internet, but it does not forbid it from tunneling it’s network access through other apps.

          I don’t remember the article, but I remember that I read years ago that a group of apps were tunneling their network activity through Facebook app and YouTube.

          If I remember the article , I will post the link here.

  • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    i’m still using nova (was a premium subscriber from before the sale) does anyone have anything compariable? mostly the ability to use legacy icons, scale the grid size, have multiple tabs and folders, hide icons, assign icons to multiple folders (and hopefully import nova launcher backups into a new place)?

    i’m fine with google play though i’d love it if it was on fdroid or neo store.

    • sgnl@midwest.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      I replaced Nova with Kvaesitso and honestly its pretty awesome.

      Its more limited than Nova was but it meets my use cases. The biggest adjustment was using labels to filter things instead of using folders, which I’ve actually come to like better.

      But plenty of customizations for everything else you mentioned and more.

      • katy ✨@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 months ago

        i dont think its a subscription. you can download it anytime but they have nova prime which has additional features for a one time cost

  • needanke@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    I looked for a new launcher when the sale was anounced a year ago and was sad to find no launvhers I can customize that much.

    I went for Kvaesitso (https://github.com/MM2-0/Kvaesitso also on F-Droid) and stuck with it since. I really like the concept althought it might not be for everyone.

    • HereIAm@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      All I want is to remove the mandatory google search bar and calendar/weather widget at the top of the home screen on my pixel.

      While alot of the third party launchers I’ve seen look cool and functional, in this case I would love just more simple one.

      • khannie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 months ago

        You might be interested in lawnchair. It’s open source and based off the Google launcher (AFAIK) but you can remove the search bar and other things.

        The one on f-droid is two versions out of date. Latest one is from their website:

        https://lawnchair.app/

        • BritishJ@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          3 months ago

          It’s almost perfect. I all miss, is the ability to stack the icons on a folder, and set the folder background transparency when expanded.

  • Riley@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    I’d heartily recommend Niagara Launcher to anyone that wants something a little different.

  • TangledMind@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Aw man! I’ve used nova launcher for probably about a decade at this point :(

    There’s no way in hell I’m going back to SMASNUG’s crusty launcher. What’s the next best thing that isn’t a beta test?

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Btw i recommend kvaesitso. Idk what nova is like but kvaesitso is open source, has updates and is a very nice launcher in general. Its a bit hard to set-up at first because it uses widgets but after you figure it out its really nice.

    • TheChargedCreeper864@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      I’m currently on it because Neo Launcher stopped working one day, but is there a way to have app icons on the home screen without them being in the dock? It fills up quickly if you use PWA’s

      • rescue_toaster@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 months ago

        No. You don’t manually place apps on homescreen. I have it configured to only show one row of favorites, which are categorized as “pinned - manually sorted”. Than the rest of my favorites are seen when i swipe to app drawer.

  • 0oWow@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Article mentions 3rd party launcher gesture issues, but I’ve never seen this problem. I used to use Nova but switched to Smart launcher for the blur, but at no time have gestures been an issue. Any ideas what they mean?

    • Clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      3 months ago

      There’s a known (assumed intentional) issue with Android where a gesture to go home will show the home screen, but nothing responds to touch for a half second. I’ve been using Nova for years and I experience it daily. I feel like the delay has gotten better, though.

      • 0oWow@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        3 months ago

        Ooooh that. Yeah I get that with android auto.

        I’ve recently turned off all apps (including google) permission to draw over other apps and that seems to have stopped it for me, on Pixel 8.

  • Curious Canid@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    I’ve been using Nova for a very long time. It has saved me all kinds of annoyance as I’ve switched phone brands and OS versions, since my basic UI has remained consistent.

    Unless it actually takes a dive in quality, I will continue to use it, but this is disappointing news.

  • Dave.@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    Immediately switches to google play to turn off auto update for Nova Launcher

  • Magister@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    Now that is a name I haven’t heard in a long time, last time I tried different launcher was maybe in 2015… I didn’t know custom launcher were still popular. I try to use vanilla android

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.it
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    3 months ago

    we were all scared that they would do data mining or introduce ads on the launcher. They promised that they wouldn’t. Surprisingly, they kept the promise.

    I’m surprised that could feed a team of 12 devs with a free app with small one time payment to unlock power features.

    Isn’t the app mature enough to have a just full time dev behind to keep it updated with api changes?

    • Vanon@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Branch is apparently a $4B Silicon Valley startup, that raised $300M just two years ago. They can afford Nova’s team of twelve, or at least more than one fucking dev. They even fired Cliff, the one guy doing support (social, Discord, email, etc).

      That said, I wish they wouldn’t have sold out. Nova is one of the few things I want to subscribe to, very well earned. Nobody can reasonably complain about $10-20 per year for “Prime Ultra” or something. I don’t even see a donate button in settings.