It could really be the end of an era, Nova Launcher, one of the most loved and widespread Launcher Android, seems to start towards the definitive closure. The announcement came directly from his historic developer Kevin Barry, who has on the weekend he has confirmed not only the abandonment of the project, but also the end of any possibility of release as Open Sourcecontrary to what had been promised by Branch in the past, the company that had acquired it in 2022.
Nova Launcher could be close to farewell
Nova Launcher has been, since its debut more than ten years ago, a point of reference for anyone who wanted to thoroughly customize the interface of their Android smartphone; From the possibility of redefining the drawer of applications to gestural controls, passing through icons, layouts and notification badge, Nova has accompanied the evolution of Android in all its phases, allowing users to model their device at will, often well beyond the possibilities offered by system launcher.
Below is Barry’s message:
Hi Everyone,
I’m the Founder and Original Developer of Nova Launcher. I’ve Been the Only One Working on Nova for the Past Year. I Needed to Let You Know that I have left Branch and AM No Longer Involution with Nova Launcher.
For the past several months i have been preparing the open source release of Nova Launcher. This Work Included Cleaning Up The Codebase, Reviewing Liccesses, Remove or Replacling Property Code, and Coordinating with Legal to Ensure A Proper Release. When Branch Acquired Nova in 2022, Branch then-Vest and Founder Alex Austin Made Several Public Commitments to the Community About Nova’s Future, Including Statements about Open Sourcing.
Howaver I was lastly asked to stop working on Nova Launcher and the Open Sourcing Effort.
Nova Launcher Has Been An Incredible Project and Has An Incredible Community. I’m grateful for the years of support, feedback, and enthusiasm.
The emotional bond with users clearly emerges in these hours, the threads on Reddit and social networks are full of messages of thanks and melancholy, with phrases that define Nova legendary and testimonies of those who have used it continuously for years, up to the current top of the range.
Since 2022, with Branch’s acquisition, the future of the app had appeared uncertain, if on the one hand the company had provided Nova advanced analysis tools to develop new features, on the other the internal renovations (with massive layoffs in 2024) had left Kevin Barry as the only active developer.
The latest stable update dates back to May 2024 and, with Barry’s exit from the scene, development could be definitively interrupting; The developer said he had tried to prepare an open source version of the projectcleaning the code and coordinating with the lawyers, but Branch would finally ask him to stopthus preventing Nova could survive through the community.
At the moment Nova Launcher remains available on the Google Play Store and continues to work without problems, but without future updates or maintenance will inevitably become superfluous, especially with the evolution of the new Android versions. The users, as the first online polls also show, are divided: there are those who continue to use it as long as they stop working, those who already look at alternative launcher and those who resign themselves to return to the standard one.
Despite this, the legacy of Nova Launcher remains enormous, for over a decade has contributed to defining the Android experience, making customization a distinctive feature of the platform compared to other more closed ecosystems.
Users will therefore have to start looking around, with the awareness that an important piece of the history of Android is about to end; The possible and close closure of Nova Launcher marks the end of an era, but at the same time he inherits a reference model for all future Launcher developers.
