Nova Launcher has been acquired by analytics company Branch
www.androidpolice.com
Hopefully, this isn’t the end of an era for Android launchers

Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I’m posting anew for visibility.

  • WashedOverEnglish
    161·
    2 months ago

    I use Smart Launcher. I’m surprised there aren’t more users of it.

    I’ve been using it on all my phones and tablets for years now. Doesn’t matter what type of Android phone I use, they mostly end up being the same feel with Smart Launcher

    • Valon_Blue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      91·
      2 months ago

      Same, been using Smart Launcher since I heard they were getting bought. No lie, I miss Nova’s customizability, and some of Smart Launcher’s quirks annoy me; but I vastly prefer it to being data harvested. Smart Launcher is good enough for me, and leaps and bounds better than ANYTHING else I tried.

      • WashedOverEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Same here. There are quirks by I think I’m really use to them now. I tried Nova, Lawnchair and some others over the years but I think my long term Smart Launcher still fits me like a glove.

        • Valon_Blue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Overall, Smart Launcher is great. The things that annoy me are mainly things like: Not being able to add multiple app screens and have home in the center, lack of gestures(compared to Nova), and there was also something to do with setting the wallpaper.

          My only near dealbreaker is that it’s not open source.

          I can’t wait to see what they come up with next, feature wise, though.

    • 0oWow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      While you’re at it, check out their other product, Icon Pack Studio. It’s the last icon pack you’ll ever need.

      • WashedOverEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Correction Outline icon pack is what I’ve been using. The Studio icon pack is pretty good. Thanks!

      • WashedOverEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        I will. I’ve been using the neon colored Azure icon pack for many years now. I could probably go for an update.

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.ggEnglish
      41·
      2 months ago

      I used smart launcher right up until they pushed an update one day that made my phone basically unusable. The launcher would just error whenever I went to my home screen, making the launcher (and thus home screen completely unusable).

      After that I changed my 5 star review to 1 star, uninstalled, and there is absolutely nothing they can do to ever get me to trust them again.

      Failing that hard at QA on something as critical as a phone launcher is completely unacceptable to me.

      If you want evidence, look at reviews from Jan 2022 on smart launcher 6.

      • WashedOverEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        That really sucks. It would be brutal to get that sorted. I’ve been lucky. I do recall once there was a botched update that reset all my custom settings on all of my devices. I was really choked but I had a old backup that restored it halfway. Reminds me to do another one now.

        My huawei devices keeps reseting my launcher to theirs which is s really annoying but I think that is a Huawei thing.

      • 0oWow@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        2 months ago

        Google fails that hard on QA all the time. Perhaps iOS would work for you?