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.

  • Mikufan@ani.socialEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    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

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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.

  • GasMaskedLunatic@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    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.

    • smeg@feddit.ukEnglish
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      7 months ago

      I quite like Neo/Omega launcher, it’s probably the best FOSS launcher I’ve found.

      their development has been very slow the last year

      This is the painful part. There are regressions that have been introduced which have sat their for years, and I’ve got no idea if they’ll ever be fixed. But such is the open source way, they owe me nothing and are still providing a generally good experience for free!

    • bam13302@ttrpg.networkEnglish
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      7 months ago

      Just checked the app on my phone, 0 bites used, I don’t really think they get any live data from it.

      • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        7 months ago

        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.

        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.

        • redfellow@sopuli.xyzEnglish
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          7 months ago

          Making guesses when you don’t have any actual information makes you look like a fool.

        • Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.worldEnglish
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          7 months ago

          Nova 8 shows 0 bytes used with error and usage reporting toggled off in advanced settings, so it seems they respect that setting.

  • tourist@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    7 months ago

    I greatly appreciate this

    I had no fucking clue for two years. How much longer would I have remained ignorant? Frightening.

    • Ilandar@aussie.zoneEnglish
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      7 months ago

      If you are concerned about analytics and tracking then I have bad news for you. Most apps on the Play Store are absolutely loaded with inbuilt trackers. You can check them using Exodus (or use the Aurora Store since privacy reports are displayed by default there).

      • tourist@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        7 months ago

        Thank you for that site. Very useful.

        I haven’t seen that feature on the aurora store, but I probably just missed it.

        I expect free apps to have tracking, but if it’s something like an app launcher that needs so many permissions and is running all the time… That’s just horrific

        • Ilandar@aussie.zoneEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          I haven’t seen that feature on the aurora store, but I probably just missed it.

          It’s towards the bottom of the page for whatever app you’re viewing. Sometimes it won’t have a privacy report available by default, but you can always go through to the website and generate one yourself. One of the worst apps I’ve found so far is the Woolworths one (Australian supermarket). It contains 11 trackers and within the first 6 hours following installation my tracker blocker had already prevented 11,325 tracking attempts.

          • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
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            7 months ago

            As someone who likewise freaked out when I got a pohole setup and 30% or more of requests were blocked, the early days are normally just the sane requests endlessly retrying. So while it blocked 11k, if they weren’t blocked it would probably only be a few hundred. Probably poor programming not covering the fact it can be blocked.

            Still better to block, though.

            • Ilandar@aussie.zoneEnglish
              0·
              7 months ago

              In a way I think that makes it more scary though, at least in a figurative sense. It’s like a group of debt collectors constantly banging on your door to get in and you have your foot there and are telling them to go away but they won’t listen. If you take it away for a second, they knock it down and come charging in to take what they believe they are owed.

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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.

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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.

  • Nerd02@lemmy.basedcount.comEnglish
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    7 months ago

    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.

  • niisyth@lemmy.caEnglish
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    7 months ago

    Just to note, I’m on v8.0.14 and there has been 0 bytes of data coming in and going out.

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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

        • Dave@lemmy.nzEnglish
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          7 months ago

          Some custom phone OSs (definitely GrapheneOS that mostly only works on pixels) will have the option for it.

          Another way is to use something like Tracker Control (installed through F-droid not the info-only one on Google Play) and that let’s you disable internet access for a specific app.

      • theit8514@lemmy.worldEnglish
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        7 months ago

        I had analytics turned on (new phone and didn’t check it before), and the app info only shows 76 kB have been transferred in the past 30 days. Seems pretty reasonable, but I disabled it anyways out of principal.

  • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
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    7 months ago

    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

    • 14th_cylon@lemm.eeEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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

      • bionicjoey@lemmy.caEnglish
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        7 months ago

        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.

    • LWD@lemm.eeEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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.

      • Schlemmy@lemmy.mlEnglish
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        7 months ago

        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.

      • everett@lemmy.mlEnglish
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        7 months ago

        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.

        • LWD@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          I can’t type right to save my life. If I want Boost it’ll either come up “Voist” or “Boat” depending on whether I tap or glide. (And switching to a private keyboard has made this more of an uphill battle for me.)

          You’ve got me dead to rights about forgetting where things are (besides the home screen), which is why I’m glad my launcher of choice has things organized not just in the Apps drawer, but in folders within them.

          I appreciate the insight though. Not everybody’s workflow is going to be the same, and needing X apps at a certain distance will affect different people different ways.

    • apprehensively_human@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      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.

      • Somewhiteguy@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        7 months ago

        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.

  • Meeech@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    7 months ago

    Going to take the moment to plug Action Launcher! I’ve been using it for years and it’s fantastic!

  • blomvik@sopuli.xyzEnglish
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    7 months ago

    Version 8 removed some stuff i used, so now im trying out Niagara and Smart launcher. The latter is really close to Nova.

  • SSUPII@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    My favourite launcher is ADW1, but it’s extremely outdated now. ADW2 was nice too, but also stopped receiving updates.

    • 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
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      7 months ago

      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

      • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
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        7 months ago

        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.

        • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          while still a lot of money, keep in mind, a decent amount of those downloads was bought on sale. in my own personal context, i only had bought it when it was 1$

          • Showroom7561@lemmy.caEnglish
            0·
            7 months ago

            For sure, fair point. But we’re still talking millions, and far more than the guy was making at his previous, full-time job. In an interview, he said all he needed was $100 / day in sales to quit his full-time job… obviously, he exceeded that. LOL

            • Dudewitbow@lemmy.zipEnglish
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              7 months ago

              hence why i mentioned it was still a lot of money just liekly not on that magnitude given both price cut sales and googles 30% cut of sales.

              at bare minimum, the dev has at least made 5 million probably post taxes for sure.