Post #2485718

2025-09-08 09:40 UTC

I&#39;m writing this post here today in hopes to bring some attention to something that is near and dear to my heart, and that&#39;s an update to the current situation with Nova Launcher, that I worked for and with for nine years up until August of 2024. For those that haven&#39;t seen the news, Kevin Barry, the founder and developer of Nova has left Branch which in turn means he&#39;s now no longer involved with Nova Launcher in any way going forward. https://teslacoilapps.com/nova/solong.html For the past year or so Kevin has stated that he was working on the open source version of Nova Launcher so that if/when this time came, it would be out in the open and the community could take it over and contribute to it and have it continue being developed. However, it seems that Harish Thimmappa and others at Branch had told him to stop working on that effort as they didn&#39;t want him to continue doing that for unknown reasons. This is sad news because this was something that former CEO, Alex Austin, had promised both via a contract and publicly that if Kevin were to ever leave Branch, Nova Launcher would become open source. You can find that quote here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/w2q6al/comment/igzoniu/ and another very similar quote with similar conversation here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/w2q6al/comment/ih25ntz/ The reason for this post is to try and draw some attention to the folks at Branch, specifically folks like Harish Thimmappa to do the right thing and honor these promises and any writings in the contracts from 2022 and to fully focus on releasing Nova Launcher as an open source app. The community deserves this more than anything, since that was something that Kevin was very adamant about when he allowed Branch to acquire Nova Launcher back in 2022. Plus, this is just something that Branch should do since it is something that has been promised. There is currently a petition on Change.org to try and get Branch to do this as well. After only 3 days of it being posted to Change.org, it sits at almost 1,500 signatures, and that&#39;s with very little to no press coverage at this time, which is something that would be super useful to bring full attention to this situation. You can find the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/make-nova-launcher-open-source-let-the-community-continue-its-development I ask that everyone who sees this post can share it with their followers as I would love to see Branch do the right thing and follow through with their promises that were made back in 2022 when they acquired Nova Launcher and release it fully as an open source app now that Kevin is no longer working for Branch and not involved in Nova Launcher. I&#39;m going to tag some folks below that I worked with at Branch in hopes of getting this post seen by as many folks there as possible. #NovaLauncher #Nova #Branch #BranchMetrics #OpenSource #OpenSourceNova #Petition #Android #Apps #Google

Replies (12)

@thibaultmol@en.osm.town 2025-09-08 09:43

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange I really hope that this somehow goes through. Because I haven't found a launcher that actually replaces Nova for me. Nova's a bit buggy for me right now but even then I prefer using it over other launchers

Open ##2970590
@UKFilmNerd@mastodon.me.uk 2025-09-08 11:58

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange I really hope this gets somewhere. I've been using Nova since 2013. I've tried others but there always missing that one little thing to make me jump ship.

Open ##2970599
@thomholwerda@exquisite.social 2025-09-08 13:49

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Doing my part: https://www.osnews.com/story/143297/nova-launchers-open-source-release-blocked-by-its-owners-despite-contractual-obligations/ And the Fedi post: https://mstdn.social/@osnews/115168984634510909

Open ##2970601
@Aryan@dragonscave.space 2025-09-08 15:09

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange yo, just signed it. we really need nova back. it was the most custimisable and even then everything was functional with talkback

Open ##2970603
@PhilGastwirth@worldkey.io 2025-09-08 18:31

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Thanks Cliff. It's really lame of them. I don't understand why they wanted to buy the software in the first place if they were just going to let it die. I've been using it for at least 10 years now

Open ##2970606
@nekoplanet@mastodon.social 2025-09-09 10:21

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Your name got dropped on slashdot! (I know /. is not as popular as it used to be but is still nice): https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/08/2050202/nova-launchers-founder-and-sole-developer-has-left

Open ##2970608
@eclecticpassions@fosstodon.org 2025-09-09 14:32

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Nova has been my launcher for over a decade. Hard to find a replacement but ever since Branch entered the equation I found an alternative called Pear Launcher which is the most similar alternative I've found... But I miss Nova.

Open ##2970610
@tofu@is-a.cat 2025-09-16 01:05

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange that launcher is still a thing? I used it in like 2011 or 2012 on android 2.2, and then never again

Open ##2970619
@txtechnician@mastodon.social 2025-09-16 01:42

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Hmm, that's a dick move. I assume they want to make money off of it.

Open ##2970620
@ppxl@social.tchncs.de 2025-09-16 02:05

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange I share your view. I use Nova Launcher since idk 10 years? and started to pay for it too because it's so bullshit-free. It's sad to read this at the same time. You have my back. I sincerely hope this route doesn't lead to enshittification...

Open ##2970621
@kazriko@alcatir.com 2025-09-18 02:08

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange Once novalauncher kind of started getting corporate, I ended up switching to Unlauncher...

Open ##2970623
@mu@mastodon.nz 2026-04-19 00:46

@cliffwade@infosec.exchange once they went corporate I swapped out for Hyperion. I hope it becomes good again

Open ##2970627