"Last year, Nova Launcher founder and sole developer Kevin Barry announced he had left Branch Metrics, Nova's parent company at the time - which followed an announcement from 2024 that nearly everyone working on the project had been laid off. But the launcher is getting new life: in a blog post on Tuesday, the Swedish company Instabridge, which makes an app that helps people connect to Wi-FI hotspots, announced it has acquired Nova Launcher."
""Nova is not shutting down," according to Instabridge. "Our immediate focus is simple: keep Nova stable, compatible with modern Android, and actively maintained." However, Instabridge says it's "evaluating ad based options" for the free version of the launcher." But the newest update for Nova Launcher has trackers for Facebook Ads and Google AdMob in its code and users on Reddit have already reported seeing ads, as reported by Android Authority."
"If ads are added to the launcher, the paid experience, Nova Launcher Prime, will "remain ad free." Instabridge is also "actively evaluating" open sourcing Nova. When announcing his departure in September, Barry said that he had been "asked to stop working on Nova Launcher and the open sourcing effort" even though a former Branch CEO said publicly that "If Kevin were to ever leave, it's contracted that the code will be open sourced and put in the hands of the community.""
Instabridge acquired Nova Launcher and committed to keeping the launcher stable, compatible with modern Android, and actively maintained. Instabridge said it is evaluating ad-based options for the free version while ensuring Nova Launcher Prime remains ad-free. The newest Nova update contains trackers for Facebook Ads and Google AdMob, and users have reported seeing ads. Instabridge said it is actively evaluating open sourcing Nova but has not decided. Kevin Barry left Branch Metrics amid layoffs and stated he had been asked to stop working on Nova and the open-sourcing effort. Instabridge emphasized that responsible open-sourcing involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. Barry, Instabridge, and Branch did not reply to requests for comment.
Read at The Verge
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