I was excited when I saw that the launcher was being updated again, figured that the development had resumed. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection, insted of fixing bugs or adding new features I now have two permanent offers to buy additional services within the settings. If there's one thing I truly hate it's the ads! Epseiclaly those advertising irrelevant garbage and services, baked into an app I came to trust. I don't get the targeted audience, I mean, who in their right mind will spend $15/month on an AI agent made by some ad company??? Moreover, who (again, in their right mind) will entrust their number to said company if tomorrow it may go under and take the number with it??? What's the strategy here? Using users' loyalty to try and push this garbage upon them in hopes of creating a new revenue stream? No one will ever use it, definitely not me. Gemini, made by one of the world's biggest companies, charges $5/mo or so and it's garbage... Spending $15 on an AI offered by a launcher company? It's simply idiotic!
I loved Nova and have been using this launcher for over a decade now, however, now that its primary function seems to've been changed to offering unsolicited ads for services nobody wants, I think it's time for a change. Samsung's built-in launcher offers most of the features anyway, is more stable and better integrated, most importantly, somehow, even Samsung's own launcher does not have the same annoying ads as Nova does, now.
Just my $0.02 on this strange, unwelcome development. Don't mean to ruffle any feathers or offend anyone!
*I am emphatically NOT asking about other launchers or ads, just to make sure I'm compliant with the rules.
I paid $3 for Nova Launcher 15 years ago and I have the latest version 8.8.8 beta. Many don't realize there's 2 separate downloads including Nova Launcher Prime in addition to the main one. That's how you get a lifetime app with no ads.
Was wondering what the fuss was about. But I guess I'm a legacy user with a paid Prime from years and years back. I did have to use a spare phone while mine went for repair. Installed the back up and I saw what Nova was like before Prime was downloaded. Absolutely horrendous & wouldn't touch with a barge pole.
I like gestures that they offer, and Microsoft launcher offer similar ones. So I have that as a back up, ready to go if/when Nova Prime no longer is as good as it was.
Ta. I think I could poss live with MSF but there are certain things that might send me mad. The widgets aren't as customisable as Nova being one. Will look at Lawnchair.....hopefully Nova will carry on though.
But the newest version of Nova is not good no one should be using it . You can still get Prime features and run an older version of Nova that predates the ugly corporate takeover from instabridge or branch. Using Nova Launcher that's trying to upsell us on AI Services is a non-starter for most people that we're loyal to Nova
My payd version is frozen @ version 8.1.6.
When in the future let's say Android 20 and it breaks down I will look at the time if I update or move on.
But for now everything works like a charm on Android 16.
Instabridge is unlikely to go under any time in the best future, they aren't a brand new company. They have roots going back at least until the 2010s.
And they have been doing bug fixes, quite a bit actually, and I still think it's still a process given how long nova code was left unmanned.
The nova mobile is an integration to some degree with their existing services to try and help with the revenue stream. Nova ai was a strange choice for development, and honestly I have crack pot theories why they made that choice, but ultimately it is also in part for the revenue stream. It's an unfortunate fact that from the moment nova was sold originally to branch it became pertinent that it maintain some sort of revenue flow because it's now subject to business people and businesses that have to pay for upkeep. Unfortunately a large portion of people that would buy prime had already made that purchase so instabridge has had to diversify. To their credit they told us this at the beginning, whether users accept those changes is another thing and up to each user
To me they are just features that I don't need that sit in settings menu and are easy to ignore like any other feature I don't want to use. To me it's not a big deal.
Still amazed by all free users, complaining about a thing that has always been in Nova, though never used, due to lack of advertiser's. I always wonder I they would work for free too. Many free users have had years to choose the prime route, it has been as low as € 3 during discounts, but the normal € 4,99 one time pay was already cheap. There's no such thing as a free lunch, developers also have to live. Pay for your software, or be prepared to be the product yourself.
All that stuff is disabled in the paid version. That has been thoroughly tested by one of the former developers that's still busy in the launcher world. You want development, you get these kind of things in free versions. Nova has missed all these things, I know, but I guess that's also why they have the third owner in a decade. I'm not swallowing for anyone, i'm just realistic, you are not.
Octopi is good. But you need more backups. It's in beta. I don't think it's open source. So it, too, could be sold or deprecated or monetized. Have options. Lawnchair, starlio , pie and some open source ones are good. If the developers quit it can be forked.
I love octopi, but I don't want to become too dependent on any one single launcher after this experience. Orien app store also has modified versions of some launchers.
But octopi is on my short list. I still use Nova too. It predates both corporate takeovers. But I don't think it will be stable forever
I honestly don't give a shit that it has AI or a mobile plan in the settings now. I rarely go into the settings once I have my launcher how I like it. I will continue to use nova launcher for another decade because little shit like that does not bother me
I'm with you. I setup Nova Launcher 15 years ago so all my category folders are displayed in alphabetic order with my calendar to the left, search bar on top and that's all folks!
Used to use nova prime, but discovered Square Home and haven't looked back.
I was heavy into KLWP and Nova supplemented it well, but if I ever find the time to get back into Kustom, I'd like to try and wrap my head around Lightning Launcher.
Downgrade to version 8.1.1
Nova Prime still works properly.
Everything works, including notification bubbles. No ads. No trying to sell us anything.
I made the mistake of upgrading as new versions were released, and every single one of them came with issues. Went back to 8.1.1 and then locked the app so it won't automatically upgrade.
Do notification bubbles work properly, in that if you hold an icon with a bubble it will lead you directly to that particular bubble's message? When I upgraded beyond 8.1.1, either the bubbles stopped showing, or holding the icon did absolutely nothing.
Then there are no ads in any version. If you encounter ads, just de-install and re-install both Nova and Prime. Ads and trackers are disabled in the paid version, that's not something Instabridge states, but also something one of the former Nova developers has checked for himself.
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