End of an era: Nova Launcher's parent company lays off practically everyone - eviltoast

So, anybody know a good launcher to use once Nova goes offline?

  • b000rg@midwest.social
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    3 months ago

    PSA: Nova Launcher’s owning company sells their user data. It was a good launcher when it first came out, but it’s been nothing but a downward spiral from there.

    Edit for clarity: I don’t mean the app itself. It is owned by an entity that exists to sell consumer data.

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’ve been using Nova for ages, probably back from the KitKat days on a Samsung phone running Touchwiz, i.e. when everything from the vendor side was crap.

      I just switched back to my Moto G5’s stock launcher. Honestly, it already does everything I did with Nova. It supports theming, adaptive icons, you can configure the density of its grid, etc. So I uninstalled Nova. Fuck it.

      Realistically I think most stock launchers are probably perfectly adequate for everything normal users want to do these days.

      • Flax@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        I used to use Total launcher to make the most convoluted home screen possible that literally nobody but me knew how to use. Like several circles you swiped on in different directions to open folders, absolutely no labels, etc. Now I just use the stock pixel one lol

        • Frog@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          I miss swiping on icons. I used it for opening folders. Like Firefox would have all my most used browsers like Chromium Firefox Focus, and Firefox Nightly. My Messages app would have all my messaging apps. Camera had Photos, and photo editing apps. I barely had to go to the drawer.

          • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Likewise. I use Total, and I have 12 folders on my homescreen, each of which can be swiped up, down, left or right to open specific apps or run specific actions. So, 48 options without ever leaving the home screen :-)

            I very rarely have to even open a folder, let alone the app drawer (in fact Total doesn’t really even seem to have a built in app drawer, although it exists somewhere in the background)

    • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      But, but, they assured us that that wasn’t going to happen? You mean they lied??

      JFC, what a fall from grace for Nova. Sad to see.

    • Obinice@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I’m opted out of that in my settings, it’d be quite the scandal if they were ignoring GDPR?

      • b000rg@midwest.social
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        3 months ago

        I’ve amended my comment to make it more clear. I didn’t mean to imply the app sends your data to third parties, only that the company who owns it profits off of third party information brokering. Where that information comes from is beside the point in my opinion.