Nova Launcher founder Kevin Barry announced his retirement a few days ago. He's leaving the company that runs the popular Android customization tool, and with him, the entire Nova Launcher will likely end forever. For now, it's still available to download and works, but over time, it will start to become outdated and users will stop liking it. Fortunately, a successor may be on the horizon.
Nova Launcher has been around for about 10 years, Google Play has over 100 million downloads and is one of the most popular launchers ever. But its founder he complainedthat in the last year he has been working on it alone and despite the previous promise there is no interest in releasing it as open-source. This will soon put an end to Nova Launcher. But maybe not completely. This unexpected opportunity was seized by people from a competing Smart Launcher, which has over 10 million downloads on Google Play. They have reached out to the company behind Nova Launcher and may join forces.
Smart Launcher is not identical, but it also offers many of the features that users already know from Nova Launcher. At the same time, efforts have been made to transfer of existing backups from Nova Launcher to the new system, so users wouldn't even notice the difference after the transition. “We know how much Nova has meant to you, and our goal is to offer a home that feels familiar but also brings new possibilities,” The developers sent a message to everyone who is now deciding what to do next after the end of Nova Launcher.
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This launcher is very frequently updated and new features are being added all the time. It includes gesture support, built-in widgets, a news page, an experimental dock, the ability to pin pages, or set any screen as your home screen. More folder customization options and better search access are also expected to be added in the near future. It has also been confirmed that a large Smart Launcher 7 update will be for current users with Android free.
Those who are currently searching in vain for a replacement for Nova Launcher may have hope. But of course, there are more launchers and it's up to you which one to choose - or whether you want to keep the usual layout and functions of the operating system. Android.
