I vividly remember the early day of the awe-inspiring CyanogenMod custom ROM , which fundamentally turbocharged an modal Android sound ’s package to give it slews of extra features and preferences . With the inauspicious decease of CyanogenOS in 2016 , I turned my attention to Nova Launcher in my college days . Ever since , I ’ve set up the launcher on almost every Android phone that I drive my hands on andcustomized the interfaceto my heart ’s content .
But it seems the nightfall of those twenty-four hours looms vauntingly over Nova Launcher . In 2022 , the company behind this awesome Android launcher was get by an analytics caller appoint Branch . A daylight ago , Branch laid off the entire Nova Launcher team except Kevin Barry , creator of the well - loved rocket launcher .
“ Nova still has one full clip staff extremity and a developer who splits their metre between Nova and other projects , but those two are going to be stretched extremely tenuous with code , hundred of support emails , the community , PR , etc . ,”wroteRob Wainwright , engineering oldtimer and community lead for the Nova Launcher task .
Today is a sad day . Even though we ’re competitors , we ’ve get to know the Nova squad over the years and have always had common respect.@CliffWadeand@apex2504are very talented , and it ’s hard to see why they were allow go . We wish Cliff , Rob , and everyone affect the best.https://t.co/6OllqykCKt
& mdash ; Smart Launcher ( @SmartLauncher)August 8 , 2024
In a subject matter station on the official Discord transmission channel , Barry advert that the turn of events of events was dissatisfactory , but he still plans to enclose up oeuvre on a brewing material body that will soon transport as an update for live Nova Launcher users . However , it seems poor cost - cut led to the brutish restructuring , which reportedly resulted in over 100 layoffs at Branch .
“ I ’m not even angry at the company for doing what companies do : reduce cost , ” Wainwrightpostedon BlueSky . “ I ’m disappointed that these were not adequately considered and alas I do n’t really see a path forrader without the full core squad . ”
Where Nova Launcher goes from here remain uncertain . Ardent fans are visibly disheartened by the shift , and many have already started discussing viable alternatives in Reddit threads . However , one can expect the tread of updates and characteristic addition to dry out up dramatically moving before . More significantly , hearing feedback and resolving hemipteron is fail to become a incubus , considering the lack of manpower .
Despite being somewhat rival , it is cheerless to hear this.@CliffWade,@apex2504 , and everyone affected , I wish you all the very best in your future tense endeavors.https://t.co/08M0sEsDiU
& mdash ; Niagara Launcher ( @NiagaraLauncher)August 8 , 2024
Many are hop that the team behind Smart Launcher laps up the laid - off workers and hopefully complain - starts piece of work on an alternative , but that seems improbable . Cliff Wade , who work with the Nova squad for approximately nine geezerhood , mentionedon Reddit that it was n’t “ going to bump ” because the Smart Launcher team is n’t in a placement to afford the talent cost .
But it ’s not just enthusiastic substance abuser who are mourning Nova Launcher ’s predictably dark future . contender like Niagara and Smart Launcher also shared uplifting message regarding the upheaval . Nova was a popular choice mainly because of its sheer compass for deep customization and public lavatory . Now , the app ’s futurity is distressingly relentless .
