Nova Launcher Shuts Down After a Decade of Customization

For more than ten years, Nova Launcher has been the go-to app for Android users who wanted their phones to feel like their own. It wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t loud. But it let you control the home screen in ways stock Android never did. Now it’s over.

Kevin Barry, Nova’s founder and only developer, announced over the weekend that he’s leaving Branch, the company that bought Nova in 2022. Without him, the app’s future is gone. The plan to release Nova as open source has also been scrapped.

Barry wrote in a farewell post that he had been maintaining Nova on his own for the past year. He’d already begun preparing the codebase for a community release, but Branch told him to stop. That decision closed the door on anyone else keeping the project alive.

For longtime fans, the news feels like losing a part of Android itself. Nova wasn’t just another app — it was a tool that made Android stand apart from iOS. You could change gestures, tweak layouts, set up custom icons, or rearrange the app drawer to match your style. Many users say they installed Nova the same day they unboxed a new phone, no questions asked.

The community reaction has been emotional. On Reddit, one user called Nova “legendary” and thanked Barry for sticking with it since their first LG phone in 2009. Another said Nova had been installed on every device they’ve owned, right up to a brand-new Galaxy S25. Dozens of similar comments poured in, showing just how much the app mattered.

Signs of trouble had been there since the Branch acquisition. Nova updates slowed, and in 2024, after layoffs at Branch, Barry was the only one left working on it. The last stable release of Nova Launcher came in May 2024. The app still runs today, but without updates, it’s only a matter of time before Android changes leave it behind.

For now, you can still grab Nova Launcher from the Play Store. It’ll keep working, at least in the short term. But anyone looking for a future-proof option will have to consider other launchers like Lawnchair, Hyperion, or Niagara. None are identical, but all try to capture the same spirit of customization.

Nova’s shutdown closes an important chapter for Android. It proved that a single developer could shape how millions of people used their phones. Even if the app fades away, the influence of Nova — and Barry’s years of work — will stick around.