Nova Launcher has been acquired by analytics company Branch
www.androidpolice.com
Hopefully, this isn’t the end of an era for Android launchers

Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I’m posting anew for visibility.

  • HidingCat@kbin.social
    5218·
    2 months ago

    Honestly, don’t care. Until it gets shitty (which it still has a good chance of doing so), I’ll continue to use it.

    • trafficnab@lemmy.caEnglish
      602·
      2 months ago

      A launcher owned by an analytics company? In my OS owned by an ad company?

      • starman2112@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        51·
        2 months ago

        The way I see it, unless I’m at risk of having personally identifiable information leaked, ad companies can waste all the money they want on me. I don’t see anything they make anyway.

    • jpeps@lemmy.worldEnglish
      71·
      2 months ago

      Me neither really. I don’t love this, but I think a lot of people misunderstand what the analytics tools are mainly used for. It’s not often that much to do with advertising, and it certainly isn’t about farming your unique information in a clandestine way. It’s about what’s happening with the app, what features are being used as an aggregate, and most importantly for tracking the crash rate of the app, and why it’s crashing.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
        61·
        2 months ago

        I think this is more tied with advertising analytics, but I share the same opinion. I don’t love it, but it’s not a killer. The fediverse tends to attract a more idealistic and paranoid crowd, which I don’t think is reflective of how most people are.

    • zaphod@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      Given for months now I keep randomly experiencing UI hangs requiring me to kill Nova, that day may have finally come…

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
        2·
        2 months ago

        Hmm, I’ve had it happen once, thought it was odd. Are you on a Samsung too, like the other comment? How often does it happen?

        • zaphod@lemmy.caEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Nope, Pixel 6 running Android 14. It’s highly variable but I’d say it happens… every two or three days, sometimes multiple times a day. To say it’s aggravating is putting it very mildly.

          • HidingCat@kbin.social
            1·
            2 months ago

            Ok, that is pretty bad. As mentioned, I’ve had it happen once. I use the app search function a lot, which I’ve set to the swipe up gesture, and it just stopped working that day. Had to find a way to force reset the launcher. Having that happen every 2-3 days to multiple times a day would be a dealbreaker for me.

    • OfficerBribe@lemm.eeEnglish
      42·
      2 months ago

      Reaction from a lot of people seems as if Nova now has some kind of keylogger and some random dude from Nigeria will try to access your bank account.

      • HidingCat@kbin.social
        41·
        2 months ago

        Like I’ve said elsewhere, the fediverse tends to have a lot of paranoid zealots. It’s a bit offputting really.