this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2026
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Nova Launcher could soon add a proactive AI assistant that sucks up all your data (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 2 days ago by ryujin470@fedia.io to c/technology@lemmy.world
204 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Nova Launcher could soon introduce Nova AI, a built-in AI assistant complete with a chatbot, and a new Nova Plus subscription tier

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[โ€“] kazerniel@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

ew... it is my favourite launcher but I disabled updates once it got acquired ๐Ÿ˜ญ

Does anyone know of a launcher with similar customisability? All the active launchers I found focus on minimalism and no or monochrome icons, while Nova lets me arrange my colourful icons in whatever way I want, reskin them, etc ๐Ÿ˜

Edit: Lawnchair's Nova backup import feature in their newest beta release pushed me to try it out, let's see ๐Ÿ‘€

Edit 2: ok it seems to only have lost my home-pinned website bookmarks, so this could be a workable solution ๐Ÿ˜Š

[โ€“] adam_y@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

And yet another piece of software I have to abandon because of this dioshit cult behaviour.

Thanks guys. You really just went ahead and put your dick in it.

[โ€“] Alandrus_Sun@ttrpg.network 1 points 17 hours ago

Why....

[โ€“] monotremata@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks for the reminder! I had switched to Lawnchair, but I just realized I had forgotten to uninstall Nova. Fixed!

[โ€“] Briguy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Same. Just uninstalled that spyware

[โ€“] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Anyone that gives a single shit about their data being sold to third parties should have dumped Nova a long time ago.

[โ€“] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This is the first I've heard about any privacy issues. I dumped Nova recently because I found a good FOSS launcher.

[โ€“] dodekaphilist@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Mind sharing which launcher you switched to?

[โ€“] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 day ago

Dragon Launcher. Apparently it isn't on Play; you have to use F-Droid.

[โ€“] QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy I hate corporations so much WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

anyways here's my new homescreen

I still need to make groups and change images...

[โ€“] frightful5680@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Omg omg kityyyyy

[โ€“] pyre@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

well if you didn't jump ship in 2022 i guess this is your time

[โ€“] bountygiver@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

hasn't update this app since 2021 lol. Good thing the pre-enshitification version worked perfectly fine without updates.

[โ€“] SilentRampage34@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Something I cannot find in any other FOSS launcher that is the one part of Nova I want to keep: gestures on home page folders. Home page icons that I can swipe up or down to do independent actions and can be an app or folder of apps. Nothing I've found seems to have the same features in this regard.

[โ€“] paridoxical@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Octopi Launcher does this

[โ€“] t0fr@lemmy.ca 3 points 17 hours ago

Not who you're responding to, but part of me really wants Octopi to be available on F-Droid and open source

[โ€“] SilentRampage34@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

That might be what i switch to for now, but really want a FOSS option so I don't have to worry about doing this again

[โ€“] asudox@lemmy.asudox.dev 23 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Lawnchair is a pretty good FOSS launcher.

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[โ€“] FE80@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Lawnchair runs fine on GrapheneOS.

[โ€“] Fiery@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago

And on pretty much every other android too.

[โ€“] catsarebadpeople@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah it's time. Nova was great but now it's fully enshitified. I went with Niagara. There's a short learning period, less than a week for me to feel comfortable, but I love it. Very simple and clean.

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[โ€“] CreativeCider@feddit.org 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Lawnchair for graphene

[โ€“] dalekirkwood@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Kvaesitso is really nice as well

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[โ€“] Treczoks@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

So basically any advantage over the native launcher is void?

[โ€“] Hakuso@scribe.disroot.org 3 points 1 day ago

I mean, isn't Neo mostly Nova but with things fixed like those "ghost icons" Nova has left broken since the Lollipop update?

[โ€“] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 207 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (33 children)

there have been enough reasons to ditch nova in the past years, in case someone is still using it

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[โ€“] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Where my Smart Launcher crew at? Usually you guys show up when it's time to shit on Nova.

Anyway, if you like the features an ease-of-use of Nova, and you are looking for an alternative, Smart Launcher all day. A played with so many of the other launchers mentioned in this thread before I found SL, and it really feels like the best to me. But that's just like, my opinion, man.

[โ€“] HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What does any of this do? What problem or need is it addressing? I'm honestly so confused by 99% of technology these days, it seems to be nothing more than an electronic pacifier for an entire generation of ADHD addicts.

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[โ€“] Bluefruit@lemmy.world 86 points 2 days ago (7 children)

What a great advertisement for almost any other launcher.

Lawnchair is my go to if anyone wants a pretty simple and customizable launcher that respects your privacy.

[โ€“] standardUser@anarchist.nexus 1 points 8 hours ago

What's been everyone's experiences in customization on it? I keep mine simple of fun background and a calendar and only the app drawer. No second pages

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[โ€“] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Ewwwww....

[โ€“] Curious_Canid@piefed.ca 20 points 2 days ago

You just solved one of my long-standing problems! I've been looking for a launcher that could replace Nova for me, but I hadn't been able to find anything that really did the job. Octopi for the win!

I am in the process of moving over my highly-customized setup now. And I made the larger of the two donations, in support of the app.

Thanks for suggesting it and thanks to the developer who built it!

[โ€“] mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (4 children)

damn i remember the good old days with Nova where everything was so smooth. Evie launcher too. And even we have many problems with them, Microsoft launcher was good in the beginning.

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