Nova Launcher acquired by mobile links and analytics company Branch

Hello Nova Community, I'm Kevin Barry, the creator of Nova Launcher. I've made, make and will continue to make Nova Launcher. Today I'm announcing that Branch has acquired Nova Launcher, and hired myself and Cliff Wade (Nova Community Manager). Branch has also acquired Sesame Search and hired the Sesame Crew (Steve Blackwell and Phil Wall). I'll continue to control the direction and development of Nova Launcher, and that direction is unchanged. Nova focuses on power users and customization. I will be adding some features powered by Branch, they'll be optional like most features in Nova.

This is a tough pill to swallow. I've been a dedicated Nova user since... I honestly can't even remember, and to me, Nova equals Android, and it's always been clear Nova thoroughly and truly understood what demanding Android users were looking for. I have really never used any other launcher, and it's the first application I install on all my Android devices. Seeing this vital application bought up by a mobile analytics form of all things is gut-wrenching.

Several decades covering this industry have taught me that acquisitions like this pretty much exclusively mean doom, and usually signal a slow but steady decline in quality and corresponding increase in user-hostile features. I'm always open to being proven wrong, but I don't have a lot of hope.

In any event, I guess it's time to find another launcher.