News: 0180634582

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Nova Launcher Gets a New Owner and Ads (androidauthority.com)

(Wednesday January 21, 2026 @05:40PM (BeauHD) from the free-but-with-ads dept.)


Nova Launcher has been acquired by Instabridge, which says it will keep the app maintained but is [1]evaluating ad-supported options for the free version . Android Authority reports:

> Today, Nova Launcher [2]announced that the Swedish company Instabridge has acquired it from Branch Metrics. Instabridge claims it wants to be a responsible owner of Nova and does not want to reinvent the launcher overnight. However, the launcher still needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and maintenance. To this end, Instabridge is exploring different options, including paid tiers and ad-supported options for the free version. The new owners claim that if ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad-free. However, this is misleading, as ads are already here for some users.

Last year, the founder and original programmer of Nova Launcher [3]left the company , signaling its "death" as he had been the sole developer working on the launcher for the past year.



[1] https://www.androidauthority.com/nova-launcher-acquisition-ads-update-3633871/

[2] https://novalauncher.com/nova-is-here-to-stay

[3] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/09/08/2050202/nova-launchers-founder-and-sole-developer-has-left



algorithm, n.:
Trendy dance for hip programmers.