Back in July 2022, when mobile app metrics firm Branch acquired the popular and well-regarded Nova Launcher for Android, the app’s site put up one of those self-directed FAQ posts about it. Under the question heading “What does Branch want with Nova?,” Nova founder and creator Kevin Barry started his response with, “Not to mess it up, don’t worry!”
Branch (formerly/sometimes Branch Metrics) is a firm concerned with helping businesses track the links that lead into their apps, whether from SMS, email, marketing, or inside other apps. Nova, with its Sesame Search tool that helped users find and access deeper links—like heading straight to calling a car, rather than just opening a rideshare app—seemed like a reasonable fit.
Barry wrote that he had received a number of acquisition offers over the years, but he didn’t want to be swallowed by a giant corporation, an OEM, or a volatile startup. “Branch is different,” he wrote then, because they wanted to add staff to Nova, keep it available to the public, and mostly leave it alone.
Two years later, Branch has left Nova Launcher a bit too alone. As documented on Nova’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, and transcripts from its Discord, as of Thursday Nova had “gone from a team of around a dozen people” to just Barry, the founder, working alone. The Nova cuts were part of “a massive layoff” of purportedly more than 100 people across all of Branch, according to now-former Nova workers.
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It was my go to launcher for years, but this weekend I decided it was time to see what else there was. I ended up on Niagara Launcher and have been liking it! Took about a day to get used to it- it’s definitely different. There’s not really an app drawer, and as far as I can tell there’s only one home screen and one place for widgets (you can have more than one, but you flip through them). I like how simple it is and how quickly I can get to everything.
I loved Niagara when I used to use it. Just wish the premium version didnt swallow my whole wallet… God damn that price is steep for a launcher…
I feel that! I ended up buying the premium license. I figure if I use it as long as I use Nova, it’ll pay for itself. Also will hopefully help the creator and prevent them from selling it to some advertising firm.
I thought Niagra’s premium was a monthly or yearly subscription.
They must have changed it! There was the option for a monthly subscription as well as a lifetime purchase.
https://help.niagaralauncher.app/article/104-price-of-niagara-pro
I’ll take a look again. Thanks!
I agree. At first I chuckled that the App literally asks you to give it a week with Premium to get used to it. They were right though, once I let go of comparing it to Nova, I got pretty used to making folders and widgets. They have a good product and they earned my money/support for the lifetime price.