My S26 Ultra will be the first new phone that will not run Nova Launcher

[bembol]

IMO not only it was the best but it was the reason what made me love android even more.

I received my Samsung S26 Ultra on Thursday and up to now I still haven't opened it but I also realized that this will be the first time in 15 years, I will not be running it.

 

[clownin72]

That's just crazy talk lol. I've been using Nova for almost that long and installed my backup as soon as I could. I've tried a few times before to just stick with stock but just miss too many small features that nova offers.

 

[SyCoREAPER]

OK? You got an S26U, haven't opened it which = no more Nova?

There's a piece to the story you left out.

 

[PsychDoc]

IMO not only it was the best but it was the reason what made me love android even more.

I received my Samsung S26 Ultra on Thursday and up to now I still haven't opened it but I also realized that this will be the first time in 15 years, I will not be running it.

Might I ask why you made this decision?

I love Samsung phones but the first thing I do is install Nova Prime as my launcher and this is something I plan on doing when I get the S26U. I love the flexibility and options it allows. What has changed your mind?

 

[SyCoREAPER]

You're online but haven't responded.

Sir and/or Madam, have you fallen and need medical assistance?

 

[Talderon]

If you are looking for an alternative, try out Octopi Launcher: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.otp.octopilauncher

 

[bembol]

Might I ask why you made this decision?

I love Samsung phones but the first thing I do is install Nova Prime as my launcher and this is something I plan on doing when I get the S26U. I love the flexibility and options it allows. What has changed your mind?

When I learned what happened and watched several videos on it. All said to move on, it's dead. Time to uninstall it.

I read the replies and now I'm wondering myself why. It still works.

I guess I'm not fully understanding what's going on. Oops. LOL

I love Niagara Launcher. I changed all my phones.

 

[doxidad]

Actually just installed Nova 8.4.5 Beta on my S25+ and TAB S9.

 

[KupKrazy]

I'm not the OP but I was a Nova Prime user for years, copying my settings from one phone to the next but I finally gave up on it back with the S24 after so many years of swearing by it. For me, it just became a bit buggy and certain things never got fixed despite the author acknowledging it on Discord. To be honest, the author also had this thing against foldables, kept saying it was a gimmick and never considered make two home screens. After it got sold, I feel like the care of the product has been getting worse. But this was a few yrs back. Things may have changed?

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

I'm not the OP but I was a Nova Prime user for years, copying my settings from one phone to the next but I finally gave up on it back with the S24 after so many years of swearing by it. For me, it just became a bit buggy and certain things never got fixed despite the author acknowledging it on Discord. To be honest, the author also had this thing against foldables, kept saying it was a gimmick and never considered make two home screens. After it got sold, I feel like the care of the product has been getting worse. But this was a few yrs back. Things may have changed?

When they wouldn't support folding phones I started not using Nova. I use a ultra and fold and I wanted to have OS on both phones.

 

[Talderon]

Just FYI, Nova was sold again last month (source: https://www.androidauthority.com/nova-launcher-acquisition-ads-update-3633871/) and it looks like it's getting ads and other junk.

One big issue that I have is that it does not support Foldable phones without a lot of external work. The fact that the original dev was so against supporting foldable devices really did it in for me (even though I didn't own a foldable at the time, but I have had other before the Fold 7).

When Branch acquired Nova back in Sept, I knew it was the end. Branch was more focused on collecting user data and selling that then keeping up with the product and roadmap. Now, with Instabridge getting ahold of it, it looks like things are just going to get worse.

I searched for a new launcher for a while and just settled with OneUI for a while. I was never really happy with it.

Along came OctoPi Launcher. It was never touted as a Nova replacement, was more of a passion project to give people what they want. The Dev is VERY active on this project, you can go to their subreddit (r/OctopiLauncher) and see how active he is and willing to put in the work to make this a great launcher for every phone, including foldables.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Just FYI, Nova was sold again last month (source: https://www.androidauthority.com/nova-launcher-acquisition-ads-update-3633871/) and it looks like it's getting ads and other junk.

One big issue that I have is that it does not support Foldable phones without a lot of external work. The fact that the original dev was so against supporting foldable devices really did it in for me (even though I didn't own a foldable at the time, but I have had other before the Fold 7).

When Branch acquired Nova back in Sept, I knew it was the end. Branch was more focused on collecting user data and selling that then keeping up with the product and roadmap. Now, with Instabridge getting ahold of it, it looks like things are just going to get worse.

I searched for a new launcher for a while and just settled with OneUI for a while. I was never really happy with it.

Along came OctoPi Launcher. It was never touted as a Nova replacement, was more of a passion project to give people what they want. The Dev is VERY active on this project, you can go to their subreddit (r/OctopiLauncher) and see how active he is and willing to put in the work to make this a great launcher for every phone, including foldables.

They would have to support the fold for me and even then I like the task manager on bottom when on the inside screen, so they would have to add that feature also.