Android enthusiasts are notably familiar with the Nova Launcher. It offers high-quality customization, home screen replacements, and app drawers for Android users. Unfortunately, Branch Metrics, its parent company, laid off team members. This news has left many Nova users uncertain about the future of the Nova launcher.
The layoffs were confirmed by former Nova Launcher team members, Rob Wainwright and Cliff Wade on X (formerly Twitter) and Discord, respectively. According to their messages, the branch is laying off hundreds of employees, including the Nova Launcher team. “The app previously had dozens of members to make the performance worthwhile”, said Rob.
The branch laid off many team members except the founder and original developer, Kevin Barry. Kevin Barry’s response in reflecting on laid-off news, “The original Nova team, for many years, was just me.” That’s a big change from multiple team members to just one full-time developer.
Additionally, Kevin Barry said that he will continue to control the direction and development of Nova Launcher. While he is disappointed to lose such a hardworking team, he continues to work on Nova 8.1 launches. But he recently posted that he will “cut scope” of the major versions that were initially planned.
“Development will undoubtedly slow with less people working on the app, but the current plan is for updates to continue in some form,” said Rob Wainwright, one of the former developers.
Regrettably, there is no longer customer support and PR, hence it is a one-man show now. After all, it’s too early to announce what’s going on with Nova Launcher before any official statement.
