Nova Launcher is finished: the founder and sole developer of the popular application has left the project

Kevin Barry, the founder and lead developer of the popular Android launcher Nova Launcher, has officially stopped participating in its development, Android Police reports.

According to him, he has been working for the past year on preparing to open source the application and cleaning up its code base, but Branch, the company that owns the project, asked him to complete all work related to Nova Launcher.

In 2024, Branch made a major staff cut, leaving only Barry on the Nova Launcher team. Before that, 12 people worked on the application. Branch CEO Alex Austin at the time stated that if Barry left the company, the Nova Launcher code would be open sourced. However, after his dismissal, it is not known whether these plans will be implemented.

At the time of publication, the company had not announced any plans to update the app. While the current version of Nova Launcher continues to work, compatibility issues with new versions of Android may arise over time.

Users are advised to consider alternative launchers, as further development of Nova Launcher without the participation of the main developer remains unlikely.