Nova Launcher’s new owner might offer a version with ads

Last year, Nova Launcher founder and sole developer Kevin Barry announced he had left Branch Metrics, Nova's parent company at the time - which followed an announcement from 2024 that nearly everyone working on the project had been laid off. But the launcher is getting new life: in a blog post on Tuesday, the Swedish company Instabridge, which makes an app that helps people connect to Wi-FI hotspots, announced it has acquired Nova Launcher.

"Nova is not shutting down," according to Instabridge.