Nova Launcher appeared to be nearing the end of its road late last year, but recent developments suggest the app will continue, albeit in a more restrained form. In September 2025, the launcher’s founder and sole remaining developer, Barry Schwartz, stepped away from the project. Given Nova’s already slowed pace of updates, his departure was widely interpreted as a signal that the app’s long-running role in the Android ecosystem was effectively over.
Nova’s uncertainty was rooted in changes that began years earlier. The app was acquired in 2022 by Branch, an analytics-focused company. After the acquisition, active development gradually tapered off, and most of the team working on Nova was laid off, leaving Barry as the only person maintaining the codebase. When he exited, Nova’s future seemed largely sealed.
That outlook has shifted following a new acquisition. Swedish company Instabridge, which describes its mission as building tools that help people get online, has taken ownership of Nova Launcher. According to Instabridge, its immediate priority is not to reinvent the app but to keep it operational and compatible with current and future versions of Android. The company has framed its role as custodial rather than transformational, emphasizing stability, bug fixes, and performance over ambitious feature development.
Instabridge has been explicit about taking a maintenance-first approach. Rather than pushing frequent updates or headline features, the company says it will focus on reliability and responsiveness, addressing reported issues and ensuring that Nova continues to function properly on modern devices. For long-time users, this signals continuity rather than growth, with customization options preserved but not significantly expanded.
However, the acquisition also raises questions about how Nova will be sustained financially. Instabridge has acknowledged that it is exploring new business models to support ongoing development. That exploration could result in ads appearing in the free version of Nova Launcher, as well as the introduction of higher-priced tiers. While no final decisions have been announced, the company has not ruled out these possibilities.
Nova Prime, the paid version of the launcher, is expected to remain ad-free. Instabridge has reduced its price to $3.99 and stated that existing Prime licenses will continue to be honored. At the same time, it has avoided committing to feature parity or exclusive updates for Prime users, leaving open the question of how differentiated the paid tier will be going forward.
Concerns about monetization have been amplified by reports that Facebook and Google Ads tracking have already been added quietly to the app, suggesting that advertising support is being prepared behind the scenes. While this does not guarantee that ads will appear immediately, it reinforces the likelihood of changes that could alter Nova’s long-standing appeal as a clean, minimally intrusive launcher.
For users who have relied on Nova Launcher for years, the situation is mixed. The app is no longer facing immediate shutdown, which provides short-term reassurance. At the same time, that stability may come with trade-offs, either through advertising, new pricing structures, or reduced innovation. Nova may live on, but its next chapter looks more focused on survival than on shaping the future of Android customization.
