{"id":261687,"date":"2025-10-30T23:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T23:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/261687\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T23:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T23:08:10","slug":"nova-launcher-gets-surprise-update-after-last-months-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/261687\/","title":{"rendered":"Nova Launcher gets surprise update after last month&#8217;s shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"e_Yg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  title=\"Nova Launcher Play Store\"  alt=\"Nova Launcher Play Store\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Nova-Launcher-Play-Store-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Damien Wilde \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<p>Nova Launcher appeared to have shut down for good last month when its founder, Kevin Barry, left its parent company Branch Metrics.<br \/>\nThe launcher received a rare update on the Google Play Store today, its first since May 2024.<br \/>\nThe update includes new features and improved compatibility with newer Android versions, but its former developers say it\u2019s over a year old.<\/p>\n<p>Nova Launcher, the popular alternative Android launcher that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/nova-launcher-shutdown-3595611\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">appeared to shut down last month<\/a>, is getting an unexpected update. The launcher was sold to analytics firm Branch Metrics in 2022, but by 2024, the company underwent mass developer layoffs. Only Nova Launcher\u2019s founder, Kevin Barry, remained working on the launcher until September 2025, when he too left Branch. Now, there\u2019s a glimmer of hope Nova Launcher might not be completely dead yet.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/nova-launcher-885296\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nova Launcher<\/a> users spotted an unexpected version 8.1.3 update roll out on the Google Play Store beta channel, according to a post on Reddit\u2019s Nova Launcher sub from user <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/NovaLauncher\/comments\/1ok7y58\/update\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">colinaspinall<\/a>. As of now, the latest update hasn\u2019t appeared through the stable release channel, or <a href=\"https:\/\/novalauncher.com\/beta\/long\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Nova Launcher\u2019s official beta website<\/a>. While the update is a sign someone at Branch is paying attention to Nova, former developer Rob Wainwright took to Discord to provide additional context.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_Yg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"Nova Update Discord\"  alt=\"A description of the Nova Launcher update on Discord.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Nova-Update-Discord.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlease be aware that \u2026 nobody in the original Nova Launcher team works at Branch Metrics anymore,\u201d Wainwright wrote in the Discord post. \u201cWhile the majority of the changes in this update were built by the original team over a year ago, we can\u2019t make any promises regarding data collection or analytics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andauth.co\/AAGooglePreferredSource\" class=\"e_ym\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"e_Yg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_Yg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That statement seems to quell any hope for a Nova Launcher revival, as the 8.1.3 update rolling out today is actually over a year old, according to the former team. The update does include new features and updated compatibility with the latest Android versions, per the Google Play Store release notes. However, it still may be one of Nova Launcher\u2019s final official releases.<\/p>\n<p>Nova Launcher 8.1.3 also adds color customization to Nova Now, plus a permission prompt card that appears when users open Nova Now for the first time. Search history for web suggestions can now be saved and searched in the launcher, though this feature can be disabled. Additionally, Cards have been updated with a redesigned Media Card, a new Weather Card, an updated Calendar Card, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Following the update, Nova Launcher supports updated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/nova-launcher-885296\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spotify<\/a> integration, though the release notes don\u2019t include specifics.<\/p>\n<p>Reddit users note that the Nova Launcher 8.1.3 update isn\u2019t immediately appearing for everyone, even those enrolled in Google Play Store beta updates. The APK hasn\u2019t been uploaded to Nova Launcher\u2019s site for manual sideloading yet. \u201cWe\u2019re unsure if those in charge of the website know they are supposed to publish APKs on there,\u201d Wainwright added in the Discord post.<\/p>\n<p>This update comes as a surprise considering Nova Launcher was believed to have shut down for good last month. With that being said, based on the comments from former Nova Launcher developers, it\u2019s unlikely the fate of the fan-favorite launcher has changed.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damien Wilde \/ Android Authority TL;DR Nova Launcher appeared to have shut down for good last month when&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[4329,1163,165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-261687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-android","9":"tag-android-launchers","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}