Summary
- Nova Launcher 8 was finally released on the Play Store after a long beta testing period, bringing dynamic theming support and new features.
- Custom launchers on Android have faced issues with gesture navigation, but Nova Launcher continues to innovate with its latest update.
- Nova 8 features a revamped Settings page, powerful Nova Search integration, Gemini support, Cards in the app drawer, and more exciting changes.
The UI customization scene on Android seems to be well past its heyday because gesture navigation refuses to play nicely with custom launchers now. Nonetheless, the developers of some of our favorite launcher apps continue to persevere, giving us new features with every update. However, it has been a while since Nova Launcher gave users an update through the Play Store. That just changed because version 8 is now available for download.
It’s been five years since Google broke gestures in custom launchers, and they’re still a mess
Recent improvements feel like too little too late
Nova Launcher developers were already chipping away at the version 8 update when the iconic launcher was acquired by analytics company Branch. For nearly two years thereafter, new beta releases were quietly pushed out to a small community of testers on the Nova Launcher Discord server. However, testing ramped up with the beta updates reaching users through the Play Store in the last four months. Now, Nova Launcher 8 has finally been declared production-ready and there are a ton of exciting new features, especially if you have been out of the loop.
Changes across the board
Nova 8 has a long list of changes, but dynamic theming support is arguably the first one you’ll notice. Android 12 allowed system UI components to match your active wallpaper, and now Nova Settings and app icons can use the same color palette as well. Speaking of the Settings page, it has been completely overhauled as well.
Nova Search is now even more powerful, thanks to Branch-powered integrations integration, which allow accessing specific app shortcuts right from search, or forwarding your query to DuckDuckGo or Google. Optionally, Search is also available in the app drawer, complete with all the good bits from Sesame Search. Developers have also been testing Gemini support.
Nova’s app drawer has another new feature called Cards, so you see your media player controls, Maps data, and weather info just underneath the row of suggested frequently used apps. While we have seen all these features in various stages of development and beta testing, Nova 8 is now available on the Play Store for anyone to download, although unlocking some features might need a one-time Nova Launcher Prime purchase.
