Well, the weird thing is they haven't actually done anything to the app yet. Looks like they're just focusing on the next major release. The version that has been available in the store for the last 2 years hasn't been fucked with.
I mean if you install apps from commercial stores then this is the norm. If its not explicitly proven to be tracking and analytics free, then its usually not.
There's a system over at Nova Discord where we reply to polls about the new features, we're basically guinea pigs trying out stuff Branch is going to push out via their deals with OEMs. That's how I've understood it.
There is no bytes being sent out with the beta, and replying in Discord is voluntary, obviously.
I had analytics turned on (new phone and didn't check it before), and the app info only shows 76 kB have been transferred in the past 30 days. Seems pretty reasonable, but I disabled it anyways out of principal.
For context Nova Prime has over 5+ million paying users, and it's $6 when I check the Play Store.
The dev was just a single guy, who later hired someone to help with support and artwork. But if $30 million in revenue wasn't good enough, I'm not sure what else you could expect.
It was unfortunate, but not unexpected. Neo Launcher is a decent alternative, though it's not quite on par with Nova, and their development has been very slow the last year. Benefit of GrapheneOS, I can just disable Nova's network access, so I don't really have to compromise here thankfully.
Not yet. Nova Launcher 8 is the problem version and it's still in beta. If you're still using version 7, particularly 7.0.57, then it's the version from before the buyout and it's clean. It's suspected they turned some analytics on with 7.0.58, but even that still looks clean to me. That is the only update they've pushed since the buyout.
My guess is they didn't want to fuck with the current version, they just wanted to devote their focus to getting all the tracking shit into the upcoming major release.
If you disable auto updates now, you'll probably be fine until it stops working
I quite like Neo/Omega launcher, it's probably the best FOSS launcher I've found.
their development has been very slow the last year
This is the painful part. There are regressions that have been introduced which have sat their for years, and I've got no idea if they'll ever be fixed. But such is the open source way, they owe me nothing and are still providing a generally good experience for free!
Switched to Niagara after Nova was bought off, but lately using the KISS launcher which does the job similar to Niagara when configured, and it's FOSS.
On graphene, don't feel like switching launchers again - just disabled all network access for nova launcher and its supporting apps... Thanks for the heads up!
I second this. I've been using KISS exclusively for years and I love its workflow. My homescreen is totally clean except the quick-launch bar, and I can find all my apps within seconds instead of having to swipe through a sea of pages or folders of icons.
I'm actively trying the launcher as an alternative to Nova (I was still on Version 7, so might as well start jumping ship before things happen). I got very used to widgets on other launchers, so this is nice if you like that "clean" look and actually remember what your apps are named. I'm bad at both of those ideas. Good launcher otherwise.
I love testing out weird stuff! I was using Pielauncher before, then worked out this one gives me a clean home screen and swipe gestures!
I've been using it a few years now. I use Muzei and the NASA APOD plugin to get the astronomy picture of the day as my background, then have swipe actions for commonly used apps, favourites for the less commonly used apps that I still want an icon on the home screen, then I have the app list show with commonly used apps when I tap the search field.
It's also a great talking point when people see me use it, because most people don't realise you can change how this core part of your phone works with a couple of taps.
When this acquisition first happened, I went hunting for a replacement and found one on Fdroid called OpenLauncher which felt very similar to Nova in terms of features. Unfortunately it appears to not be updated for the latest versions of Android, but might still be worth looking into
Could be forked, could have a PR, could be that it works fine in newer versions but the author hasn't updated the repo for Fdroid to reflect which versions it works on.
I have no idea if any of those are the case, but that's what I mean when I say it's worth looking into.