Nova Launcher: An update

January 20 2026

Hi everyone. We want to share a clear update directly with the Nova community.

Instabridge has acquired Nova Launcher. We are a Swedish company building products that help people get online, used by millions of people worldwide.

What this means right now

Nova is not shutting down. Our immediate focus is simple: keep Nova stable, compatible with modern Android, and actively maintained.

We also know many of you have lived through a long period of uncertainty. Nova has a strong identity and a community that still cares deeply. We take that seriously.

How we will approach stewardship

Our job is not to reinvent Nova overnight. Our job is to be responsible owners.

That means:

• Keeping performance and customization at the core
• Fixing bugs and keeping pace with Android changes
• Listening carefully before making big product decisions

We will be reading and collecting feedback from Reddit, Play Store reviews, email, and other community channels. We will not be able to respond to every post, but we will be paying attention. For support related issues, we will share a clear contact channel shortly.

FAQ

Why acquire Nova Launcher?

We have long admired what Nova represents: speed, customization, and user control. When we saw how much the community still cares, it was clear to us that Nova deserved a stable future with active maintenance.

Will Nova still feel like Nova?

Yes. Nova’s identity is the point. Performance, flexibility, and user control stay at the center of the product. Any future changes will be evaluated through that lens.

Are you going to add ads?

Nova needs a sustainable business model to support ongoing development and maintenance. We are exploring different options, including paid tiers and other approaches. As many of you have already anticipated, we are also evaluating ad based options for the free version.

If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.

Is the goal just to keep Nova alive?

No. Sustainability is not just about survival. A healthy business model allows us to invest properly in Nova over time.

That investment enables deeper work on performance, more powerful customization, better long term compatibility with Android, and thoughtful features that require real engineering effort. Our ambition is for Nova to remain a launcher that power users choose because it continues to do things exceptionally well and evolves with the platform.

We will move deliberately and prioritize quality over rushing features out the door.

What about existing Nova Prime users?

We respect everyone who has supported Nova over the years. We intend to honor existing Prime purchases, and Prime features will continue working for existing Prime users. Nova Prime will also remain ad free.

What about the price of Nova Prime?

Some of you noticed that the price of Nova Prime increased shortly before the app was transferred to our account. We have now changed it to 3.99 USD, effective immediately, and we apologize for the timing and the confusion it caused.

As we explore a sustainable long term model, we may evaluate other pricing options or tiers. If we do, we will aim to keep it fair and communicate clearly ahead of time.

Will Nova become open source?

We know this matters to many of you. It is something we are actively evaluating. Open sourcing a product responsibly involves licensing, security, build tooling, contribution workflow, and trademark stewardship. We do not have a decision to share yet, but we will be transparent once we do.

What about privacy?

We will keep data collection minimal and purpose driven, and we will be clear about what is collected and why. We do not sell personal data.

Closing

We are here for the long term. Trust is earned through consistent maintenance and clear communication, not big promises. We will take this step by step.