there have been enough reasons to ditch nova in the past years, in case someone is still using it

• 2022 acquired by branch metrics, data harvesting company https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/branch-strikes-twice-with-nova-launcher-and-sesame-search-acquisition
• 2024 nearly everyone laid off https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/9/24217077/nova-launcher-layoffs-only-original-developer-remaining
• 2025 original dev left after being told to stop working on the open source efforts https://www.theverge.com/news/773937/nova-launcher-founder-left-kevin-barry-branch-open-source-android
• 2026 fb and google ads tracking https://lemdro.id/post/lemdro.id/35049920
• 2026 (this post) evidences for built-in AI that harvests your data https://www.androidauthority.com/nova-launcher-ai-plus-subscription-apk-teardown-3658932/