PSA: Nova Launcher is owned by an analytics company

Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca to Android@lemmy.world – 1084 points –
androidpolice.com

Since a few folks seem unaware of this, I'm posting anew for visibility.

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Switched to Niagara Launcher a few years back... it's awesome... clean, fast and actually different (most other launchers are just icon packs)

+1 for Niagara

Installed it yesterday and so far so good. I used Nova for so long I resisted change, but now I'm free. Thank you Lemmy, for showing me the way.

I'm a little worried about Niagara, since they have a sponsored result for every time I've searched for another launcher. Is it a paid launcher? Usually the heavily advertised stuff I see on the play store has all kinds of issues.

I've no idea why it has sponsored search results, but I'm sure that the dev is legit.

It uses a free for most features/pro for extras model, but it's slightly different from the usual which you can read about on their medium blog here.

There's no ads and no tracking/scraping for profit. And it's genuinely different to use than anything else I've seen, but in a very good way. Like all launchers it takes some time and effort to set up but I've found it easy to use straight away.

Try it, you can always uninstall if you don't like it. You can get pro for a seven day free trial but you don't need it to start testing. I used it for a few hours and tried pro and I'm almost certainly going to pay to keep it.

I used Niagara back in the Cyanogen days. I guess it's time to give it another shot. Thanks for the tip. Now, to retrain my old brain.

Retraining keeps the brain young, my friend!

Unless you're retraining to go back to Windows from Linux, then the brain starts farthing incessantly 🤣🤣

I believe they have Google Analytics in their privacy policy. I made the compromise a while ago, it is so good I am willing to concede that.

Same here, I was a big fan of Nova until I discovered Niagara about a year ago. It's a totally different concept from the icon based launchers. I love the minimalist approach to widgets and the self optimizing app list. Tying it in with sesame has led me that product as well and I'm finding the whole solution to be really nice

Awesome.... Now I have to check sesame

Read the linked-to article:

Sesame was aquired with Nova Launcher.

They're both part of the analytics-tentacles company, now.

I like Niagara but it's insanely expensive, especially as a subscription. I don't know how people justify it.

Edit: The above was based on me getting duped by a Play Store sponsored search result and installing some crap that charges £70 for a lifetime licence. In comparison Niagara feels like much better value, but it's still expensive compared to most apps and I still don't like subscribing to software in general.

I looked at the paid features and none of them look useful to me so I'm just not going to give them money.

It is 30 bucks for lifetime. I don't think it is that insane. It is well worth it IMO. Also they have a fair policy in prices across the globe.

Gotta hold my hands up and admit that in my initial haste to confirm the price I fell victim to the Play Store putting sponsored results ahead of what you actually searched for and I installed some crap called minimalist launcher, which charges £70 for a lifetime license. That's what my "insane" comment was based on.

In comparison it's nowhere near that bad for Niagara, but it is still pricey compared to most apps, and I balk at paying a subscription for software in general so that still stands.

Might give it another go after all...

Subscription? That sucks.... I bought it outright a bit back, it was pricey, maybe $15 CAD? (Can't remember)

Sorry to hear it has gone up so much... But that does seem to be the way of the app world... Pricey, subscription (even when they cannot possibly justify it) or both!

Simple—just don't pay for the premium tier. Free one is good enough for most.

Lol, here in India it is 100 INR (1.2 USD) yearly. Thank god for regional pricing.

Niagara launcher is worth the time it takes to change your habit. Once you understand it you just can't conceive how people waste their time with normal home screens and organisation. It's just so damn fast to get to where you want to be with Niagara launcher.

What the fuck are you even doing with your phone that this even matters? Are you running multiple Fortune 500 companies from it? solely?

Honestly, your comment reads so much like advertising copy that I half-suspect you're a bot.