Tag Archives: Launcher

If you haven’t noticed, our 2025-era Android phones are extremely powerful compared to full desktop PCs from 24 years ago. That means, in theory, you should be able to run something that at least looks like Windows XP without a hitch. Now, a developer has done just that and released it free to the world, and it’s ridiculously good. Following …

Andy Walker / Android Authority Saying that Nova Launcher had a profound impact on the Android we know and love today would be an understatement. The launcher endured over a dozen operating system versions and opened up a universe of customization to users. Not only that, it also made app search and discovery a huge part of its functionality, forcing …

Andy Walker / Android Authority I’ve used almost every major Android launcher in recent years, some for a few days for testing purposes and others for years as the backbone of my smartphone’s home screen. These launchers range from the now-deprecated Nova Launcher to hot new properties like Octopi Launcher. Through it all, I’ve settled on Niagara Launcher thanks to …

While not perfect, the Pixel Launcher is my preferred choice among all the stock launchers from Android OEMs. It packs all the important features I need, including a system-wide search tool. While it is not as customizable as other first-party launchers, Google has been steadily closing that gap with recent Android updates. I certainly miss Nova Launcher’s features, but the …

Nathan Drescher / Android Authority TL;DR The team at Smart Launcher has reached out to Nova users, promising them a new, familiar home. The launcher has some of the same features as Nova, and the team is also working on supporting backup imports from Nova. The Android community is still coming to terms with the loss of Nova Launcher, one of …

Kevin Barry, the founder and original developer of Nova Launcher is stepping away from the forever-loved Android launcher app. Why they are stepping away is an important question and goes back to Nova Launcher’s acquisition by Branch back in 2022. Originally, not much was supposed to change for Nova Launcher. We assumed Branch’s services would get baked into the launcher, …

Damien Wilde / Android Authority TL;DR Nova Launcher, one of Android’s best customization tools, is shutting down for good. Founder Kevin Barry made the announcement over the weekend, confirming that he’s leaving the company that owns Nova and that the launcher won’t be released as an open-source project. Android fans are heartbroken about Nova’s shutdown, calling it a “legendary” app …

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) are now available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC as standalone downloads after having officially been separated from the Call of Duty HQ launcher. The two legacy COD titles can now be downloaded without having the COD HQ launcher installed. However, legacy content from MW2 and …

If you’re the sort of player that jumps into the yearly Call of Duty experience, there’s probably one thing that’s stuck with you more than anything else: that obscene download size. At the time of writing, the catch-all Call of Duty app (often referred to as Call of Duty HQ) via Xbox wants me to free up 381.19GB of space …

Conor McGregor is proud of his Dublin pub for standing tall. On Friday, several Irish news sites, including Irish Independent, reported that McGregor’s Black Forge Inn had been damaged by a small fire, with gardaí investigating whether the property was the target of criminal activity. No injuries were reported and the damage appeared to be minimal, much to the delight …