Practically everybody engaged on Nova Launcher has been laid off

Practically all the staff engaged on Nova Launcher, one of many greatest names in Android homescreen replacements, has been laid off. The staff is now right down to only one full time developer: Kevin Barry, the launcher’s founder.

Barry mentioned growth will proceed and that he’ll stay accountable for the challenge. However staff members who have been laid off mentioned work on Nova must decelerate, and Barry has already posted that he must “reduce scope” on the subsequent main model of Nova in comparison with what was initially deliberate.

“Growth will undoubtedly sluggish with much less individuals engaged on the app, however the present plan is for updates to proceed in some kind,” Rob Wainwright, one of many laid off builders, wrote within the challenge’s Discord.

Nova has been a standby within the Android Launcher neighborhood for years, providing a extremely customizable twist on the platform’s customary dwelling display choices. The app was acquired by Department, a cellular analytics firm, in July 2022. Department is now shedding greater than 100 individuals throughout all the firm, together with the majority of Nova’s staff, in keeping with Cliff Wade, Nova Launcher’s buyer relations lead. There have been beforehand “round a dozen individuals” engaged on Nova, Wainwright mentioned.

The launcher will proceed to work for anybody who’s already utilizing it. And whereas the launcher has been developed by a staff for a few years now, it was a one-developer-job in the beginning. “The unique Nova staff, for a few years, was simply me,” Barry wrote in a submit at this time, reflecting on the layoffs.