Nova Launcher and Sesame Search have been acquired by Branch, an analytics company

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

The popular home screen app for Android devices, Nova Launcher has been acquired by Branch Metrics, a company that specializes in analytics. Sesame Shortcuts, which supported integration with the launcher app, has also been acquired.

While this may be good for funding the development of both apps, there could be some downsides to it.

... what would an analytics company want with the app? TeslaCoil Software has promised that the core user experience including the user's privacy will remain the same, and any changes made to the app will be optional. You can't expect a company to just acquire an app's rights, and let it continue in its existing state, would you? What's the point of it, if they don't get anything out of it?

The Play Store listing for Nova Launcher says that it has had over 50 million downloads. Even if just 10% of those users are actively using it, I think it's safe to say that Nova Launcher boasts a very large user base. That means, Branch, could potentially benefit from this as well, right? This is virtually a gold mine for telemetry.

An announcement made on Nova's website sheds some more light about the acquisition.

Nova Launcher and Sesame Search have been acquired by Branch - gHacks Tech News

Nova Launcher has been acquired by an analytics company called Branch Metrics Inc. What does this mean for the future of the Android app?

www.ghacks.net

 

[Sammo]

Been using it since it first launched. Now I'm concerned about it's privacy.

 

[show-Zi]

There was a time when we considered NovaLauncher as an option to customize Android's home UI. At the time, Android versions were 3 and 4. I ended up buying a creative launcher called Lightning.

I remember having to give important authority to the launcher. I'm a little worried about the acquisition.
.....Currently, I am using Microsoft's launcher.

 

[SeriousHoax]

I've been using Nova paid version for many years. I want to set up my homepage in a particular way, which so far seems to be only possible to do with Nova Launcher. Now I'm worried about its future as well.

 

[mlnevese]

I think this situation is similar to security software. We don't actually know what any security software is tracking and sharing, we just trust they are not doing anything nasty with our data. We have no idea what Nova transmits now and how they profit from the free version. As far as we know, the new owner doesn't have to change anything to profit from it.

 

[Sammo]

I'm now using Smart Launcher 6 paid version. Really nice alternative to Nova. Very configurable.

 

[Sammo]

Currently testing Nova beta 8.0.2. So far, so good. Smooth and lite weight. Link to beta: Nova Launcher