The founder of Nova Launcher and the only developer left

After almost every person worked on the Nova launcher, one of the most well -known names in Android Launchers, it was demobilized last yearThe founder Kevin Barry, the remaining Nova developer, said, At the end of this week He left the mother company to Nova after he was asked to stop working on the operator and an effort to open the source. Nova Launcher Currently show Error 404, although the operator is still Available on Google Play.

Mobile Analytics Branch Metrics acquired Nova in 2022. The company’s CEO at the time, co -founder Alex Austin, He said on that If Barry is leaving a branch, “The code was contracted to be open and placed in the hands of society.” Austin left a branch in 2023, and now with Barry officially went from the company, too, it is not clear whether the operator will now be open.

Barry refused to comment on freedom. We have contacted a branch to comment.

“I think the latest leadership since Alex Austin has made a different focus on the company, and Nova is simply not part of this focus at all,” Kelev Wad told the leadership of the former Nova customers who left as part of the operating workers 2024, freedom. “It is just an application they own, but they no longer feel that they need or want.”

“I do not think that a branch will do the right thing any time soon regarding NOVA open source. I think they simply do not care and do not want to invest time, unless they of course get enough pressure from society and individuals who care.” Users began The petition To ask the project be open, Wadi says it is a “great start” to apply this pressure. Wadi said that he did not personally see Barry’s contract, so he could not confirm the demand for a contract commitment to open the source of Nova.

However, he said that society “deserves” the operator is open. “The branch simply needs to do the right thing here and honor what it mentioned as a company, as well as what the CEO Alex Austin said several times before leaving it.”

Additional reports by Dominic Preston.