I’ve discovered the perfect Nova Launcher substitute and it isn’t even shut

Should you’ve been maintaining with Android information as of late, you will know that the long-lasting Nova Launcher utility is all but dead in the water. After asserting his departure from the app’s open sourcing undertaking again in September of final yr, the unique developer confirmed that present possession not intends on opening up the code to the general public, sparking uncertainty over whether or not extra Nova updates and patches will ever even land going ahead.

Whereas the lack of Nova Launcher is an unlucky improvement throughout the world of Android for quite a lot of causes, the excellent news is that Google’s flagship cellular platform is saturated with competing house display substitute apps of each the mainstream and the more experimental selection.

Personally, I’ve all the time been a fan of the digital minimalism supplied by list-style launchers like Niagara and Olauncher, however there is definitely one thing to be mentioned about Nova’s ‘throw the whole lot together with the kitchen sink’ method to house display administration as properly.

With this in thoughts, I went on a quest to discover a high-quality launcher for my Pixel 10 that might fill the void left by Nova Launcher in all its customization-powered glory. In my analysis, I stumbled throughout one app particularly that, in my eyes, suits the invoice greater than another accessible choice at the moment in the marketplace.

Hyperion Launcher will get the basics proper

Nova Launcher adjoining, however with its personal sense of aptitude

On the floor, Hyperion Launcher resembles most different tried-and-true Android house display options. Slightly than attempt to reinvent the wheel, the app’s interface leans into the standard paradigm of a paginated major house surroundings, icons and widgets organized inside a grid, and an app drawer for entry to all put in software program.

Equally to Nova Launcher, Hyperion goes the additional step by providing numerous customization choices inside its devoted Dwelling settings web page. Colours, iconography, typography, grid measurement, animations, and extra are all extremely tweakable proper from the onset, albeit not fairly to the staggering diploma that made the previous software program bundle so well-known throughout the tech house.

By exercising only a little bit of restraint within the configuration division, nonetheless, Hyperion manages to current its listing of choices in what I contemplate to be a much more user-friendly setup. All the things feels properly organized and deliberate right here, with extremely accessible sliders, toggles, and radial buttons.

Higher but, I discover Hyperion’s full-on embrace of the Material 3 Expressive design language to be an aesthetic step-up when put next side-by-side with Nova Launcher, which itself has adopted some trendy UI parts whereas remaining stale throughout different surfaces.

General, Hyperion Launcher is up there amongst my favourite launcher apps accessible for Android. Alongside the likes of Smart Launcher, Lawnchair, Octopi Launcher, and Kvaesitso, Hyperion looks like a kind of religious successor to Nova, with its embrace of configurability and its Pixel-esque person interface design.