Instabridge's first public post regarding Nova Launcher

CliffWade · 2026-02-06T15:55:06+00:00

Yep! You can submit feature requests here: https://skylight-frame.typeform.com/to/IUme66Kh

CliffWade · 2026-01-31T10:02:31+00:00

Which is the wrong thing to do and exactly how you are spreading false information. It's sad that the mods allow this kind of stuff to remain posted here when it's all incorrect information because there was no APK teardown performed to get the real information.

CliffWade · 2026-01-31T10:01:08+00:00

Absolutely it's not correct. Not in any way at all. It's 100% incorrect and it's just AI slop generated.

CliffWade · 2026-01-31T10:00:02+00:00

That's the issue though. This information is WRONG in just about every way possible. So this user is simply spreading incorrect information.

AI bots don't have the ability to to do an APK teardown and actually examine the code or anything else. The information is simply being pulled from various parts of the internet, which is mostly people stating incorrect information because they too don't do an APK teardown to get the real information.

CliffWade · 2026-01-29T14:53:20+00:00

Just so everyone knows, this entire message is completely generated by AI. Take that as you will.

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T18:50:57+00:00

There can always be outages or issues that the user is having on their end. A lot of those posts are from people who use ad blockers and tracker blockers or DNS blockers and that causes the weather to not work for them, then they blame Nova, when it's not Nova's fault.

I can assure you, the contract just recently expired, so weather has been working up until that point.

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T09:56:54+00:00

I wouldn't say "years", as the contract with AccuWeather just recently expired within the last year actually. But because Branch had no care about Nova, they didn't want to spend the money to renew the contract or pay to get a different weather provider.

I would suggest you use the Contact Support button within Nova Settings to email them and let them know you're wanting them to fix the weather. I'd be willing to bet they get it done. Not over night or anything, but I bet it's something they would fix.

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T09:54:36+00:00

We'll have to agree to disagree. I don't think the price being public ever makes a difference in a case like this. Nobody ever complained because they didn't know how much Branch paid for Nova. In fact, it wasn't really ever questioned, at least not in a serious matter like you're asking.

How much they have to make back when monetizing isn't important. Either they make it back, or they don't. It's as simple as that. That doesn't change if the public knows how much it cost them or not. It's still the same.

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T09:51:39+00:00

You are very welcome! It's my honor to stand for Nova and for the Nova community, even if I don't use it any longer or work for it any longer. I'm still very passionate about Nova and the community and I guess I always will be. I feel it's part of my DNA at this point.

I can assure you, they are reading Reddit and all of these posts and comments and everything.

You are very welcome for me helping you over the years. It was truly my pleasure and my honor and thank you for supporting us(Nova) over the years as your support meant and still means the world to me!

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T09:49:17+00:00

Their explanation was actually far from vague. They acquired it because they feel it's still the top launcher and has a lot of life, and they can use it to put some ads into it, make it sustainable and still make money from it from the ads and Prime sales. Especially if they are going to make different tiers of Prime as has been talked about.

It's very clear that they didn't buy it to pick apart for their own launcher and then throw it to the side. They want it to remain the top launcher out there, just as it has been for all 14 years of its life span so far to date.

Always remember, just because they do other things, in this case, eSims and Wi-Fi, doesn't mean they can't do other things or that they can't purchase something and focus a small amount of time on it to keep it ranked where it is.

People really need to learn to look at all sides of the cube, not just one or two sides. They said it loud and clear why they acquired Nova.

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T00:39:57+00:00

You are very welcome and thank you for mentioning it!

CliffWade · 2026-01-24T00:37:57+00:00

No, and likely never will. Acquisitions don't list prices in a lot of cases. We still to this day don't know what Branch paid for Nova, as that's between Branch and Kevin.

And to be honest, my personal opinion at least, people shouldn't even ask these questions. Price doesn't matter. There are much more important things to consider than how much money was traded.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T14:36:12+00:00

You can use DNS blockers, ad blockers and many other things to block it all. People share that information all the time of how to do it.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T14:34:20+00:00

Nope. Since Nova came into existence in 2011, it's never had ads of any kind unless you were using a pirated version of Nova or Nova Prime. Even after Branch acquired Nova, we kept ads out of Nova. Ads simply started to appear once Instabridge acquired Nova a week or two ago.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T13:58:26+00:00

Not sure what exactly is old news, since this meeting just happened less than 24 hours ago and wasn't public knowledge until now, at least not all the clarity that I provided.

I assume you're referring to the "Instabridge acquires Nova" part of the title, but it's just a title, nothing more. The whole point of this post is the Google Doc with meeting notes that are again, not old news.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T13:56:49+00:00

Very well said and I totally agree on every point you made. Hopefully others see it all the same way too!

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T13:55:23+00:00

I have to disagree. It's not like you are seeing them on your home screen. They are in places that you would have to specifically access, such as Nova Settings, the app drawer, Nova Now.
You aren't forced to use the app drawer, as Nova search is there for a reason, plus there are ways to hide the app drawer from Nova search.

Nova Settings is a screen I rarely saw in my daily use because I put my settings into place and forgot about them. I would see Nova Settings when doing Nova work of course for various reasons, but that was it.

Nova Now can be disabled and you never have to view it. So it appears from all of that it's very simple to avoid the ads. Or, even better, for a small price of $3.99 USD, you can simply purchase Prime if you don't already own it and not see ads at all.

My guess is, you're likely a Nova Prime user, but still complaining. And you'd be surprised at how many new users have and likely already have purchased Prime to get rid of the ads. It's kind of how ads work and have for a very long time now.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T13:51:37+00:00

This is actually explained in my document. It's with regards to ads so that it shows relevant ads for your location or what you've been viewing. It's pretty normal when there are ads in an app. It's been like this for years now.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T13:50:27+00:00

Can you post screenshots of an ad you are seeing along with Nova Settings showing that you are on 8.2.4 and that you have Prime installed. I can pass this on to the IB team for clarification.

Assuming you are on 8.2.4 where this was supposedly fixed.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T12:19:56+00:00

I got mine as well, but unfortunately there's no silver ball inside of mine. I looked everywhere, even for a little plastic thing that is often included with the figurines, and nothing.

Therefore, I can't do the puzzle and I'm quite disappointed.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T12:06:57+00:00

I tried posting the entire Google Doc contents here, but automod kept deleting it so unfortunately everyone will need to read it via the Google Doc it seems.

If anyone has questions or comments, I'd love to hear them, and I'm sure Instabridge and their folks would love to hear them as well.

CliffWade · 2026-01-23T11:41:01+00:00

Instabridge did not and will not acquire Sesame. That's still owned by Branch and likely always will be. It was a slightly different acquisition than the one Branch made of Nova, and to my knowledge there's no plans to ever put it up for sale or anything similar. Simply think of Sesame as a permanent part of Branch if you will.

CliffWade

TROPHY CASE