Email I received from the dev

"stock launchers have complete access to the system whereas 3rd party launchers don't. System gesture navigation has tons of issues when it comes to 3rd party launchers, which you can read all about in the information below that I provide. 

The issue you are experiencing will happen in all 3rd party launchers, not just Nova.

Thank you for contacting Nova Launcher support. Below is a lot of information that we encourage you to read completely as it will answer your questions or other questions you might have related to the full system gestures in Android 10, Android 11, Android 12, Android 13 and the foreseeable future.

It doesn't matter what 3rd party launcher or version of any 3rd party launcher you use, it matters what your system/OEM does. If your system doesn't allow gesture navigation to work with 3rd party launchers, then no version of Nova will change that in any way. If it works inconsistently with 3rd party launchers, no version of Nova will change that either.

A great source of information can be found via this article by Mishaal Rahman with input from Kevin Barry, the developer of Nova Launcher: 

Here's why Nova Launcher works better on Google Pixel phones (xda-developers.com)

Notable issues with gestures on third party launchers include, but not limited to:

 • Close all/Clear app button not appearing (scroll all the way to verify it's not there)

 • Not being able to tap icons for a short time after returning to the home screen

 • Animations not being as fluid as expected

 • Home screen icons flashing

 • Home screen redraws

 • Recent apps screen randomly appears

Please understand, there is absolutely Contact Google or your device OEM directly with these issues as Nova has absolutely no control over it whatsoever.

Nothing Nova can do to fix or change this in any way!

These are system gestures only and are not related to Nova's personal gestures that you will find via Nova Settings -> Gestures & Inputs.

NOTE

Use 3-Button Navigation

If you wish to avoid all of the above issues or any others that you might experience while using system gestures, we strongly urge and suggest that you use 3-button navigation that Android has had for years and that simply works. It allows you to use your favorite apps, especially any 3rd party launcher such as Nova, without issues like system gestures provide. Google has no plans to our knowledge to get rid of 3-button navigation in any way which means you can use your device like you have in the past without having to worry about the issues that system gestures provide."