How to get started with Nova Launcher
CUSTOMISE THIS THIRD-PARTY LAUNCHER TO MAKE YOUR MOBILE TRULY YOURS.
ONE OF ANDROID’S greatest strengths is the ability to customise just about everything. And while there are plenty of options in most stock setups, using a third-party launcher gives you a wealth of new features. Our personal favourite, third-party launcher is Nova Launcher, so we’ve put together a guide to getting started, as well insight into some of the best features.
NOVA LAUNCHER novalauncher.com
Free (with paid upgrades), Nova Launcher is one of the most popular third-party launchers out there. It’s possible to get a great experience with just the free version, but upgrading to the Prime version for $6 is well worth it for the extra features. For example, Prime enables gestures, icon swiping, app drawer tabs and more. Grab the app from Google Play, or head to the official website. Keep an eye out, too, as Nova Launcher Prime often goes on sale. You can use App Sales ( app-sales.net) to monitor the price (as well as prices of other apps) and notify you when there’s a drop.
GETTING STARTED
After installing the app, open Nova Launcher and follow the prompts. It will ask you to choose from a light or dark overall theme, app drawer style and drawer opening method — we stuck to the defaults — Light, Immersive and Button. The next step is to head into the settings — you should find the shortcut in your app drawer or desktop. Swipe down and tap ‘Backup & import settings > Import’, then select your current launcher — for instance, Google Now Launcher. This will bring your current layout into Nova Launcher, and create a great starting point for further customisation. Under the same menu, you can also make and manage backups of your layout. Frequent backups are a great way to experiment, while also giving you the option to easily switch back to a previous setup if need be.
THE GRID
The Android desktop is based on ‘snap to grid’ positioning, which can restrict layout options. Nova adds some deeper customisation here, though — head to Settings, then ‘Desktop > Desktop grid’. Here, you can choose the sizing of your grid to squeeze as many or as few icons in as suits your needs. Also make sure to select Subgrid Positioning, which allows icons and widgets to be positioned between the grid cells. Under ‘Desktop > Advanced’, there is also a toggle for Widget overlap. This means you can place widgets over or under other icons on the desktop, which can be handy for positioning widgets that include dead space.
A GREAT WAY TO EXPERIMENT, WHILE ALSO GIVING YOU THE OPTION TO EASILY SWITCH BACK TO A PREVIOUS SETUP IF NEED BE.
ICONS
When playing with a new launcher, it’s easy for icons to end up looking like a hot mess. But Nova Launcher makes it easy to change through icon packs. They’re available as both free and paid-for options through Google Play — just search for “Nova Launcher Icon Pack” (we like Whicons — White Icon Pack, personally). Once downloaded, you can set up the icons through the icon pack app itself, or jump into ‘Nova settings > Look & feel > Icon theme’ and select your pack. For those running Android 8.0, adaptive icons can be used to help give a more consistent look and feel. Still in ‘Look & feel’, look for ‘Adaptive icon style’, then choose your shape, and enable reshape legacy icons.
GESTURES
Only available in the paid-for Prime version, gestures are a fantastic way to improve and customise your launcher and Android experience. Head to ‘Nova Settings > Gestures’ and inputs, where you can set what pressing the home button does, as well as configure a range of other gestures. For example, you can set gestures such as swiping up anywhere to open an app or settings, or run a shortcut. Or maybe double tapping opens a search, or turns on your torch. It’s also possible to set individual app icons to perform another task when swiped. Just tap and hold the icon, select Edit, then choose a swipe action.
AN EXAMPLE SETUP
Not sure where to get started? To help, we’ve put together a short hands-on guide to the settings and changes needed for a custom setup using Nova Launcher. We’ve long coveted the look of the Pixel 2, but it’s not available on other devices. Fortunately, it’s easy to replicate in Nova Launcher and a great way to get a feel for the app, even if it’s not the specific look you want. Don’t forget to back up your existing layout first, and save the Pixel 2 look once done so it can be easily restored.
First up, open Nova settings and head to ‘App & widget drawers’, then enable swipe to open and disable the swipe indicator. Next, head to the home screen and drag your apps to just above the dock, then tap and hold each icon, select Icon options (the pencil) and delete the names. Next, tap and hold the ‘all apps’ button in the middle of the dock, and select Remove. Then press and hold on the Google search bar, select Edit and change to the rounded style and the colourful G logo, then drag it down into the empty dock. Press and hold the bar and select resize if it needs to be longer, and if you don’t have a Google search bar, press and hold on the home screen and select it from the widgets. Next, head to Desktop in Settings and change the page indicator to None, and height padding to Medium. Finally, still in settings, go to ‘Dock > Advanced’ and enable ‘Dock as overlay’, then change dock height padding to None, and width padding to Medium. Voila! you have a launcher that looks and feels very similar to the Pixel 2, including the funky low-down search bar. You can still swipe side to side through your home screens, and touch and pull up on the search bar to access the full apps list.
WHAT NEXT?
We’ve covered the basics in this guide, but there are loads of helpful online guides for Nova Launcher. If in doubt, just Google your issue. There is a great Nova Launcher community on Reddit as well, at: