There's an update rolling out today for Nova Launcher, and it's a big one. There's some Android 8.1 flair in this version, plus you can have more fun with adaptive icons. As usual, all the new features are optional and highly customizable. That's why you use Nova, right?

Here's the changelog for Nova Launcher v5.5.

  • Adaptive icons for Android 5.0+
  • Intelligently reshape legacy icons to adaptive
  • Android 8.1 style popup menu (Look Feel - Popup menu - Block)
  • Searchbar in dock
  • Replace searchbar in dock with any widget (Long-press - Replace)
  • Optimizations and bug fixes

The bottom search bar that debuted with the Pixel 2 is now supported in Nova, but you can swap that out for a different widget if you like. That's a nice touch. There's also Android 8.1 styling for the popup menu.

Adaptive icons are a cool feature in Android, but not all devices and apps support them. In the latest Nova, adaptive icon support goes all the way back to Lollipop. Apps that don't have adaptive icons will also be reshaped to adaptive. If that works well, it could be very handy to avoid inconsistent icons.

The new app is rolling out in the Play Store, and we've got it on APK Mirror.

Nova Launcher Developer: Nova Launcher
Price: Free
4.4
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