The latest beta update to version 8.0.7 makes Nova Search even better, with Branch adding new API integrations for Slack Discord, Dropbox, OneDrive, and GitHub. With these additions, you can directly look up your Discord friend’s ID to slide into a chat with them, or a filename you need from Dropbox. You can toggle all these Branch integrations in Nova Settings → Integrations. You may have to sign in to your Slack workspace or Spotify account when you set up these integrations.
New cards for the app drawer
This beta update is the first one since July this year, but it makes the wait worthwhile with the addition of widget-like cards in the app drawer. Choices are limited, but you can choose between cards for media controls, Map locations, and weather information. You can turn these cards on or off under Nova Settings → Cards. The Weather card is self-descriptive — It pulls your approximate location using GPS and alerts you about changing weather, or about your local conditions at a predefined time of the day. You can configure a schedule for the Maps card to show up as well. It will show you a predefined location which you set up in Nova Settings and give you options to navigate there using various modes of transport.
The music card, on the other hand, can show up with a schedule, or whenever your device has media playing. It resembles the player controls in the notification shade, complete with buttons to play/pause, skip ahead, or go to the previous track. During our brief testing, we noticed the app drawer can also show you two cards simultaneously. They are always pinned to the top of the drawer, but they still sit underneath the row of pinned apps you use frequently.
Besides these major improvements, Nova developers have ironed out a few bugs in the launcher and polished Nova Settings to a gleaming shine. Nova Launcher is a mature platform and there isn’t much to iron out, except for issues stemming from the new additions. One of the biggest bug fixes the developers highlighted is a fix for some Nova UI elements using incorrect colors when the Nova theme didn’t match the device theme. Now, all the colors match up well, but you may need to revisit Nova Settings to fine-tune the colors after this beta update.
There’s no ceiling to the personalization possibilities with Nova Launcher, and the launcher maintains its classic status with this beta update, adding more such options we love. These features should soon make their way to the stable version of the app as well.
