v10.1.0

What's Changed

• build(deps): bump com.google.android.material:material from 1.12.0 to 1.14.0 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #17
• Settings that match their screens: clock styles, bundled fonts, dock, haptics; drop dead fields by @DrummingBird1 in #19
• Ask for approximate location in context; fix the language picker on Android 8–12 by @DrummingBird1 in #20
• Add funding links and security policy by @DrummingBird1 in #21
• Add public ROADMAP.md by @DrummingBird1 in #22
• build(deps): bump org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-serialization-json from 1.11.0 to 1.12.0 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #23
• build(deps): bump gradle-wrapper from 9.8.1 to 9.8.2 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #24
• build(deps): bump androidx.datastore:datastore-preferences from 1.2.1 to 1.3.0 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #25
• build(deps): bump com.squareup.okhttp3:mockwebserver from 5.5.0 to 5.5.1 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #26
• build(deps): bump io.sentry:sentry-android-core from 8.61.0 to 8.61.1 in /android by @dependabot[bot] in #27

New Contributors

• @dependabot[bot] made their first contribution in #17

Full Changelog: v10.0.0...v10.1.0

v10.0.0 — Profiles, wallpapers, gestures, Jewish calendar

Released 17 October 2026 · versionCode 13

Signed with the same key as 9.3.0, so it installs straight over it — your settings, locks and layout are kept.

Added

• Work profile and Private Space. Work apps appear with their badge, the Apps page filters All / Personal / Work, and work apps can be paused and turned back on. Android 15's Private Space gets its own section with Lock / Unlock; its apps never appear in suggestions or smart folders.
• App shortcuts. Long-press an app for its shortcuts — "New chat", "Navigate home" and so on.
• Wallpapers. Your own photos or built-in gradients — one everywhere, per page, by hour or by weekday — or your system wallpaper, static or live. Brightness, contrast, saturation, warmth, blur, vignette and opacity per wallpaper.
• Gestures. Swipe up for apps, swipe down for notifications, double-tap to turn the screen off. Double-tap uses an optional accessibility service that performs only those two actions and can't read the screen; the app explains it before you turn it on.
• Smart search. Hebrew ↔ English names ("וואטסאפ" finds WhatsApp), typo tolerance and initials, plus a calculator ("15% of 80") and unit conversion ("10 km to mi", "5 ק״ג לפאונד").
• Jewish calendar and Shabbat mode. Hebrew date, holidays (Israel or diaspora schedule), candle-lighting and Havdalah times calculated on the phone. Shabbat mode quiets social, entertainment, game and shopping suggestions and badges from candle lighting to nightfall — nothing is blocked.
• Suggestions that learn from what you actually open, with a nudge for media apps when headphones are connected.
• Widgets, end to end: their setup screens run, sizes are reported correctly, and height is adjustable.
• Optional update check (off by default) for GitHub and Obtainium installs. Store installs never show it, and Rate opens the store the app came from.

Fixed

• The Statistics page was always empty — it now reads Android's real usage data.
• Icon packs were listed but couldn't be applied; now they apply everywhere.
• Settings → About linked to a domain that doesn't exist; it now points at the live website, privacy policy and terms.
• The language picker did nothing on Android 13 and later.
• The onboarding screen flashed on every cold start.
• Dark status-bar icons on the dark theme were unreadable.
• Home didn't return to the home page, Back didn't close search, and swipe-up to Apps did nothing on Android 12+.
• Hidden apps showed up in search results, and an app with two launcher entries could crash the app grid.
• Google Drive was offered as a backup destination but could never connect. It's hidden in this release (see below).

Not in this release

Google Drive backup is switched off. Backups go to the phone or to your own NAS. The Drive groundwork is in place for a later release.

Under the hood

targetSdk 36 · AGP 9 and Kotlin 2.4 · APK down from 7.96 MB to 3.9 MB · a Baseline Profile for faster start-up · instrumented tests in CI · ktlint enforced.

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Install

Download NoveLauncher-10.0.0-release.apk below and open it; you'll need to allow installation from unknown sources for the app you open it with. Or add the repository to Obtainium to get updates automatically.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md · Website: https://drummingbird1.github.io/NoveLauncher/ · Support the project: Patreon · Buy Me a Coffee

Full Changelog: v9.3.0...v10.0.0

v9.3.0 — Infrastructure, testing and performance overhaul

Released 14 August 2026 · versionCode 12

This is the first release signed with the project's real release key. Every release from here on shares that signature, so updates install cleanly over each other.

Fixed

• Debug builds could not be installed over each other. Every CI run generated its own random debug signing key, so a newer debug APK failed with "App not installed as package conflicts with an existing package". Debug builds now sign with a committed, throwaway keystore.
• The app crashed on every launch once crash reporting was added — the Sentry SDK auto-initialises from a ContentProvider before the app's own code runs, and threw because no DSN is configured. Auto-init is now disabled.
• A duplicated "Usage statistics" header in Settings.
• The home-screen search icon spuriously navigated the pager to the Apps page, stranding the search overlay on top of it.

Added

• Disk-backed icon cache that warms the in-memory cache on cold start.
• Optional crash reporting (Sentry), opt-in via a SENTRY_DSN build-time variable — inert and sends nothing when unset.
• Root/tamper detection surfaced as an informational banner in Security settings (deterrent only — it never gates or weakens any feature).
• Runtime POST_NOTIFICATIONS request, so scheduled-backup failure alerts can actually appear.
• Last backup status (time + success/failure) in Settings → Backup.
• Room schema v2 with indices on the statistics tables, via a real non-destructive migration.
• Screenshot tests (Paparazzi), a MockWebServer contract test for the weather API, a Room migration test, an icon-cache disk round-trip test and use-case tests.
• Release-on-tag workflow that builds and drafts a GitHub Release automatically.

Changed

• CI split into parallel build / test / instrumented-test jobs.
• R8 full mode and Gradle configuration cache enabled.

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Install

Download NoveLauncher-9.3.0-release.apk below. You'll need to allow installation from unknown sources for whichever app you download it with.

Coming from the archived 9.1.0 or 9.2.0 debug builds? Uninstall those first — they're signed with a different (debug) key and Android will refuse the update.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md · Website: https://drummingbird1.github.io/NoveLauncher/

What's Changed

• fix: search icon spuriously navigated pager to Apps page by @DrummingBird1 in #1

New Contributors

• @DrummingBird1 made their first contribution in #1

Full Changelog: v9.2.0...v9.3.0

v9.2.0 — Language picker, custom RSS, quick-settings tile

Released 8 August 2026 · versionCode 11

Added

• In-app language picker — the app already supported multiple languages internally, but nothing let you choose one. Now 7 are selectable: Hebrew, English, Arabic, French, Russian, and new Spanish and German.
• Custom RSS news sources — add your own feeds alongside the built-ins.
• Quick Settings tile to lock the launcher instantly.
• Notification badge snooze — mute badges for an hour or until tomorrow.
• Notification badges are now actually rendered on home-screen icons.
• Settings are now searchable from Global Search.
• Automatic pruning of old local backups, keeping the newest N.
• NAS/WebDAV backups create the target directory automatically.
• A notification when a scheduled backup fails, instead of failing silently.
• News falls back to the last cached results when the network is unavailable.

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⚠️ Debug build. No release keystore existed in this project until v9.3.0, so this APK is signed with a throwaway debug key. It installs on its own, but will not install as an update over a release build — and vice versa. It's published for archival completeness; for everyday use install the latest release.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md

v9.1.0 — Accessibility, encrypted backups, dynamic colour

Released 7 August 2026 · versionCode 10

Added

• Password-protected portable backups (PBKDF2-derived AES-256-GCM), so an exported file can be restored on a different device.
• Material You dynamic colour on Android 12+.
• Static app shortcuts (long-press the launcher icon).
• Reduce-motion support across animated screens.
• An explainer in Security settings about what app lock does and does not protect against.

Changed

• CI hardening: lint, ktlint and coverage reports uploaded on every run.

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⚠️ Debug build. No release keystore existed in this project until v9.3.0, so this APK is signed with a throwaway debug key. It installs on its own, but will not install as an update over a release build — and vice versa. It's published for archival completeness; for everyday use install the latest release.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md

v9.0.0 — Full internationalisation, hardened crypto, wired-up features

Released 26 June 2026 · versionCode 9

Added

• Complete internationalisation — every UI string moved to resources across Hebrew, English, Arabic, French and Russian.
• PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 credential hashing with a per-install salt, and AES-256-GCM encryption of security settings at rest via the Android Keystore.
• Failed-attempt lockout with exponential backoff, persisted so a force-stop cannot reset it.
• A process-wide crash handler and an in-memory icon cache.
• A support button for the project.

Fixed

• Several features that existed in code but were never reachable are now wired up: weather under the clock, icon packs, usage statistics, global search, the analog clock face and the home dock.

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No binary attached. This release predates the project's release-signing setup, and its CI build artifact had already expired. The tag marks the source at this version.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md

v8.0.0 — Logo redesign, splash screen, privacy policy

Released 3 June 2026 · versionCode 8

Added

• A new logo system: full-colour icon, monochrome variant and a horizontal lockup.
• A splash screen on cold start.
• Themed icon support on Android 13+.
• Privacy policy and terms of service.

Fixed

• An app-lock bypass — every launch path now routes through the lock check.
• Local backups now use MediaStore.Downloads on Android 10+, where the legacy path silently failed.

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No binary attached. This release predates the project's release-signing setup, and its CI build artifact expired long before the archive was assembled. The tag marks the source at this version.

Full changelog: CHANGELOG.md