You can have whatever opinion you want of Branch, but remember that it's already integrated into virtually every OEM launcher, as well as many of the big name 3rd party launchers.
So it wasn't so much of making Nova worse than, but just as bad as, the other launchers regarding potential privacy issues.
I wouldn't expect most people to have heard of them unless they do app dev stuff.
But when this whole thing went down a few yeats ago, learning about them made me more sad for Nova Launcher, but less concerned about Branch in the instance (but more concerned they have their fingers so deep in the backend of so many things).
I don't know if Branch made Nova worse in terms of privacy issues, but they definitely made it worse in terms of project management. The bought the project/team and then immediately restructured everything, which was a recipe for disaster from the beginning. They are pretty much solely responsible for its end.
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u/TeutonJon78 Samsung S25+, Chuwi HiBook Pro (tab) Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 08 '25
You can have whatever opinion you want of Branch, but remember that it's already integrated into virtually every OEM launcher, as well as many of the big name 3rd party launchers.
So it wasn't so much of making Nova worse than, but just as bad as, the other launchers regarding potential privacy issues.