For years now, Nova Launcher has been the gold standard among thebest Android launchers, striking the perfect balance between functionality and aesthetic appeal without burning a hole in our pockets. Nova’s developer is also fairly regular with updates, so everyone’s favorite launcher stays ahead of the curve. The latest beta channel update is keeping up with this tradition, packing dynamic theming improvements and bug fixes.
In the fifth beta update since theBranch takeover in Junelast year, Nova Launcher has added several customization features, and a few fixes to make life easier for personalization enthusiasts. Nova Launcher allows dynamic theming of the app drawer, home screen, and text, but options for widget customization are a fresh addition in v8.0.4 of the launcher. You can just long-press any widget with dynamic theming support and customize its color, or revert to the default where it matches other UI elements.
Nova Launcher allows theme customization for home screen widgets
While we’re on the topic of color pickers, it would be remiss to not mention Nova offering more dynamic theming colors from the default palette. The latest beta build offers 36 colors for UI surfaces, and six for accents, all derived from theMaterial Youdynamic color palette based on your active wallpaper. In comparison, older versions gave you just 12 themed choices for UI surfaces. you’re able to check out this change under theColorsettings for the app drawer, folders, and Nova Search.
Limited dynamic theming palette choices for UI surfaces(left); more choices in the latest beta(right)
Icon customization is equally important on launchers like Nova. Whiletesting the new Lawnicons v2, we were disappointed to learn icons with dynamic theming support don’t auto-update on Nova after you change the wallpaper. You need to re-apply the icon pack manually. With the new beta build, Nova hasn’t exactly fixed the issue, but has automated the process of re-applying the chosen icon pack after you change the wallpaper.
Nova v8.0.4 also fixes a few problems with wallpaper zoom, widgets crashing on MIUI 14, and other known issues. You can install the beta fromNova’s website, or fromAPKMirror, and take these new features for a spin.
