How to add a Google Now gesture to Nova Launcher

Ben Schoon | Feb 8 2017 - 5:27 am PT

With the death of the Google Now Launcher just weeks away, many are looking for alternate options. Thankfully, there are several great ones available. However, there’s not a single launcher on Google Play that can truly replicate the Google Now Launcher’s best feature – a left swipe for Google Now. So, here’s how to add a Google Now gesture to Nova Launcher.

Tie Google Now to a gesture on Nova Launcher

Nova Launcher is widely known as one of the most customizable launchers on Android today, and thanks to that, you can easily add a Google Now gesture to it. Nova supports several gestures, such as swipes, double taps, and more. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support a swipe to the left or right, so for this example, we’ll use swipe up on the homescreen. Here’s how to set it up.

Long-press an empty area of the display and tap Settings
Tap Gestures & Inputs
Select Swipe Up
Swipe to Apps
Scroll and select Google

Once these steps have been completed, simply go back to your homescreen, and swipe up on any empty portion of the screen. That swipe up will then trigger the Google Search app to open, thus showing your Google Now feed. It doesn’t quite match up with what the Google Now Launcher had going, but it’s clean, fast, and easy to use.

Do keep in mind, though, that you’ll need to be a Nova Launcher Prime user, which requires a $4.99 purchase on Google Play.