The Google Now Launcher is fully shutting down 10 years later

Abner Li | Apr 4 2023 - 10:14 am PT

The Nexus 5 in 2013 debuted what would become to be known as the Google Now Launcher. Nearly a decade later, Google is set to shut down the launcher.

About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.

Update 4/11: Google app 14.15.15.29 (beta) now says “Google Now Launcher will stop working in May.”

It was initially referred to as the Google Experience Launcher (GEL) before a wider release in 2014 as the Google Now Launcher (GNL) to all Android 4.1+ devices via the Play Store. The key benefit was quick access to Google Now cards while providing a relatively stock and clean experience that reflected Google’s design tastes.

In 2017, Google told partners that GNL was going away as its main capability (Google Now access) was made available to OEM launchers. Meanwhile, Google had moved on to the Pixel Launcher for its own phones. The GNL would go on to see some updates through the Google app, but it was no longer a company priority as Assistant took hold.

Behind the scenes, the Google Now Launcher was powered by the Google app, though it involved downloading an “app” from the Play Store to access and set as your default.

The latest beta version of the Google app (14.14) reveals today (as seen below) that the “Google Now Launcher will stop working in April.” When this occurs, “your launcher will change to your device’s default launcher.”

Practically speaking, this will impact very few people as devices that still have the Google Now Launcher are probably not usable as daily drivers. If you want to keep things the way they are (for posterity), don’t update the Google app, which probably isn’t serving you too many new features. One small upside for everyone else is that the Google app might get slightly smaller when the GNL is removed.