Comment by AdmiralAsshat

So the new stewards of Nova Launcher posted an official statement:

https://novalauncher.com/nova-is-here-to-stay

Pretty much confirms that ads will become a thing. However:

> If ads are introduced, Nova Prime will remain ad free. Our guiding principles are clear: keep the experience clean and fast, avoid disruptive formats, and provide a straightforward way to keep the experience ad free.

That's probably why I wasn't seeing any ads even after I got the update.

I've still reverted to a previous version and disabled auto-updates, because I basically have zero faith that being a paid member will turn off any of their shady tracking stuff, even if ads are not visible.