After months of beta testing and to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Nova Launcher, one of the developers of the launcher, Cliff Wade, has finally announced the release of Nova Launcher 5.0 with some major new goodies and enhancements. The update introduces all the Pixel goodies that Google debuted with its Pixel handsets in October, including the new Pixel style gesture to open the app drawer and search bar.

If you have been a beta tester of Nova Launcher, these changes will not surprise you since they have been available in the beta build of the launcher since quite a few weeks now.

For users on the stable channel though, there are plenty of other new features to play around with as well. On Android 7.1 devices, Nova Launcher now supports launcher shortcuts. Other changes include a new “Timeout” method to lock the screen thereby bypassing the security policies of Nougat, new gestures, and a new search view.

-Swipe to open drawer (a la Pixel Launcher)
-New Pixel style searchbar
-New search view, with tabs for Frequent, Recent and New/Updated apps
-New “Timeout” screen lock method
-New double-tap-swipe gestures
-Android 7.1 launcher shortcuts
-Dock backgrounds to draw under navbar
-Quick start to easily change major settings (Nova Settings > Backup > Quick start)

The update can take a few hours to show up on the Google Play Store, and you will also require a license of Nova Launcher Prime ($4.99) to unlock all the new features that are a part of this update.

Download: Nova Launcher