Google will kill its beloved Android launcher

Google will discontinue its beloved Google Now Launcher app on March 1, according to an email to phone manufacturers published by Android Police Friday. While the company will allow phone-makers to bring Google Now features into their own launchers via "Search Launcher Services," this is probably a net loss for Android loyalists. A launcher app, usually used to change the default design of a phone's operating system, can change the look and feel of a phone completely, and Google Now was one of the best around. SEE ALSO: Google's Waymo self-driving platform shows big improvements Companies like Samsung and HTC make great phones with (arguably) confusing and ugly interfaces. One of the big benefits of Android over iOS is that you can fully customize how your phone looks, so downloading Google Now was a solid way to get a relatively pure experience on whatever phone you wanted. Don't like TouchWiz, the software that comes on Samsung's phones?