A couple of weeks ago, we posted about how it is finally possible to get the Google Now pane swipe onto your Nougat and Marshmallow devices using the 'Nova Google Companion' app in combination with the Nova Launcher, which is now also possible with phones still running Lollipop.
Now, with very little effort, the Nova Google Companion can also be used on Androids still running Jellybean and Kitkat. XDA member “Nikhilkumar038” has provided a workaround that will allow the Nova Launcher – and the Nova Google Companion (which is essentially the Google Now panel) – to be used on devices powered by Android 4.2 Jellybean and Android 4.4 Kitkat. The method requires users to decompile the app and lower the SDK level from 21 to 19.
The steps required to do this are as follows:
- Decompile Nova Google Companion App
- Look for AndroidManifest.xml and open it
- Look for something like this:
<uses-sdk android:minsdkversion="21" android:targetsdkversion="26"></uses-sdk>- Change android:minSdkVersion="21" to 16.It would now look like this:
<uses-sdk android:minsdkversion="16" android:targetsdkversion="26"></uses-sdk>- Save the file
- Recompile the APK and then install it
- Open Nova Google Companion App and press OK
- Go to Nova Settings>Google Now>Google Now Page and turn it on if not already
- Go back to Nova home screen and you now have the Now Panel working on JellyBean or KitKat
But if you're like us, and don't need the hassle of decompiling and recompiling the APK, another forum user in the XDA thread has already done these steps so that you can grab the modified Nova Google Companion APK.
In order to get the Google Now Pane swipe, you'll need the Nova Launcher beta, currently on v5.3 beta3, and those on Lollipop or higher are also required to download the unmodified Nova Google Companion APK which must be sideloaded.
Source: XDA via Android Community
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