I switched to Pear Launcher. Pretty affordable and doesn't request network connection permission. It's not as feature rich as Nova but it fulfills my needs. You can assign swipe up gesture on app icon (but not swipe down and not on folder).
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I'm a Nova user also. I stopped updating before the buy out but this version is still working great and no issues. I would love for there to be an open source alternative with the same features but I need the same things you do.
- Swipe up alternate app launch
- Tabbed app drawer
- Folders in the app drawer
I am on a beta, and I love it. However, I am also using AFWall+ to block internet access to that app completely.
Neo Launcher is the closest I have found to Nova, but it's missing the alternate app launches
If I had the time, the motivation, and the knowledge id jump in to try to create an open source solution. I don't know any Java (as far as Android development goes anyways) and I don't know any Kotlin. So it's safe to say id I did go down this rabbit hole it would be a long ways out.
If I find anything remotely similar, I'll share with everyone.
I switched from Nova to Total Launcher for the swipe feature.