If you want your smartphone to look a certain way and stand apart from the rest, customising the home screen is one way to go about it. Not only does it bring a lot of flair to your device, but you can even adjust the positioning of the apps to suit your general usage. Sometimes, users report that they can’t find an app on the home screen. This does not mean the app is no longer on your phone. It could be an issue related to its icon on the home screen. Today, we bring you the top 10 ways to fix missing app icons on Android phones.
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In This Article
Why can’t I find certain app icons on my Android phone’s home screen?
Before you begin, you need to know that your phone’s home screen and the app drawer are two different things. The home screen is the panel you see when you unlock your device. You can add multiple pages to the home screen and customise it to look a certain way. You can change the orientation of the apps on this screen. Once you remove an app from the home screen, it doesn’t get uninstalled from your device.
The app drawer contains all the apps on your phone. You can access the app drawer by swiping up from the home screen. The only apps that don’t appear here are the ones that you’ve hidden from the system. Other than that, any app you can’t spot on the home screen can be found in the app drawer.
There are several reasons why you can’t find an app icon on the home screen. Mostly, it’s because you accidentally removed the icon, dropped it inside a folder, or deleted the app entirely. But sometimes, the problem may be deeper than that. Let’s take a look at the common fixes.
Check if you deleted the app
The most common reason behind app icons going missing on Android smartphones is accidental deletion. A quick check will let you know if the app is still installed on your smartphone. Go to the Google Play Store and search for the app. If it says ‘Open’ or ‘Update’ on the app’s page, it means the app is still still installed on your phone. If it says ‘Install’ it means the app was removed from your device. Install it again to bring back the app icon to your home screen.
Check the folders on your home screen
If the app isn’t deleted but you still can’t locate its icon on your phone’s home screen, it’s time to scan more thoroughly. It is possible you accidentally dropped it into one of the app folders. If you drag an icon and drop it on another one, your phone’s OS automatically forms a folder. Go through every folder on the screen to look for the missing app icon.
Add the app icon from the app drawer
If the app icon is removed from the home screen, it doesn’t delete the app. You can still find it in the app drawer. Press and hold the app icon in the app drawer and drop it on the home screen to restore it. You can also drop it inside a folder. The great part is that you can add as many icons for one app on the home screen as you want.
Automatically add newly installed apps to the home screen
Step 1: Long-press any empty spot on your phone’s home screen and select More or Settings.
Step 2: Tap on Home Screen.
Step 3: Turn on the toggle switch next to Add new apps to Home Screen.
Check if the app is hidden
Hidden apps don’t appear in the home screen or the app drawer. Every Android skin has its way of hiding an app. Here’s how you can check for hidden apps on Samsung’s One UI.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Home screen.
Step 2: Tap on Hide apps.
Step 3: The apps that have been hidden will appear in the top row. Tap the app that you want to unhide.
Step 4: Hit Done.
Restore the app
If you can’t find a system app on the home screen, you may have disabled it. Here’s how you can enable it.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Apps.
Step 2: Scroll down to the app you are looking for and tap on it.
Step 3: Hit Enable at the bottom of the screen.
Turn off the Game Launcher
Can’t find a particular game on your phone? Most Android smartphones offer a special ‘Game launcher’ which creates a new portal for all the installed games on the device. The gaming apps are removed from the home screen. Turn off the Game launcher to get them back.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Advanced features.
Step 2: Turn off the toggle switch for Game Launcher.
Switch to system app icons
One of the unique things about Android OS is that it lets you change how app icons look on your phone’s screen. You can pick a colour theme for the icons or draw the colours from your phone’s wallpaper. If you don’t want to use the native icon pack, there are third-party themes you can apply to your phone as well. One of the downsides of using icon packs is that they make the apps look similar. If you’re used to traditional icons, it will become harder to spot a particular app until you get used to the new theme. A third-party app icon pack may hide an app if it can’t change its icon. Here’s how you can disable it.
Step 1: Long press on your phone’s home screen.
Step 2: Tap on Colour and style.
Step 3: Scroll down and turn off the toggle switch for ‘Apply colour to icons’.
Clear your phone launcher’s cache
Your Android phone’s default launcher app can sometimes be responsible for the app icons going missing from the home screen. Clearing its cache will help fix this issue. This fix also works for third-party launchers.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Apps.
Step 2: Select the default home screen launcher app.
Step 3: Tap on Storage.
Step 4: Select Clear cache.
Change the default launcher app
If you use a third-party launcher app for your Android smartphone, it can sometimes malfunction and hide app icons. To fix this, switch to the native launcher app.
Step 1: Go to Settings and select Apps.
Step 2: Tap on Choose default apps.
Step 3: Tap on Home app.
Step 4: Select the native launcher.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I restore a missing app icon on my Android phone’s home screen?
Make sure you didn’t accidentally delete the app or move it inside a folder on the home screen. If that isn’t the case, go to hidden apps and unhide the app. If the app isn’t hidden, your phone’s launcher app may be causing trouble.
Is there any fix to the missing app icons issue on Android?
If the icons to newly installed apps don’t show up on the home screen of your phone, long-press any empty spot on the home screen, tap on More/Settings, then go to Home Screen, and turn on the toggle switch next to ‘Add new apps to Home Screen’.
Why have my app icons disappeared?
If you installed a custom home screen launcher like Niagara or Nova, it could lead to the app icons disappearing from the home screen.
How do I restore an app icon’s colour to its system default?
Go to Settings>Lock screen and wallpaper>Colour and style and turn off the toggle switch for ‘Apply colour to icons’.
How do I change my phone’s default launcher app?
Go to Settings>Apps>Choose default apps>Home app and select a launcher from the list.
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Conclusion
This is how you can fix and restore missing app icons from your Android phone’s home screen. As a last-ditch measure, you can also try resetting your smartphone to its factory settings. However, this method will erase all your personal data from the device. If you know any other way to fix this problem, let us know in the comments!
