I noticed a problem with my widgets on my Android device where the app widgets were not showing up. I had all of the standard widgets like Music, News & Weather, and Power Control, but no option for Facebook, Twitter, or any other apps I installed.
Fix 1
It turns out that this is a feature of Android where widgets are blocked for apps that are installed to the SD card. This was my problem since I had just moved all of my apps the SD card to save space.
To resolve this issue, the app had to be moved back to the memory of the phone using these steps:
- Open the “Settings” app.
- Select “Apps“.
On many Samsung devices, you would select “Applications” > “Application manager“.
These selections may vary between devices depending on the version of the Android OS you are running. - Select the app that isn’t showing up in the widgets list.
- Tap the “Storage“ button.
- Select “Change“.
- Switch the selection from “SD card” to “Internal storage“.
Repeat these steps for any other apps you are experiencing the same issue with.
Fix 2
Sometimes the Home screen data may get corrupted. You will have to clear the Home screen data and start fresh. These steps will reset your icons on the Home screen back to defaults.
- Open “Settings“.
- Select “Apps” or “Applications“.
- One some devices, choose “Manage applications“.
- Select the menu icon or “More” option at the upper-right corner of the screen, then choose “Show system“.
- This step may be tricky. You have to find the name of the app that runs the Home screen. On my Galaxy S7, it’s called “TouchWiz“. On the Moto X, it’s called “Launcher“. On the Nexus 5X, it’s called “Nexus 5X Home screen“. Try to find the one that applies to your device, then select it.
- Select “Storage“.
- Choose “Clear Data“.
The Home screen should be restored, along with the ability to use widgets.
Peter Kohler says
I’m on a Galaxy S7 and cannot find older notifications to save my life…no settings widget either
Chuck says
Thank You!
Jeuz says
You are great! Thanks a lot :)
Gigi Leca says
Thank you!
John says
Thanks greatly! On my stock Motorola G4 plus, after getting the Nougat OTA upgrade, my widgets were just plain weird. At times, the Transparent Weather widget would show a stale time and battery level and Battery Solo widget would be stale. The strangest was, when they were stale, if I tried to add a widget, the page of widgets would be blank. I did Settings, Apps, show system, selected Google App (which includes the launcher), storage, manage space and clear all data. I lost my home screens and had to put them back in. After that, the widgets seems to be working again. Note: take screen shots (power plus volume down) first so you don’t have to remember how your home screens were set up.
Gurinder Singh says
Thnxx😀 fix 1 really worked
Bengt says
Thank you! Fix 1 worked on my Z3!
Rob says
Feedly widget hasn’t appeared for me in over a year – searched all over trying to resolve. I never connected that moving the app to external storage takes away the widget – Fix 1 solved it instantly. You’re awesome! Thanks.
Mikael says
Thanks! Launcher3 om Marshmallow.
David says
Thank you solved my problem. Let’s hope Nougat dies it for us
BGilbert says
Thanks very much! I would have had this solved very quickly, but communities on the internet were saying that Android has abolished the facility of installing/starting apps from SD Card and so I didnt think android was doing this anymore…..such great news that theyve brought it back
betmyace says
This has always been a simple fix for me ……
go to “settings” … then to “apps” …. then click the menu and tap “reset app preferences”
Jihn says
I cleaned data of launcher but couldn’t get widgets back there is white box if Ilong press the home screen.
Pet says
Thank you very much! It helped!
Julian says
Thank you!