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Fix: Android App Widgets Not Appearing

Fix: Android App Widgets Not Appearing

By Mitch Bartlett 53 Comments

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:

  1. Open the “Settings” app.
  2. 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.
  3. Select the app that isn’t showing up in the widgets list.
  4. Tap the “Storage“ button.
  5. Select “Change“.
  6. 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.

  1. Open “Settings“.
  2. Select “Apps” or “Applications“.
  3. One some devices, choose “Manage applications“.
  4. Select the menu icon or “More” option at the upper-right corner of the screen, then choose “Show system“.
  5. 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.
  6. Select “Storage“.
  7. Choose “Clear Data“.

The Home screen should be restored, along with the ability to use widgets.

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Filed Under: Android

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bea says

    December 7, 2020 at 10:17 am

    When I press and hold my screen allI get is Settings and Wallpaper. It says widgets but when I tap there is nothing

  2. harley says

    July 19, 2020 at 5:12 pm

    no widgets in android 10 ? just change your launcher I use lawnchair2 or evie both free both have widgets which launcher3 didn’t allow

  3. yissele says

    July 15, 2020 at 12:50 am

    hi i have an android 8.1 and I just figured out about the Snapchat widget and I tried to add it but when I look for it in my widgets it won’t show up. i’ve been looking all over Google figuring out whats wrong but when it tell me what to do I cany. For example when it say to go to settings and click on the app and click on the storage and press on change, I did that but there is no change button. I just updated snapchat and bitmoji to see if that was the problem but nothing still pops up. does anyone know how to fix this and make it pop up?

  4. Jadon says

    June 25, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    So I have an Android 9 ZTE and all my apps are in my internal storage and I have no widgets even for apps like Keep Notes and WhatsApp
    Just basic shortcuts
    And it’s kinda annoying cause widgets are helpful
    Please help

  5. tania says

    May 9, 2020 at 6:30 am

    I try Fix 2 for my Samsung note 4 but the Whatsapp widget still not appearing, other widget apps work but not Whatsapp :(

  6. Carmen says

    May 5, 2020 at 4:35 am

    Hi Andriod Fanatics!

    Need some help here – I have a Note 10 + on UI 2.1. After the update, i noticed my HD Widget Weather App and some alarms on my home screen disappeared! I tried to re-add it, but its not showing up. The HD Widget weather app even gave me a “Widget Added Successfully!” but no where to be found on home screens. The Alarm widget also doesn’t appear even after i click to set it up.

    Anyone know how to fix this issue?

    Please and thank you – appreciate this so much!

  7. Aline Polikalas says

    April 11, 2020 at 5:54 pm

    Your step-by-step guide to restoring apps via deleting data on the TOUCH WIZARD restored everything back to normal in 60-seconds. For me, a miracle. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

  8. JB says

    January 27, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    Unfortunately the whole point of moving stuff to my SD card was to free up space on my internal storage (the one i really want back is Audible).

  9. William says

    December 19, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    Thank you. The Fix 1 steps works for me. Redmi Note 8 Pro using Smart Launcher 5.

    Regards,

    William

  10. Gene says

    October 29, 2019 at 9:12 pm

    I found out I could not put any widgets on my screen when I had this item turned on. System, developer options, Apps, force quit, quit all activity when app is closed. When I tried to add the widget again it said it was already there. As soon as I turned “force quit” off I could put widgets on screen again Don’t know if this will help anyone else but that is What I did after nothing I tried on the web helped. Oh yeah I had to get rid of the hidden widget first by clearing cache and data.

  11. Lyna says

    August 22, 2019 at 9:20 am

    Thank you!
    Fix #1 works :).
    Wish we could do this to bring Spotify widget back too, but that they removed on their end :(.

  12. Greg Engelstad says

    August 9, 2019 at 9:55 pm

    After my last comment, I tried another app launcher which I like much better than Apex: Evie Launcher, a free app. I like the way it works more than Apex, and it has no adds.

  13. Gregor says

    August 9, 2019 at 12:27 pm

    I found the cause of the missing-widgets problem on my Nokia 1: the app manager (Launcher 3 which is a part of the Android OS, at least on my Nokia 1) was blocking all the widgets. Replacing it with Apex Launcher solved the problem. $9 or put up with the ads, but either way it solved the problem that was really messing with my attitude!

  14. Gregor says

    August 6, 2019 at 10:43 pm

    Just like Ayad on July 4, I also have a Nokia 1 which was recently updated. There was some widget-like thing that conveniently showed system time on the main screen, which is no longer there. I’m trying to install HD Widgets and several others, but when I get to the “Widgets” list, none of the new widgets are listed. HD Widgets is already in Internal Storage, so fix 1 isn’t an option. Fix 2 looks rather bloody, and since Tea tried it without success, I didn’t try it either. What did Android folks do to screw up the widget support? The same issue is appearing on other phones beside Nokia, so it doesn’t seem to be a manufacturer issue.

  15. Pamela says

    July 22, 2019 at 9:11 am

    I was moving some apps on my S5, how the page with Settings, and Messages is gone. I have no Settings!

  16. Tea says

    July 21, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    I have a Nokia v2, all my apps are internally stored, and I tried fix2 and nothing happened. What is going on???? This is driving me absolutely insane!!! This stupid update is going to drive me to drink….

  17. Ayad says

    July 4, 2019 at 9:34 am

    Dear, I have Nokia 1 and its OS is Android One. June 2019 update removed all the widgets on the home screen and from the add option too. Only few of them are available. The apps are installed on the internal memory. I did as you recommended (fix2) but still the same. I installed weather app but didn’t find the widget in the list.
    Do you please have another option(s) to solve that?
    Thank you.

  18. Richard Piper says

    June 10, 2019 at 2:45 pm

    Can anyone help me, I feel rather stupid, my S9 has been updated all of the apps on my home screen work fine but those not on the home screen cannot be accessed as the “Apps” widget has disappeared into the ether. AS a result I can only see about 17 of over 50 apps

    Thank you

  19. Nadine says

    June 10, 2019 at 10:41 am

    Please help. I don’t have a settings widget at all in my widgets section. I need to get you notification log urgently.

  20. James says

    June 8, 2019 at 5:30 am

    Thank you so much!

  21. Naziri says

    March 19, 2019 at 4:38 am

    Thank you so much.
    So simple.
    My phone is back to normal.

  22. R2g2rc says

    November 26, 2018 at 10:23 am

    Omg. thank you.was driving me crazy!

  23. Mac says

    November 15, 2018 at 6:20 am

    My problem is…
    When I install from the Play Store.. .NOTHING is added to my phone. This has been happening for almost a year, on both mine and my wifes phone. ALL apps installed new can only be accessed from the Play Store installed section.

    1} WHY??
    2} Can this somehow be fixed? I have searched and this forum seems to be the straightest shooter. HELP!!

  24. Rachael says

    September 18, 2018 at 8:55 am

    Thanks so much! Not sure why it won’t display apps that are on the SD card, but super glad I finally have the widgets back!

  25. Ahmed says

    August 7, 2018 at 8:14 am

    Thanks I’ve did what you say in “fix 1” and it work !

  26. Zylam says

    June 25, 2018 at 9:55 am

    Thanks!!! Helped me out! You’re a legend!

  27. JOHN WAITMAN says

    June 18, 2018 at 9:59 pm

    I have a galaxy7 and just did a update now all my game widgets are gone. not happy about this as I pay for coins and now can’t find widgets to play I have to go into play store find the game I was on and open there to play the game. It’s late so will be calling my carrier to see if they can fix the problem.

  28. Colin borner says

    June 5, 2018 at 3:59 am

    Followed the instructions and got my BA widget back on my Android phone. I thought I had moved only photos and video’s to the SD card. Thanks Mitch.

  29. Mary Knight says

    March 27, 2018 at 8:08 am

    Hi I moved whatsapp from internal to sd card on my Honor 7 phone. Since then the whatsapp widget stopped working so I deleted it with the intention of re-installing the widget. But it had vanished from the widget section.

    I tried suggestion 1 n it worked.

    Suggestion 2 was preferable but I do not know the app that runs home screen on Honor 7 n some of the steps suggested are not available on this version of Honor 7

  30. Jef says

    March 22, 2018 at 9:33 am

    Thankyou ! Deezer’s data was saved on my SD card. Once switched back to internal, the widget appeared.
    Good call !

  31. Craig walker says

    March 15, 2018 at 5:57 pm

    Nope majority of the step pages are not on my 5.1 Android phone. Settings apps shows it running but cannot get the widget to home screen to use it.

  32. Lk says

    March 2, 2018 at 12:04 pm

    Thank you. #2 helped

  33. Pam Tucker says

    February 14, 2018 at 11:25 am

    I have a widget on my android phone. I recently got a tablet for Christmas. It was linked to my phone, by my daughter. But, I miss my widget. I used it for screenshots.
    Any advice?
    Technologically Challenged

  34. Yves says

    January 8, 2018 at 3:11 pm

    Fix 1 has repaired it. *ThumbsUp* You are great! Thanks a lot! Fix 1 worked on my Motorola G4 plus with android 7.0 Nougat, trying to get back the VLC widget! You solved my problem ! :-)

  35. Ben says

    December 31, 2017 at 9:01 pm

    Did not help. There is no “change” button once you tap on Storage. Just Clear Data and Clear Cache.

  36. Noor. says

    December 2, 2017 at 5:21 pm

    God I was going crazy thank you so much nothing else on the Internet worked for my s5 Internet was touchwiz.

  37. Glorrion says

    November 20, 2017 at 4:15 pm

    Fix 1 done it. Thank you for your help! *ThumbsUp*

  38. User42 says

    November 20, 2017 at 3:36 pm

    Thanks a lot Mitch! I did the first fix and put Trello back on the phone memory, suddenly the ability to add that widget showed up again! A real shame Trello doesn’t indicate that anywhere or worked to restore fully-functionnal SD card storage… Thankfully we still got helpful fellows like you :)

  39. Peter Kohler says

    September 8, 2017 at 10:47 am

    I’m on a Galaxy S7 and cannot find older notifications to save my life…no settings widget either

  40. Chuck says

    August 20, 2017 at 4:16 am

    Thank You!

  41. Jeuz says

    July 4, 2017 at 9:41 pm

    You are great! Thanks a lot :)

  42. Gigi Leca says

    March 29, 2017 at 9:35 am

    Thank you!

  43. John says

    March 26, 2017 at 6:01 pm

    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.

  44. Gurinder Singh says

    March 25, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    Thnxx? fix 1 really worked

  45. Bengt says

    January 14, 2017 at 9:16 am

    Thank you! Fix 1 worked on my Z3!

  46. Rob says

    January 7, 2017 at 9:12 pm

    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.

  47. Mikael says

    January 4, 2017 at 4:43 pm

    Thanks! Launcher3 om Marshmallow.

  48. David says

    November 4, 2016 at 3:53 am

    Thank you solved my problem. Let’s hope Nougat dies it for us

  49. BGilbert says

    October 21, 2016 at 2:31 pm

    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

  50. betmyace says

    September 24, 2016 at 11:21 am

    This has always been a simple fix for me ……

    go to “settings” … then to “apps” …. then click the menu and tap “reset app preferences”

  51. Jihn says

    August 19, 2016 at 8:34 am

    I cleaned data of launcher but couldn’t get widgets back there is white box if Ilong press the home screen.

  52. Pet says

    July 12, 2016 at 8:46 am

    Thank you very much! It helped!

  53. Julian says

    July 10, 2016 at 10:09 am

    Thank you!

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