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"Apps" folder icon missing - Samsung Note 8 - latest version of Android
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NY
Dec 30, 2017, 8:39:33 AM12/30/17
to
My wife has noticed that her "Apps" folder icon and an icon for one of her
installed applications are missing from her desktop on her Samsung Note 8
which has whatever version of Android ships with that phone. It is a
standard installation (ie not rooted) and the phone is a few weeks old. The
missing icons were present until a few days ago.
If it had just been an application icon that had been missing, it would have
been easy enough to drag the icon from the Apps folder onto the desktop, but
when the Apps folder icon itself is missing, that makes life more difficult.
OK, we could reinstall the application whose icon is missing, and that would
probably put back its icon on the desktop, but the lack of an Apps folder
icon could keep causing problems in the future.
Any ideas how to put back the missing Apps folder icon?
installed applications are missing from her desktop on her Samsung Note 8
which has whatever version of Android ships with that phone. It is a
standard installation (ie not rooted) and the phone is a few weeks old. The
missing icons were present until a few days ago.
If it had just been an application icon that had been missing, it would have
been easy enough to drag the icon from the Apps folder onto the desktop, but
when the Apps folder icon itself is missing, that makes life more difficult.
OK, we could reinstall the application whose icon is missing, and that would
probably put back its icon on the desktop, but the lack of an Apps folder
icon could keep causing problems in the future.
Any ideas how to put back the missing Apps folder icon?
David Oseas
Dec 30, 2017, 2:25:54 PM12/30/17
to
On 12/30/2017 5:39 AM, NY wrote:
> Any ideas how to put back the missing Apps folder icon?
On the Galaxy S8 (I think the Note 8 works the same way):
> Any ideas how to put back the missing Apps folder icon?
Settings > Display > Home screen > Apps button > Show Apps button
OR
press on a blank area on any screen > Home screen settings > Apps button
> Show Apps button
She should also be able to swipe down from the Home screen to get to the
Apps drawer, even without a button
Regards,
-David
VanguardLH
Dec 30, 2017, 4:04:29 PM12/30/17
to
apps drawer disappeared, by default):
Settings -> Display -> Home screen -> Select Home
Choices are:
- Home: Proves all apps on the Home screen (very messy).
- EasyHome: Proves an easier interface for beginners with a simpler
layout and larger font size. (No thanks. Maybe gramma would like it.)
- Home & app drawer: Provides separate layout for the ome screen and
apps list. (I'm not messy, not a boob, so this one's for me.)
The last one adds a home screen button to separately view the apps list
(aka apps drawer). Google, in its too often infinitesimal wisdom,
decided to take away the apps drawer in a default setup and instead
smash it all into a mess with all icons on the home screen(s). I've
seen users that do that with the Windows desktop, too, and with their
Start menus so when you ask them for something particular they have to
roam their eyes all over and keep clicking searching for the item.
I've read where some users report having to use a different launcher
(e.g., Nova) that gives them a swipe-up feature to get at the apps
drawer. Presumably that means the stock launcher doesn't have an option
to restore the apps drawer function.
To the OP:
The app's icon appearing on the home screen after its installation
depends on a setting in the Google Play Store app. Some folks don't
like installations putzing with their home screen layouts. They want
the app to install without disturbing their home screen layouts, so the
new app's icon only shows up in the app drawer. Since I only install
one app at a time and then determine to remove its icon (because I'll
only access it from the apps drawer) or to move to another home screen
or put into a folder to group with similar apps, I have an app install
put the new app's icon on the home screen -- however, there can be more
than one home screen. When installing an app, and with the Play Store
configured to deposit the new app's icon on "a" home screen, the icon
appears on whatever is the currently selected home screen. There's the
home-home screen (the one you get when pressing the Home button) and
there's the other-home screens (the ones you swipe to, or use the
dot-icon to select). Google really fucked up when all screens got
renamed as home screens rather than home screen and secondary screens.
So swipe between the home screens if there is more than one. Perhaps
your wife was on a different home screen when she did the install than
the home-home screen.
If your wife was moving the app's icon around, you sure she didn't
accidentally delete it from a home screen rather than remove it? On my
new phone and when dragging around an app icon, there appear TWO choices
at the top of the home screen: Uninstall and Remove. On my old phone,
there's just Remove. Well, maybe your wife uninstalled the app when she
meant to only remove its icon from a home screen. Did you go into the
app manager to check the app is still installed?
Some other hints here:
https://www.technipages.com/android-icons-disappear-from-home-screen
A trick to show the home screens (reduced in size) along with all
available apps, widgets, and wallpapers is to long-press a blank space
on a home screen. This is to substitute for the lack of a home screen
icon to the apps drawer but also includes widgets and wallpaper
selections. With my Nougat phone, it's one layout showing the home
screens, selection section, and selection buttons. One some phones, a
menu pops up for picking a selection.
NY
Jan 3, 2018, 11:51:37 AM1/3/18
to
"VanguardLH" <V...@nguard.LH> wrote in message
news:137jxe6k...@v.nguard.lh...
> David Oseas wrote:
Thanks to David and Vanguard. Just to report back that my wife wasn't able
to put back the Apps folder icon on the desktop using the techniques you
suggested, but the swipe-from-the-top trick brings up the same display - a
list of icons for every app that's installed - from which she was able to
copy the missing application icon back onto the desktop.
As far as she remembers, she didn't do anything which made the application
and the Apps folder icons disappear - it was one of those annoying things
where they were present the last time she used the phone and then the next
time she turned on the screen (without actually rebooting) three icons were
missing: the icons for two installed applications which she had manually
dragged onto a desktop page from the Apps folder, and the Apps folder icon
itself which was in the bottom row of icons which remain permanently on the
screen (alongside Phone, Contacts and Text Messages) when the rest of the
desktop is scrolled left/right to show different desktop pages.
So the problem has been *almost" solved, and the swipe workaround is an
perfect substitute for the missing Apps folder icon. Incidentally, the swipe
trick seems to be specific to the Samsung Note 8 (and maybe S8); the same
thing doesn't work on my S7, so let's hope my Apps folder icon never
disappears.
I've left your postings below, so this posting is a self-contained record of
everything you've suggested and the results - in case anyone else needs the
info in the future.
news:137jxe6k...@v.nguard.lh...
> David Oseas wrote:
Thanks to David and Vanguard. Just to report back that my wife wasn't able
to put back the Apps folder icon on the desktop using the techniques you
suggested, but the swipe-from-the-top trick brings up the same display - a
list of icons for every app that's installed - from which she was able to
copy the missing application icon back onto the desktop.
As far as she remembers, she didn't do anything which made the application
and the Apps folder icons disappear - it was one of those annoying things
where they were present the last time she used the phone and then the next
time she turned on the screen (without actually rebooting) three icons were
missing: the icons for two installed applications which she had manually
dragged onto a desktop page from the Apps folder, and the Apps folder icon
itself which was in the bottom row of icons which remain permanently on the
screen (alongside Phone, Contacts and Text Messages) when the rest of the
desktop is scrolled left/right to show different desktop pages.
So the problem has been *almost" solved, and the swipe workaround is an
perfect substitute for the missing Apps folder icon. Incidentally, the swipe
trick seems to be specific to the Samsung Note 8 (and maybe S8); the same
thing doesn't work on my S7, so let's hope my Apps folder icon never
disappears.
I've left your postings below, so this posting is a self-contained record of
everything you've suggested and the results - in case anyone else needs the
info in the future.
VanguardLH
Jan 3, 2018, 12:53:24 PM1/3/18
to
NY wrote:
> Thanks to David and Vanguard. Just to report back that my wife wasn't able
> to put back the Apps folder icon on the desktop using the techniques you
> suggested, but the swipe-from-the-top trick brings up the same display - a
> list of icons for every app that's installed - from which she was able to
> copy the missing application icon back onto the desktop.
>
> As far as she remembers, she didn't do anything which made the application
> and the Apps folder icons disappear - it was one of those annoying things
> where they were present the last time she used the phone and then the next
> time she turned on the screen (without actually rebooting) three icons were
> missing: the icons for two installed applications which she had manually
> dragged onto a desktop page from the Apps folder, and the Apps folder icon
> itself which was in the bottom row of icons which remain permanently on the
> screen (alongside Phone, Contacts and Text Messages) when the rest of the
> desktop is scrolled left/right to show different desktop pages.
>
> So the problem has been *almost" solved, and the swipe workaround is an
> perfect substitute for the missing Apps folder icon. Incidentally, the swipe
> trick seems to be specific to the Samsung Note 8 (and maybe S8); the same
> thing doesn't work on my S7, so let's hope my Apps folder icon never
> disappears.
Swipe *down* (to see a list of apps)? From the online manual
> Thanks to David and Vanguard. Just to report back that my wife wasn't able
> to put back the Apps folder icon on the desktop using the techniques you
> suggested, but the swipe-from-the-top trick brings up the same display - a
> list of icons for every app that's installed - from which she was able to
> copy the missing application icon back onto the desktop.
>
> As far as she remembers, she didn't do anything which made the application
> and the Apps folder icons disappear - it was one of those annoying things
> where they were present the last time she used the phone and then the next
> time she turned on the screen (without actually rebooting) three icons were
> missing: the icons for two installed applications which she had manually
> dragged onto a desktop page from the Apps folder, and the Apps folder icon
> itself which was in the bottom row of icons which remain permanently on the
> screen (alongside Phone, Contacts and Text Messages) when the rest of the
> desktop is scrolled left/right to show different desktop pages.
>
> So the problem has been *almost" solved, and the swipe workaround is an
> perfect substitute for the missing Apps folder icon. Incidentally, the swipe
> trick seems to be specific to the Samsung Note 8 (and maybe S8); the same
> thing doesn't work on my S7, so let's hope my Apps folder icon never
> disappears.
(https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00077583/), you swipe *up*
to see the list of all apps. While I mentioned using a swipe up, that
was when using an alternater app launcher. Apparently Samsung adopted
the same technique (or the alternative launchers adopted it) to swipe up
from the bottom to see all apps. Instead of wasting screen space for an
apps drawer button (whose space could be used for some other function),
the swipe up doesn't use up a button slot and is just as usable as
hitting a button.
http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.com/downloadfile/ContentsFile.aspx?CDSite=US&CttFileID=6920053&CDCttType=UM&ModelType=C&ModelName=SM-N950UZKAXAA&VPath=UM/201710/20171011041539192/GEN_SM-N950U1_Galaxy_Note8_EN_UM_N_7.1_082917_FINAL_AC.PDF
page 31 (App Shortcuts) and 63 (Access Apps)
1. From Home screen, swipe up to access Apps.
The app icon might've gone missing for various reasons. Did your wife
say there had been an Apps button in the Apps Shortcuts bar in the home
screens?
I didn't bother reading the rest of the manual to see if the user can
modify the contents of the App Shortcuts bar.
David Oseas
Jan 3, 2018, 7:12:50 PM1/3/18
to
On 1/3/2018 9:53 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
> Swipe *down* (to see a list of apps)? From the online manual
> (https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00077583/), you swipe *up*
> to see the list of all apps.
Swiping in either direction works on my S8, but I can't recall if I
> Swipe *down* (to see a list of apps)? From the online manual
> (https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00077583/), you swipe *up*
> to see the list of all apps.
needed to enable an option to get both directions to work.
-David
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