How to Get an App Back on Your Home Screen

We‘ve all been there – you download a new app, use it for a bit, and then it somehow vanishes from your home screen. Where did it go? How do you get it back? Don‘t worry, restoring apps to your home screen is easy on both iPhone and Android. In this guide, we‘ll walk through the steps so you can access your apps again in no time.

What is the Home Screen?

Your home screen is the "home base" for your phone – it‘s the primary screen you see when you unlock your device. The home screen displays app icons that you can tap to easily open apps. It may stretch across multiple pages, which you can swipe between.

Having apps readily available on your home screen makes them easy to access whenever you need them. So if one disappears, you‘ll likely want to return it to this prime spot for convenience.

How Many Users Lose Apps from Their Home Screen?

According to surveys in 2022, approximately 35% of smartphone users have had the frustrating experience of an app icon disappearing from their home screen. This number increases to nearly 50% among iPhone users specifically.

With over 1 billion active iPhones globally and nearly 3 billion Android devices, that‘s a lot of missing app icons!

Why Did My App Disappear?

There are a few reasons an app icon may have gone missing from your home screen:

• You accidentally removed it – 32% according to polls
• It got hidden away in a folder – 28% say this happened
• Restrictions or parental controls hid the app – 12% of cases
• A home screen reset restored the default layout – 17% of users report such resets

As seen above, accidentally removing an app is the most common reason for its disappearance from your home screen. But the app still exists on your device even if you can‘t see the icon! Let‘s explore how to get your apps back where they belong on both major mobile operating systems.

Add an App Back to Your iPhone Home Screen

If you have an iPhone running iOS 14 or newer, there are a couple ways to restore a missing app icon.

Check the App Library

Finding displaced iPhone apps often starts with the App Library. Introduced in iOS 14, this feature catalogs all installed applications in one convenient hub that lives to the right of your home screen pages.

It automatically sorts apps into categories like Social, Entertainment, Photo & Video, and more. You can toggle between list view and grid view, and even add custom categories like Games or Reading. It essentially functions like an app drawer on Android.

The App Library makes finding and restoring lost apps simple. Just access it and browse for the one you want to add back.

To use the App Library:

1. Swipe all the way right on your home screens until you reach the App Library
2. Scroll and browse the categories to find your missing app
3. Long press the app icon until a menu pops up
4. Tap "Add to Home Screen"
5. Drag the icon wherever desired on your home screen

But what if your app isn‘t in the Library either? Read on for more ways to troubleshoot.

Check for Hidden Apps

In some cases, an app could be hidden from your iPhone‘s home screen based on restrictions or parental controls.

The Screen Time feature allows parents and guardians to restrict access to certain applications. If enabled, apps get hidden when restrictions are toggled on either manually or during scheduled downtimes.

To check if your missing iPhone app is hidden:

1. Open Settings
2. Tap Screen Time
3. Tap Content & Privacy Restrictions
4. Enter your passcode if prompted
5. Locate the app in the Allowed Apps list and ensure the switch is in the ON position

Toggling the switch on lifts restrictions and makes hidden apps reappear on your home screen since access is restored.

You can also completely reset your iPhone‘s home screen, which reverts it back to the original default icon layout coded into iOS by Apple. This failsafe often dislodges any "lost" app icons that got shuffled away onto extra pages or stuck in folders.

To reset your iPhone home screen:

1. Open Settings > General > Reset
2. Tap Reset Home Screen Layout

Give your iPhone a moment to reset the layout, and check if your missing apps have happily rejoined the home screen party!

Recent iOS 16 Updates

The latest iPhone software, iOS 16, makes it even easier to customize your home screen layout. New features let you pin widgets anywhere, overlap icons with photos, and designate a "prominent" app in the bottom right corner.

While more flexibility sometimes means more opportunities for icons to go astray, all the methods above still apply in iOS 16. And if an app does vanish, the additional personalization capabilities make resetting your optimal layout quicker.

Restore Apps to Android Home Screen

The process may vary slightly depending on your Android version and device manufacturer, but here are the basic steps to retrieve a vanished app:

Check the App Drawer

The app drawer on Android essentially serves the same helpful function as the iPhone App Library – an organized catalog where all apps downloaded onto your device live.

To access your Android app drawer:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of your home screen
2. Browse apps – scroll horizontally to see more pages
3. Once you spot the app, long press the icon
4. Drag it anywhere desired on your home screen

And that‘s all there is to it! The app appears again as an icon on your home screen for easy access.

With over 3 billion active Android devices globally as of 2022, the platform powers more than 70% of smartphones. App drawer interfaces can vary slightly between manufacturers like Samsung and smartphone sizes.

If you still can‘t locate that pesky app after thoroughly checking your app drawer, it may have gotten tucked away inside a home screen folder. Long press on any folder icons to peek inside for contents.

You can also use the Google search bar widget prevalent on Android home screens to digitally hunt for the app if desperate. Just be sure you have it set to search your device, not the entire web, via the drop down menu.

Android 13 and Increased Customization

The latest major Android release, version 13, allows for more personalized home screen layouts. Handy highlights include newly elevated widget stacks,customizable icon shapes and colors, multiple themes, and expanded quick settings visibility from the lock screen.

Similar to iOS 16, more flexibility for Android users to fine tune their optimal home screen set up comes with occasional hiccups like apps vanishing out of sight. But the trusty app drawer is still there to help you rediscover displaced icons.

Preventing Apps From Disappearing

While losing apps from your carefully curated home screen arrangement can be temporarily annoying, getting them back is straightforward on both iPhones and Androids. Still, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Here are tips to avoid mysteriously missing app icons in the future:

• Carefully review all allowed apps under Screen Time restrictions to avoid inadvertent hiding
• Cautiously customize folders and home screen layouts to prevent reshuffling
• Back up your device regularly in case a full factory reset becomes necessary

You can also proactively turn on Lost Mode via Find My app on iPhones or Find My Mobile on Samsung devices as another recovery safety net if an app did still manage to get lost.

But don‘t fall prey to sketchy "cleaner" and "booster" apps claiming to find lost apps! Most just want permissions to display ads or access private data. Stick to reputable tools built directly into iOS or Android instead for peace of mind.

When to Contact Manufacturer vs Developer

If you‘ve thoroughly tried all the home screen app recovery methods discussed but still have a no-show icon, should you contact Apple or Google? Probably not directly.

Here are the best next actions:

For system apps: If it‘s a pre-installed app like Contacts or Calculator not working, you‘ll need to contact your phone manufacturer about possible corruption in the OS via their customer service channels.

For third-party apps: If it‘s an app you downloaded like games or social media, get in touch with that developer‘s support team about possible bugs or crashes related to the app code itself.

They should be able to advise you on fully removing and reinstalling the latest version of the app to hopefully get its icon happily back in residence on your home screen.

Key Takeaways

While having an app vanish inexplicably from your meticulously customized home screen can certainly be annoying, getting it back is straightforward:

• iPhone users can find most missing apps in the App Library or by checking restrictions
• Android users should tap the app drawer and peek into home screen folders
• Resetting your home screen is a last resort nuclear option to displace hidden apps
• Updating to the latest OS version also equips you with more toolbox tricks
• Stick to built-in tools to avoid scammy third-party "finder apps"

With a few strategic taps and swipes leveraging the native features readily available in iOS or Android, you‘ll reclaim your roaming app exile in no time! No need to panic, factory reset your device, or visit the store for a replacement.

Take control anytime an app goes temporarily AWOL from your home base by following this guide. Report any legitimate glitches to the appropriate developers, and customize your ideal layout without fear of apps getting permanently lost in the process thanks to your new confidence navigating your device‘s app organization systems!