Can no longer add/remove Apps to/from Home Screen

[Katiinas]

Hi everyone,

So this is a strange one. I can't seem to find any info on the internet about this, thought might give it a shot here.

After I've turned my phone back on, for some reason I can no longer add any Applications to my Home Screen, nor can I remove them..

All Icons that were brought up via 'drag upwards to add to Home Screen' dissapeared leaving only widgets and couple of default icons I had kept.

Whenver I drag application up icon cannot cross the line between 'menu' and 'Add to Home Screen'. Icon goes back down when roughly 1/4th of the icon gets above the mentioned line.

I have tried (because why not) 'Xperia Home -> Clear data' to reset Home screen, it seems that now only available icons I can have are the default ones (Music, Album, Video, Google). 

Downloading and Installing new app does set Icon on Home Screen, however it cannot be removed.

I've done the Touchscreen Test in Diagnostics, I can clear all screen with ease. Did dead pixel test - also fine.

Besides that I don't have any other faults with my phone, but MicroSD  which doesn't hold, instead keeps popping out. I've wraped it in thin layer of paper and just jammed it in there (Maybe 3 months ago). Before 'Home Screen problem' I had removed MicroSD with pincers. That's why phone was off and after turning it back on again this happened.

If you anymore info of any kind I could provide for this issue, I would gladly do.

Also if there is no 'solve' would there be any kind of 'walk around'? Maybe I could add/remove icons from homescreen some other way?

[Uliwooly]

@Katiinas

Settings > apps > all > home > clear data > restart the phone

[Katiinas]

Did that already. It returned back to default apps on Home Screen. Still can't remove any apps from Home Screen since that drag and drop to 'remove' doesn't work.

[Uliwooly]

@Katiinas

what if you pinch zoom > remove that page of the home launcher?

[_alexdon_]

Have you checked home settings? There is something called add icons to home screen, have you enabled it?

[Jake-SonyXperia]

Hi Katiinas,

Welcome to the community,

Can you boot to Safemode and let us know if the issue continues?

Safemode

[Katiinas]

@uliwooly yeah, that does remove the whole pane and I think I can use it as a way to remove Icons from Home Screen. Thanks.

@alexdon Home Settings has just two settings. Allow rotation and size of the icons. (I access it by holding on screen > Home Settings.

@Jake-SonyXperiaSupport yes issue still persists in Safemode.

Also what I've noticed is if I choose to sort menu by 'Most Used' or 'alphabetical' I can add Icons straight to Home Screen without drag and drop to 'Add to Home Screen'

Hover on personalised view drag and drop to add won't work and drag and drop and Home Screen to remove won't work.

[Jake-SonyXperia]

This is a rather odd case, it seems as though you have an issue with the Software which goes past third party.

Honestly I would suggest performing a software repair on the device after a backup to the handset.

Backup

Software repair

[Moobot]

Hi,

I can no longer add or remove apps from the home screen using long press and drag and drop.

While in the app screen, if I long press and drag an app icon to the top of the screen, I see the text 'Add to home screen' but however much I move it around at the top it won't change to the home screen to drop it on.

The same issue when I'm trying to remove an app from the home screens. I drag the icon to where it says 'Remove from home screen', but it doesn't change to red colour, as it used to, so I cannot remove it.

I can still add and remove widgets from the home screens, as it goes red and deletes when dragging a widget to 'Remove from home screen' at the top of screen.

I have tried repairing with PC companion but its still the same, also with a 'clean' repair without importing any apps or settings. I also tried doing a factory re-set from android menu, but it's still the same.

Thanks for any help.

Max

[Jonas]

Hi @Moobot, welcome to our forum!

I'm sorry to hear about that.

Since the widgets are usually bigger in size than the app icons, I would recommend that you try the touch test in your phone which you can find in the service menu.

Open up the phone application and type in *#*#7378423#*#* > Service test > Touch > Free drawing test. Can you draw at all areas on the top of your screen?

If you aren't able to draw at all parts, please get in contact Local support team and they will be able to assist you with having the phone sent in to an authorized service centre.

Let me know how it goes!