How to put an app back on your home screen

So as to not clutter up your home screen, newly-downloaded apps from the App Store can be sent directly to the App Library. But what if you later want to open the app without digging through the library? Here’s how to move apps from the App Library to your iPhone’s home screen.

Start by swiping over to the right-most home screen on your iPhone to open the App Library. Here, locate an app that isn’t already on your home screen. Long-press on the app’s icon until a menu pops up.

Tap the “Add to Home Screen” button from the context menu.

The application will be moved and placed on your home screen automatically.

Heading back into the App Library, if an app is already on one of your home screens (visible or hidden), the “Add to Home Screen” option won’t appear in the context menu. Instead, you’ll have to enter Jiggle mode.

RELATED: How to Remove Apps and Pages from Your iPhone's Home Screen

Locate an app in your iPhone’s App Library that’s already on your home screen. Long-press on the app’s icon. After a second, a context menu will appear. Continue holding down on the app until it appears on your home screen.

As mentioned above, going this route will activate Jiggle mode (where your apps and folders will bounce around on your screen). Hold down on your app and place it wherever you like on your iPhone. Tap the “Done” button in the top-right corner when you’re finished moving the app.

If you can’t find a specific app in one of the App Library’s automatically-generated folders, you can tap on the search bar to locate the application.

Use the alphabetical list to find an app. Next, long-press on the listing until it’s highlighted. The block will look like it’s hovering above the rest of the menu when properly selected.

Without lifting your finger, move it to the left or right. You will be immediately shifted to your home screen, with Jiggle mode enabled.

As before, place the app wherever you like on your home screen or drop it in a folder. Tap the “Done” button in the top-right corner when you’re finished reorganizing your layout.

RELATED: How to Move iPhone Apps From a Home Screen to the App Library

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On our mobile devices, the Home Screen serves as a shortcut conduit to easily access our favorite apps without having to scroll through the app library every time we want to access these apps. 

Things could get hectic the minute you can’t find your favorite apps on your home screen. Sometimes, it is even possible that you are not sure about the name/identity of the missing app since all you noticed was a gap between your previously filled app grid. 

Adding the app back to the home screen could be tricky if you don’t know your way around the process. Don’t stress about it. In this short how-to guide, we’ll take you through how you can get apps back on the home screen and so much more.

Why Are My Apps Missing From Home Screen

Depending on your phone’s operating system, apps on your device’s home screen can disappear due to various reasons.

If you use an Android device, the most likely reason is that you or someone else deliberately or accidentally removed the app icon from the home screen manually. It is straightforward to remove apps from the Android home screen. 

In most cases, all you have to do is long-press the app icon and drag it to the X icon at the top of the open screen. And in other cases, you need to long-press the icon and tap the “Remove” virtual button that pops up after. 

This simplicity means it is easy to remove an app accidentally or deliberately. It doesn’t end here. You may have accidentally disabled the app in question or hidden it from the launcher.

On the other hand, if you are an iPhone user, an upgrade to iOS 14 will erase your app from the home screen. Don’t overthink because it’s not a bug that needs fixing. Instead, it is a new feature unique to more recent versions of the iOS software. Here, Apple has added a new App Library that functions as an app drawer for easier accessibility.

In addition, your apps can disappear from the home screen if you’ve accidentally or deliberately removed the app manually or uninstalled the app.

How To Get Apps Back On Your iDevice’s Home Screen

We have put together three methods through which you can get your apps back on your iOS Device’s home screen. Let’s go:

Method #1: Restore the Hidden Home Screen

The launch of the new App Library feature on the newer iOS 14 and later versions allows users to hide apps and home pages on the home screen. All the apps in the hidden page(s) will be loaded in the App Library.

The new feature allows you to decongest the home screen to give it a makeover. Therefore, if you’ve previously used this feature to hide one or more pages, the app you are searching for might be in the App Library, where iOS 14 has stashed it for you.

Apart from the decongesting feature, another major highlight of iOS 14 is that apps you newly installed won’t be displayed on your screen, unlike prior iOS versions. Instead, they’ll be automatically moved to a new separate folder named “Downloads” in the App Library.

In either case, you need to unhide the hidden page(s) to restore the missing apps.

To do this:

1. Press and hold anywhere on your unlocked screen.
2. Then tap on the dots just above the dock.
3. In the new window, click on the pages you’ve hidden to mark them.
4. After you’ve marked the unmarked pages, tap “Done.”

Once you have completed the highlighted steps, you should see any missing apps.

Method #2: Manually Add Apps Back to Home Screen

That you restore hidden pages doesn’t guarantee the addition of your missing app. If you had removed the app manually before you hid the page, restoring the page won’t change anything.

In this case, you want to manually restore the app that is missing to your home page from your App Library.

Here’s how:

1. Open your App Library from the home screen by swiping left to reach there.
2. In your App Library, explore all the App folders to locate the missing ones.
3. Once you’ve located the app, press and hold the app, then drag it to your preferred position on the screen.
4. You can also press and hold the app till you see a popup menu and select “Add to Screen”.

How To Get Apps Back On Your Android’s Home Screen

For Android users, once you notice that your app(s) have disappeared from the home screen, we recommend that you first restart your phone before you take the following steps listed below.

When your apps are missing on your Android device, it could be due to one or two minor software glitches, which a simple restart can resolve.

Method #1: Re-Add the Missing App to Your Home Screen

If you haven’t uninstalled your app from your phone, you’ll see it in your app drawer menu. Once you’ve located the app on your app drawer, re-adding it to the home screen is straightforward.

To do this:

1. Press and hold the missing app from your app drawer till the phone vibrates.
2. Then, drag the app from your drawer to your favorite position on the home screen.

Method #2: Unhide the Missing App

If you can’t locate the missing app in your app drawer menu, that app is no longer installed on your device or hidden.

Since most Android launchers allow users to hide apps, your missing app may be hidden, especially if you’ve been hiding apps before. 

So, you’ll have to check your launcher’s hidden folder for the missing app. Here’s how:

1. Press and hold anywhere on the home screen to access the launcher menu.
2. In the open menu, select “Launcher Settings.”
3. In the “Settings” window, navigate through to locate the option to hide apps. If you have hidden the app knowingly or unknowingly, you’ll see it here.
4. Tap and hold the app, then click the “Unhide App” option to return the app to its previous position on the home screen.

Summary

In this how-to guide, we’ve discussed how you can add apps back to your home screen. Depending on your device’s operating system, there are different ways you can go about accomplishing this task.

With this guide, you can now get apps back to your home screen.We hope we’ve answered all your questions and cleared all your doubts about finding and adding your apps back to the home screen to access your favorite apps at a glance.