Help OS Update removes home screen icons

[TheRealLiam]

I have just installed three (3) nagging updates in the past month and, just like every other time, when the phone restarts, nearly all of my home screens are blank. I need to bring icons back from my app drawer and re-create all my icon groups.

Why are 90% - nay, any! - of my home screen icons removed whenever I updated my phone's OS?
Is there some way I can save/restore my layout before/after an update?
I am not using any 3rd-party launcher; I use whatever Google has given us with Android.

Thanks!

 

[Dannydet]

You can save your homescreen icons layouts, everything using a 3rd party launcher

 

[Hadron]

Whatever Google gave you, or more likely whatever Lenovo gave you, since the launcher is usually provided by the OEM.

You'd have to ask the manufacturer why this happens. I don't use the stock launcher on any of my devices, but on the rare occasions I do start it (usually to investigate a question someone has asked) it doesn't usually look any different from last time, despite monthly updates. But it's the manufacturer who issues the update, so if they change something in their launcher then in principle things could change. Or if an app changes sufficiently that the launcher doesn't recognize it as the same app (there's a bit more to that than just the app name, so this can happen) then the icon can disappear as well. This is more likely with an app update, but some apps may be updated as part of a system update.

It may be a quirk of your particular device - we'll need other owners to comment in order to know. It might be careless coding of the launcher on the part of the manufacturer, that they tweak something in its internal configuration between releases and data get lost. A merit of using a third party launcher is that you know it won't change due to a system update, I guess.

 

[TheRealLiam]

Thanks for the info! Now begins the hunt for a launcher I like.