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Help Touchwiz widgets gone in Nova Launcher ?

S

seekingbuddha

Newbie
For over 4 years, i never bothered with my Galaxy and used it in as it came from T-mobile. Now, i am trying to get it cleaned up and setup. So, installed the free version of Nova launcher on my Android 4.4.4 version. I had many widgets in TouchWiz which are not showing up in Nova Launcher (Long press on empty space in screen and i access widgets). If i change the launcher to Touchwiz (under settings), then the missing widgets appear again (Under App drawer of Touchwiz, there is a separate tab for widgets). Is there any way i can access and install these widgets under my new free version Nova launcher ? OR do i have to restart, and get these widgets from somewhere ? If i go to playstore (using nova launcher), there is no search facility to find ONLY widgets. Google Playstore app can only search for apps, and i have to download an app, and then it seems to come with a bunch of widgets that i can then access in Nova. Am i missing something, in my understanding ? Thanks.
 
Widgets are apps that display live information on a homescreen. Some apps do nothing else, others work as apps but also provide widgets. So widgets aren't really distinct from apps, rather they are a feature that an app may or may not include. Which is why widgets are not something distinct from apps in the Play Store.

As for the Samsung widgets, it's common for manufacturers to make some of their apps' widgets only work with their own launcher. So it may be that some of the things you are looking for are unavailable with Nova because Samsung chose to make them that way. If so you'd need to find an alternative app to provide something equivalent.
 
The old version of TouchWiz widgets were part of TouchWiz launcher which is why it won't show up on Nova. It's only been recently (Galaxy S6 onwards) that Samsung separated the widgets from the launcher so they can show up in Nova launcher now.
 
I don't think you'll be able to update an original Samsung Galaxy Note from Jellybean (4.4.4) to Lollipop (5.0.2).

Which widgets did you want to use? Maybe there are alternatives by now.
 
I understand all the explanations; thanks to all. Not only Samsung widgets are NOT showing up in the NOVA launcher, but also the one widget that i downloaded couple of years ago - it is called "Assistive light" that is useful as mobile-flashlight during winter times. My memory may have failed, and perhaps this is a native widget and NOT something i downloaded ?

I found an alternative for that, since i have only one or two widgets like these from my past days with TouchWiz.
So, this was posted merely as a curiosity question, in order to understand android better. According to my understanding, since "Assistive light" is a third party widget that i downloaded, it should show up in Nova launcher ? I see so many other widgets when i am in TouchWiz (like Google "Directions", "Driving mode", "DropBox Folder", "Evernote list" etc). Why are these 3rd party apps not showing up in Nova launcher (free version, as of yesterday download) ? Perhaps a bug or design feature of the free version ?
 
Just get a free flashlight app from Google Play. That will always be in your app drawer and then you could drag it over to your homescreen from there and have it available anytime you're on your homescreen.
 
Assistive Light is a native TouchWiz widget on Samsungs.

As for the others, they might be shortcuts instead of actual widgets.
 
Thanks to all here, i have learned a bit more about android. Looks like i did wind up in the best forum for android users, to get support and answers.
 
seekingbuddha said:
I understand all the explanations; thanks to all. Not only Samsung widgets are NOT showing up in the NOVA launcher, but also the one widget that i downloaded couple of years ago - it is called "Assistive light" that is useful as mobile-flashlight during winter times. My memory may have failed, and perhaps this is a native widget and NOT something i downloaded ?

I found an alternative for that, since i have only one or two widgets like these from my past days with TouchWiz.
So, this was posted merely as a curiosity question, in order to understand android better. According to my understanding, since "Assistive light" is a third party widget that i downloaded, it should show up in Nova launcher ? I see so many other widgets when i am in TouchWiz (like Google "Directions", "Driving mode", "DropBox Folder", "Evernote list" etc). Why are these 3rd party apps not showing up in Nova launcher (free version, as of yesterday download) ? Perhaps a bug or design feature of the free version ?
Click to expand...

After knowing more, i know some of the things that i mentioned above are not accurate. (like...Assistive light is actually part of Samsung ware). Wanted to mention that, before i mark this thread as "Answered".
 
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