ICS phone and contacts widgets gone can't add

[mtblankus]

All was fine until today. Then my contacts widget disappeared from the bottom shortcut bar ( or whatever it's called). I tried to add it back from the apps folder, but it won't add and I also tried to add it to another home screen, but no luck. Any advice?

 

[B. Diddy]

Do you mean the People shortcut, or an actual widget? You can't add widgets to the shortcut bar. Go to Apps, and drag the People app to the shortcut bar. Does that work?

 

[mtblankus]

That did work. I swear it was there before, dragged and dropped from home screen. But maybe I'm wrong. What's strange is that I can't put the widget on a home screen either. Is there some reason for that? Are old GB widgets not working on ICS?

 

[B. Diddy]

The Contact widget is for single contacts only. If you drag and drop the Contact widget, it'll ask you to select a contact from your list, then place that person as a widget. When you tap it, you can select if you want to call, text, email, etc. If you just want a widget to direct dial someone, use the Direct Dial widget. Unfortunately, there's no stock Contacts widget that allows you to scroll thru your list.

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[ac110]

I no longer have a contacts list when I use the phone tab. It was there before ICS. I have to go back to a home screen to scroll thru contacts

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[B. Diddy]

On the Dialer screen, if you start typing a number OR a name using the alphanumeric keypad, the phone will bring up matching contacts, so you don't really need access to the list from the Dialer, in my opinion.

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[mtblankus]

Thanks for explaining that. I'm starting to feel a little dumb. I used to have a link on the home screen that opened up the contacts list. I had others that opened the recent calls and dialer. Not all at once, but over time I changed them as my use changed.

Are these no longer available or am I looking in the wrong place? Are they not widgets or apps?

 

[B. Diddy]

The People app/shortcut is what used to be Contacts. You can find it in the Apps list. Your recent calls are accessible from the Dialer--just touch Recent at the top of the screen.

 

[ac110]

I discovered that if you hit the seach icon while in the phone app it brings up all the contacts.

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[B. Diddy]

I discovered that if you hit the seach icon while in the phone app it brings up all the contacts.

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Thanks, that's a good tip!

 

[CharlieL3]

I installed Gesture Search, and use that instead of the Contacts (now People) app. You can also use it to search apps.

 

[mtblankus]

Ok, now the phone link on the shortcut bar keeps disappearing. At first I thought it was my mistake, so added it back and restarted. It was still there, but then disappeared again later. This has happened 3 times now.

 

[B. Diddy]

Are you stock or rooted? If stock, then talk to Verizon, see if they have any bright ideas. They'll probably suggest you first do a soft reset (i.e., power button + volume down button), and if that doesn't work, do a factory reset. If you've done these things already and tell them so, they might just offer to give you a replacement. It might be a refurbished unit, but a working refurbished unit is better than a faulty new one.

One other thing you might try would be to go to Manage Apps->All->Homescreen, and clear the data. Keep in mind I've never done this, but have read other posts of those who did, who said that it basically wipes your homescreen configuration, leaving you to configure it again manually. Maybe this would clear out some buggy data that somehow got into the app.

 

[mtblankus]

I tried the soft reset using power and volume down. It took a screen shot instead. LOL

I did figure out it's not only the phone app, but whatever link I put in the leftmost position on that shortcut bar disappears. Losing one link spot isn't a big deal, but I like symmetry, so having the blank spot annoys me.

 

[mtblankus]

Oh, and it's stock, so if it doesn't resolve with the next update, I'll contact Verizon. I just don't want to have to redo all the setting up. Changing phones is a lot of work. I still can't figure out how to not show all my extra contacts.

 

[rbess1965]

I tried the soft reset using power and volume down. It took a screen shot instead. LOL

I did figure out it's not only the phone app, but whatever link I put in the leftmost position on that shortcut bar disappears. Losing one link spot isn't a big deal, but I like symmetry, so having the blank spot annoys me.

The trick there is to use the power button to put your phone to sleep first, then do the power & vol together and it will reboot without taking a picture.

 

[mtblankus]

The trick there is to use the power button to put your phone to sleep first, then do the power & vol together and it will reboot without taking a picture.

Omg, I'm such a noob. Tried soft reset, will post my results. Thanks!

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[mtblankus]

Soft reset didn't fix it. I guess I'll deal with the blank space and wait for the next update to see if it fixes it.

Thanks for the help!

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