Google Now Launcher - Won't Load Now Screen

[D1andOnlyOmen]

I know it was mentioned that in some of the more recent OS releases that the Now launcher may be "going away" (if memory serves). I've noticed over the past couple of days that when I try to pull over the Now screen from the left, it won't load. Don't get the message saying it can't be reached or anything, it just is blank and if I pull down to refresh, it just spins and never loads anything. I have a Now widget on my main home screen and it seems to show accurate info from Now cards, yet tapping the widget just takes me to the Now screen that is blank. I'm in the beta program still (last I knew at least) and I'm on 7.1.1 build N4F26O. Anyone else experiencing anything like this?

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you already tried clearing the Google app's cache and data?

 

[GSDer]

Beats me - I'm on NUF26K (latest release build) and the Google Now Launcher works fine, including dragging in from the left side (on the farthest left screen) to get the cards.

 

[ZollieD]

I have been having the same issue recently. I've even factory reset the phone and the problem persists

 

[chezm]

Have you already tried clearing the Google app's cache and data?

I was having the same issues but after clearing app data cache it worked fine again.

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

Before I had a chance to try clearing the Google apps cache, I dropped my phone and it landed face down flat. I feared the worse (shattered screen), but was thankful to see when I picked it up that all was still perfect......screen wise at least (pro-tip for always putting at the very least a minimal TPU case on your phone and applying a screen protector I guess).

However, when I picked up the phone I noticed it was going through the reboot process. When I had been using the phone before dropping it, I had noticed my battery was down to 40%, had shut off the screen and slide it into my pocket. A few moments later i realized I needed to check the time, pulled the phone or of my pocket and noticed the "low battery warning" coloration of the top and bottom of the screen. I've also been experiencing the issue of the phone dying when still at about 14-15% left showing on the battery. When I dropped the phone putting it back into my pocket, in not sure if somehow the battery was jarred slightly enough that this triggered it to lose connection and that caused the reboot it what happened. Once the phone was back up and running, Now has been working normally.

Guess I'm stumped at this point.

 

[Roger Bird]

Have you already tried clearing the Google app's cache and data?

I am having this same issue and clearing the cache does not help. I am Running Android 6.0 On Motorola X Pure Edition.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central, @Roger Bird! Did you also clear the Google app's data as well, or only the cache?

 

[Kjelstad]

I went in to fix this and I noticed "Home app - no" I turned it to 'yes' and rebooted

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

Updating from my last post........since dropping my phone I have again experienced the Now tab of the home screen again not working when I slide over to it from the left. I have tried rebooting the phone and that hasn't worked. I've tried going into the listing for "Google Now Launcher" in my Apps listing and there isn't any option for me to "clear" anything there (the options to Disable or Force Stop aren't active). I've tried to clear every possible thing I can find and nothing seems to work. The Now tab just doesn't seem to want to load at all. As noted before, the widget still will show up-to-date card info. I have a very small widget in use (1x5) so it would only be showing the "top" card from the Now screen, but it at least has relevant/accurate information (i.e. next upcoming calendar appointment).

ANYONE have any additional thoughts or seen where any others are experiencing issues with this on a wider basis??

 

[Hoovie83]

I'm having the same problem!

 

[chezm]

OK it happened again to me as well...Clearing cache and data of Google app didn't help. Haven't tried rebooting yet. I assumed last was we got an update for Google app but I know we haven't got one recently so I don't understand why this is now coming to the surface. Frustrating.

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

I've rebooted my phone since it last started not loading the Now screen and that didn't correct the situation at all. Neither has the clearing of cache or app data for Google items that would seem logical.

What's weird to me is that the "banner" in the Google Now tab....that seems to be updating just fine to show the particular "doodle" of the day.....but just nothing else on the rest of the screen will ever load. And the widget on my actual home screen still continues to show current/valid items, even if I can't actually click into them to see the card itself, it's at least still updating accurately.

 

[GSDer]

Perhaps you could install a different Launcher (ex. Action Launcher 3 https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...d=com.actionlauncher.playstore&token=x-BYUQiz) and make that the default, then switch back to the Google Now Launcher and see if that corrects the problem?

If you boot into Safe mode does it work correctly? If so there's some 3rd party application causing the problem.

 

[chezm]

Rebooting the phone resolved the issue for me, sorry to hear it hasnt worked for you.

 

[LeoRex]

Delete the card preferences in the 'your feed' settings in the Google app. You'll only have to answer a couple of questions, most data is retained.

I think there's a old preference that is causing a problem with the newer Google app versions. I had this pop up on a fairly regular basis, but none since I cleared that card prefs. I

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

Delete the card preferences in the 'your feed' settings in the Google app. You'll only have to answer a couple of questions, most data is retained.

I think there's a old preference that is causing a problem with the newer Google app versions. I had this pop up on a fairly regular basis, but none since I cleared that card prefs. I

Thanks. We'll see how long this lasts, but it seems to have worked for now.

 

[chezm]

Delete the card preferences in the 'your feed' settings in the Google app. You'll only have to answer a couple of questions, most data is retained.

I think there's a old preference that is causing a problem with the newer Google app versions. I had this pop up on a fairly regular basis, but none since I cleared that card prefs. I

OK I also have this a try...Let's see how it goes. Thanks.

 

[D1andOnlyOmen]

Thanks. We'll see how long this lasts, but it seems to have worked for now.

Well that was fairly short-lived. While the delete card preferences worked to "refresh" things last night........A check of the Now tab this morning again reveals a blank screen (only the Google logo at the top) and no cards will load.

Not sure if I noticed this last night, but also after clearing the card preferences and looking at the Now screen with cards in it this morning after they load, I couldn't just swipe back to the right to get back to my main home screen, had to hit the home button. Then when setting left again to see the Now tab........blank with no cards again.

 

[LeoRex]

I couldn't just swipe back to the right to get back to my main home screen, had to hit the home button. Then when setting left again to see the Now tab........blank with no cards again.

The part where you can't swipe leads me to suspect something else that's in play... the behavior I noticed was mostly that it seemed that Now was having issues resolving the right information to display in the cards. The 'On Tap' cards would populate... so I suspect that it has something to do with that first group of "Of Interest to You" cards that pops up.

Keep in mind that Google is in the middle of completely overhauling everything with the Google App. Not only will they be migrating people to Google Assistant, they will be deprecating the Google Now Launcher... presumably replacing it with some new version branched off of the Pixel Launcher. So who knows what's going on in the back end.