Apps Disappearing After Restart

[Hawk Conqui]

I've recently noticed that after every restart I do on my Moto Z2 Play, running 7.1.1, that a couple of my apps disappear, usually 2-4. The apps don't get deleted but they are removed from my home screen. I was wondering if anybody else had this problem and if there was a fix available.

 

[B. Diddy]

Have you already tried wiping the cache partition as a general troubleshooting step? https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/indevice_detail/a_id/113289/p/30,6720,9835

 

[Hawk Conqui]

I just tried it, no luck. Thanks for the idea though! Any more suggestions?

 

[Javier P]

I just tried it, no luck. Thanks for the idea though! Any more suggestions?

Are you using an SD card?

 

[Hawk Conqui]

Yes I am. I formatted it as internal.

 

[Javier P]

Yes I am. I formatted it as internal.

Yeah, that was my first thought. It's possible that the card is starting to fail and those apps are saved on the it. I would recommend you to migrate all data back to internal storage and reformat the card as portable/external.

Setting a card as adoptable/internal storage is a bit risky and things can get nasty if the card gets corrupted.

 

[Hawk Conqui]

Ok, thank you. Do you think I'll be able to move them back over to the SD Card after I get Oreo, or is this completely an SD Card problem?

 

[Javier P]

I think it's a card problem. Use it as portable for a while and see how it goes. Just make sure you have a copy of the files stored in the card.

 

[Hawk Conqui]

Sounds good, thank you. Do you think if I got a new card or a faster one later on if it would be any better?

 

[Javier P]

They recommend a high-speed card, such as a UHS-1 type, to use as adoptable storage. You can try again, but just remember the risks involved when setting a card as internal storage.

 

[Hawk Conqui]

Thank you again, I'll take that into consideration.

 

[gordol]

Yes I am. I formatted it as internal.

That's the problem. It's not necessarily a bad card. More likely, it's merely that the card hasn't been initialized before the launcher app does. And that the disappearing apps are installed to the card. This happened to me.

Reformat the card for external storage and the problem should go away.

Back up your data from it first. You will need to reinstall those apps that are effected by the problem.

Only a few phones properly support formatting the card as internal storage. None of them are from Motorola.

 

[Hawk Conqui]

Ok, so I just make it external instead of internal and I should be good? If I make it internal again after making it external will he problem persist?

 

[gordol]

Ok, so I just make it external instead of internal and I should be good? If I make it internal again after making it external will he problem persist?

Yes and yes. The problem is almost certainly due to the device not fully initializing the card prior to the launcher app loading. I have a modern Sandisk UltraPlus U1 card in my Z2 Play, and I experienced the same issues. Reformatted the card as external storage and no more problem.

 

[Hawk Conqui]

That makes sense, thank for the fix!

 

[Selden Deemer]

I just ran into this on a new Moto e4, and I think that I have accidentally stumbled on a solution.

Problem: Pocket app disappeared from home screen and/or app folder after restart.

Solution (I don't know why it works):

1. Enable Developer options
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-get-developer-options-on-android/

2. Reformat sd card (in my case a 32 Gb Samsung Class 10 microSD)

3. Reinstall apps, then move everything possible to the sd card. This freed up about 2 Gb from internal storage.

4. Restart. Icons for all apps that were moved to the card disappear.

5. Disable Developer options

6. Reformat card as internal, move everything possible to external card

7. Restart. All the app icons that previously disappeared are now visible even though they are shown as being on the Samsung SD card.

I have restarted my phone several times since, and nothing has disappeared yet. Fingers crossed.

 

[lasloo]

I found that simply moving just one of the apps on the SD back to internal storage seemed to fix/refresh everything. I then moved it back. And it's good for awhile ( but does happen again sporadically). Only annoying thing is that if it was on your home screen you have to manually put it back again.