[AC Question]

I have a new HTC 320 Desire running Android 4.4.2.

I seem to have discarded an icon on my "desktop" (or home screen or whatever it's supposed to be called) and would like to get it back.

For a couple of weeks now, it had 13 icons on it. The top icon, which spanned the whole width of the screen, was a Google search icon with a little microphone in it. Below that, in a grid that was 4 icons wide by 3 icons tall, were icons for other apps, like Google, Google Play Store, and some other things I'd installed. Below that, was five icons. From left to right: Phone, Text, an icon that gives you a list of apps, a video player app, and the camera app for the phone.

Then, I'm not sure why, the Google search app moved down one level so that there were 4 icons above it, then the search app was on the second level, then the remaining icons were in their normal places below that. I'm really not sure what I did that caused the search app to leave its normal position so I tried to move it back up to the top level. I pushed it upward with my finger and it disappeared entirely. The second level just remains empty. How do I get the search app back? I'd prefer to have it occupying the first row, but at this point I'd be happy to get it back anywhere on that desktop/home screen.

Basically, I seem to have shot myself in the foot by misusing a gesture. There must be some way to get that app back but I'm darned if I can figure it out. I can see the Google app in my list of apps but I don't know how to get it back on the desktop. In Windows, I would right-click on the icon and choose Pin to Start but I don't see any way to do the same in Android.

[Rukbat]

Go to Widgets (in the app drawer) and look for Google Search. Press it and, while pressing it, drag it to the desktop at the top - but watch out for the red trash can. If that appears, move it down a bit before releasing it. Dropping it on the trash can deletes it from the desktop - which is probably what you did.