[chani waitzberg]

Just updated mY nexus 5 to lollipop.

All was good until suddenly the home and open apps soft keys (middle and right) disappeared. I'm left with only the "back" soft key (left)

This is quite frustrating...

Any ideas?!?!

[anon(5600632)]

After the update, it usually pays to reboot into recovery mode and clear the cache partition. Fixes all sorts of weird stuff and you won't lose your data. Some people recommend a factory reset, but that's more trouble often not needed.

[chani waitzberg]

Thanks!!
I really hoped for a reply I'd understand... But I'm sure google will help me out there..

Thanks for the lightning fast reply! Kudos!

[chani waitzberg]

So i was scared I'd lose all my data by booting in safe mode etc. I ended up just clearing the cache in menu>settings>storage>cache and that worked...

Fluke?

[anon(5600632)]

As I said, these things are weird and unique. If it works it works.

The cache partition clear from recovery sounds intimidating but isn't and you won't lose your data. It's a funny sequence of pressing volume and power buttons which I never remember because I rarely do it, but it's easy to Google it for any phone.

Posted via the Android Central App

[Garret Peterson]

Maybe I'm having a different issue, but all of my soft keys, and my notification pane have disappeared. I've cleared the cache partition through recovery, and I've cleared the app cache through the menu interface as described above (I had to go to all apps to get to the settings app because my notification shade isn't there, so I couldn't get to settings that way).

They are all still missing when I boot into safe mode, so I don't think it's a 3rd party app conflict.

I am resistant to do a factory reset because I've already done one since upgrading to lollipop a week ago (a that time my phone would boot into a blank screen (the 4 color dots would dance, then I'd see "android", then just a blank screen)).

If I need to do another factory reset I guess I can do that, but I really hope it's not a weekly ritual to keep this phone working.

Never rooted this device. I've kept it as stock as I can in hopes of avoiding this kind of messiness.

[Garret Peterson]

Well, it looks like it's working now. I haven't done anything since that last post, except walk away from the phone in its broken state, but now it appears to be working. The soft keys are back, and the notification pane is back. The only seemingly permanent issue is that my widgets all disappeared from my home screens, but I don't mind putting them all back.

Fingers crossed

[BrotherBloat]

Has this happened since to you? I've had 3 of these already and the only solution was to factory reset... :/

[leegreg81]

Did you have expanded desktop enabled?

This auto-hides the softkeys until you swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

Posted via the Android Central App

[shray srivastava]

I'm having the same problem right now. Before some days, I was experiencing problems regarding random shut downs and the power button key not functioning well, but suddenly that problem dissapeared and now I'm experiencing major problems relating to the soft keys, my home button is not working & the recent tab button and home screen button keep dissapearing, now i'm left with only the back soft key button. Please help me out regarding this. I've already formated my pH once before couple of days but nothing seem to workout!