Help Prevent icons moving in S4?

spman · Nov 4, 2013

Hello,

How can I prevent dragging of the icons accidentally? Sometimes when I am holding the phone, my fingers touched the icons for few seconds and I accidentally dragged the icon.

I did not change anything on the phone, the phone is default like when I bought it from the store.

And is there a way to restore the moved icons/undo moving of icons to default original icon location?

Thanks

wtherrell · Nov 4, 2013

spman said:
Hello,

How can I prevent dragging of the icons accidentally? Sometimes when I am holding the phone, my fingers touched the icons for few seconds and I accidentally dragged the icon.

I did not change anything on the phone, the phone is default like when I bought it from the store.

And is there a way to restore the moved icons/undo moving of icons to default original icon location?

Thanks

Don't know what launcher you're using but I use Apex & it has a lock desktop option in its menu. It also has desktop and homescreen backup / restore. These options seen to be just what you want. If I am not mistaken, Nova Launcher settings also have this. Perhaps yours has it somewhere as well.

spman · Nov 4, 2013

wtherrell said:
Don't know what launcher you're using but I use Apex & it has a lock desktop option in its menu. It also has desktop and homescreen backup / restore. These options seen to be just what you want. If I am not mistaken, Nova Launcher settings also have this. Perhaps yours has it somewhere as well.

I did not install anything yet. No Apex or Nova.

Can the default theme (just bought the phone without changing any settings) do the lock desktop option?

Griff_LI · Nov 4, 2013

I just don't follow what your problem is. If you don't know where things were then it doesn't matter does it?

You could always Factory Reset but that's a bit drastic just because you've moved some of the icons and they might be in a different position. First thing I did was remove an awful lot of the stock widgets as they were of no use to me (and some of them were HUGE). Customize your phone to suit your needs and forget about the "default theme".

If you're finding you are moving stuff around by mistake then wtherrel's suggestion of a lockable launcher is probably a good idea.

spman · Nov 4, 2013

Griff_LI said:
I just don't follow what your problem is. If you don't know where things were then it doesn't matter does it?

You could always Factory Reset but that's a bit drastic just because you've moved some of the icons and they might be in a different position. First thing I did was remove an awful lot of the stock widgets as they were of no use to me (and some of them were HUGE). Customize your phone to suit your needs and forget about the "default theme".

If you're finding you are moving stuff around by mistake then wtherrel's suggestion of a lockable launcher is probably a good idea.

I actually accidentally deleted an icon once. (I think I dragged into the delete bin).

Is there any way to know or re setup those deleted/undelete from "recycle bin" icons?

I am a newbie to S4 so I was wondering if those S4 icons are working similar like windows 7 desktop icons, when the icon has been deleted, I can still recover it from recycle bin or re setup an icon shortcut from the "all programs" (right click and drag to desktop to create shortcut on desktop)

Griff_LI · Nov 4, 2013

Not that I'm aware of - but my point still stands. If you knew which app it was you could re-add it easily, you just don't know what it is. Which means you're not really missing it. If I accidentally deleted any of my desktop (certainly on 2 or 3 of my screens) then I'd know it was missing and what it was instantly. If you've no idea what it was, forget about it - you clearly weren't using it. Replace it with something you actually use and move on.

AeolianReflex · Nov 4, 2013

What Griff is saying is that the default screen setup is just a basic one and you're somewhat missing the point of android by trying to keep it exactly as is. Go to the app drawer and take some time to to explore the different apps and see which ones you would use most often. Put them on your home screen is an configuration that works for you. The phone comes with 3 home screens but you can add more if you need them. An app icon taken off of the home screen can be re-added by opening the app drawer, find it then tap and hold and you will be able to drag it onto a home screen. The same goes for widgets. That is how you create shortcuts in android.
You may want to take a look at the "Post Your Home Screens" thread to get some ideas of how to set up your own screens.

Goodspike · Nov 4, 2013

Griff_LI said:
Not that I'm aware of - but my point still stands. If you knew which app it was you could re-add it easily, you just don't know what it is. Which means you're not really missing it. If I accidentally deleted any of my desktop (certainly on 2 or 3 of my screens) then I'd know it was missing and what it was instantly. If you've no idea what it was, forget about it - you clearly weren't using it. Replace it with something you actually use and move on.

Serious? You don't understand that they want to be able lock their phone so that they don't make unintended changes to the phone. Being able to undo something isn't the point. The point is they don't want to have to undo it.

Goodspike · Nov 4, 2013

spman said:
I actually accidentally deleted an icon once. (I think I dragged into the delete bin).

Is there any way to know or re setup those deleted/undelete from "recycle bin" icons?

I am a newbie to S4 so I was wondering if those S4 icons are working similar like windows 7 desktop icons, when the icon has been deleted, I can still recover it from recycle bin or re setup an icon shortcut from the "all programs" (right click and drag to desktop to create shortcut on desktop)

The icons will still be in the "apps" area where all apps and widgets are shown. The only way they would disappear is if you deleted an app, or in some rare cases where the app is updated. You can just drag them back to the place that they were.

Griff_LI · Nov 4, 2013

Goodspike said:
Serious? You don't understand that they want to be able lock their phone so that they don't make unintended changes to the phone. Being able to undo something isn't the point. The point is they don't want to have to undo it.

No, I understand that, hence my earlier agreement with a previous suggestion that they install a launcher that has that feature. What I don't understand is the desire to remain in the same out-of-the-box configuration (despite the fact that they don't use the moving apps enough to know which ones have moved).

spman · Nov 4, 2013

Griff_LI said:
No, I understand that, hence my earlier agreement with a previous suggestion that they install a launcher that has that feature. What I don't understand is the desire to remain in the same out-of-the-box configuration (despite the fact that they don't use the moving apps enough to know which ones have moved).

I am a newbie so I actually assume that the icons disappear from the main screen means that some programs disappear from my phone. Now then I understand that all those are "shortcuts" that can be dragged out from the "Apps" icons.

Griff_LI · Nov 4, 2013

Ah cool, glad you're happier. Enjoy!

Goodspike · Nov 4, 2013

spman said:
I am a newbie so I actually assume that the icons disappear from the main screen means that some programs disappear from my phone. Now then I understand that all those are "shortcuts" that can be dragged out from the "Apps" icons.

You can actually load programs several different ways.

In addition to home screen shortcuts, you can create a folder to put several shortcuts in. I do that for my car apps.

There's also the row on the bottom of the screen, which remains the same on every screen.

If you activate Multi-window, you can load the apps that work with multi-window from there.

If you use a swipe phone lock (rather than PIN), there are two ways you can load programs from there. Although not having a PIN isn't recommended, I use a paid app called Delayed Lock which keeps my phone unlocked while connected to my home network or car's bluetooth.

And there are probably other ways I've forgotten about. Android is quite versatile.

wtherrell · Nov 4, 2013

spman said:
I actually accidentally deleted an icon once. (I think I dragged into the delete bin).

Is there any way to know or re setup those deleted/undelete from "recycle bin" icons?

I am a newbie to S4 so I was wondering if those S4 icons are working similar like windows 7 desktop icons, when the icon has been deleted, I can still recover it from recycle bin or re setup an icon shortcut from the "all programs" (right click and drag to desktop to create shortcut on desktop)

You didn't delete the icon, I think. You just removed the "shortcut" from that homescreen. Unless you uninstalled the app just go into the app drawer, find the app, tap & hold the icon. The home screen tiles will pop up & just drag the icon to where you want it and release it.

spman · Nov 4, 2013

Goodspike said:
You can actually load programs several different ways.

In addition to home screen shortcuts, you can create a folder to put several shortcuts in. I do that for my car apps.

There's also the row on the bottom of the screen, which remains the same on every screen.

If you activate Multi-window, you can load the apps that work with multi-window from there.

If you use a swipe phone lock (rather than PIN), there are two ways you can load programs from there. Although not having a PIN isn't recommended, I use a paid app called Delayed Lock which keeps my phone unlocked while connected to my home network or car's bluetooth.

And there are probably other ways I've forgotten about. Android is quite versatile.

Can I increase "the row on the bottom of the screen" to more than 5 ? I can only put maximum 4 icons there. "Apps" icon is permanently fixed to bottom right.

How to activate multi windows? How to know which apps work with multi window?

spman · Nov 4, 2013

wtherrell said:
You didn't delete the icon, I think. You just removed the "shortcut" from that homescreen. Unless you uninstalled the app just go into the app drawer, find the app, tap & hold the icon. The home screen tiles will pop up & just drag the icon to where you want it and release it.

Does it mean that all the apps that are installed will automatically create a shortcut at the homescreen? Why do icons appear on the homescreen?

Am I right to say that every icons in the homescreen is a shortcut of the icons inside "Apps"?

wtherrell · Nov 4, 2013

spman said:
Does it mean that all the apps that are installed will automatically create a shortcut at the homescreen? Why do icons appear on the homescreen?

Am I right to say that every icons in the homescreen is a shortcut of the icons inside "Apps"?

Many apps will place an icon on a homescreen when they are installed if you have Playstore settings enabled for it. Some are pre-installed when you get the phone. And, yes you can think of an icon on the homescreen as a shortcut that launches the app. Also on the homescreen are widgets. These usually have ongoing data displayed for you on the homescreen. Tapping a widget will bring up the underlying app for further information, settings, etc. One of my favorites is the WeatherBug Elite widget.

Help Prevent icons moving in S4?

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