Apps & Widgets

[jamesxplorer]

If you have the widget for an app, what's the point of the app's icon itself being on your screen?

For example, I added the widget for K9 email on to my screen and the K9 app icon is also there. Seems like I don't need the K9 icon anymore but if I delete it that would also delete the app I assume.

I could just move it to another screen I suppose but not a very elegant solution. Is that what android users normally do?

 

[chanchan05]

Depends on what phone you use. For example, Huawei's Emotion UI has the apps and widgets on the same screen, but generally, the homescreens and apps are separate. For example, on my phone, there are only about 20 apps on 3 homescreens, but I have more than 100 installed. If you don't have a Huawei phone or is using a third party launcher, removing the shortcut from the homescreen DOES NOT uninstall the app.

 

[SiempreTuna]

If you have a widget for an app, I don't think there's much point also having an icon so I would get rid of the icon.

Removing an icon from your home screen does NOT uninstall the app - it will still be available in the app 'drawer' and you could always replace the icon if you decided you didn't want to have the widget on screen.

 

[jamesxplorer]

OK, thanks...

But when I delete the icon by moving it to the trash can, it prompts me with:
Remove "K-9 Mail"
Uninstall will remove all data
(Cancel) (Uninstall)

Is there a way to remove the icon without uninstalling?

I am using Miui Android...

 

[funkylogik]

Without knowing how your launcher works its hard to say mate. So on the home screen (not the app drawer) when you drag the icon to the X/trash, it thinks you want to uninstall it?
What if you just long press the icon without moving it, does any kind of menu appear?

 

[jamesxplorer]

So, turns out this is the way the Miui launcher works. The solution is to create an archive folder and dump uneeded icons in there...

Thanks for your time & help!

 

[Hadron]

Or to use a different launcher - if the Miui launcher doesn't give you the desktop you want, you don't have to use it

 

[jamesxplorer]

The launcher is pretty cool, and the idea of uninstalling when you delete an app is a typical operation and makes it very easy to do an uninstall. So, there are pros and cons to this approach.

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, Miui is iPhone-like in that regard - no app drawer, all apps on the desktop (or in a folder on the desktop). It's a different approach to most Android launchers.