Help Having Problems Adding App Shortcuts To Home Screen

[PGB1213]

Hello All!
I have a ZTE Maven running Android 5.1 on AT&T. I am having three problems that are new in the last few days. Sorry for being pesky; I tried to find the answers on my own, but came up empty, so I'd like to ask here.

I have 3 home screen panes. One has 2 folders that have some app shortcuts. If I try to place a new shortcut on any home screen, it automatically gets added to one of the existing folders o matter where I land it.

Here is how I do the shortcuts:
I click the Apps icon at the bottom of Home Screen One and hold on an icon. I drag the icon the the screen I wish the app short cut to be on. I wait, but nothing lights up or flashes so I let go. The icon lands in one of the two folders- even if they are on a different home screen pane.

I also can't drag the shortcuts out of the folders. The folder pop-up covers the whole screen, so the only choice is to delete.

Problem Two is that I can no longer make folders on the home screen. I used to simply place a shortcut on top of another and a folder appeared. I then was able to name it. This no longer works.

Problem Three is that app shortcuts are disappearing randomly. All of a sudden, one or more will be gone. Sometimes restarting the phone brings them back, but most often it does not.

Do you all know what in the world is going on & how I can get stuff back to normal?

Thanks Very Much for helping out!
Paul

 

[MLSS]

Have you thought about using a 3rd parry launcher like Nova or Apex? They are very customizable and easy to use launcher replacements.

 

[PGB1213]

Thank You MLSS for taking the time to send this great suggestion. I'm so new to Android (and smart phones) that I did not even realize that one could use a better launcher. I'll certainly test them out.
I'll be happy to get rid of the ZTE apps that are 'permanent' on the home screens and crash all the time anyway. It will also be great to sort things in a way that makes sense to me.


Explained below is something that I basically stumbled on that kinda-sorta (temporarily) fixed the problem. It makes no sense to me how the two items are related, but here is the goofy discovery:
After trying every possible thing that I could think of with this problem, next was going to be a factory reset.
I was about to make a new pre-reset backup, but I was having trouble seeing the text, so I went to Settings - Accessibility - Large Text to see if there was a larger font than the one I already had the phone set on. (I had previously set it to "On" because my eyesight is poor.) Hmmm...

Could this large font be causing the shortcut problem?? Naw, no chance! But since I'm here....
I turned large font off. After turning it off, I could make shortcuts and folders. I could even re-arrange them and make another pane for the home screen.
After turning Large Font back on- The problems returned. Crazy, Ain't It?

Since I pretty much always need large text, I'll go with your 3rd party launcher suggestion MLSS. Thank You very much for sharing it. It will be fun to explore those apps. They look quite interesting.

Enjoy This Day!
Paul

 

[MLSS]

Thank You MLSS for taking the time to send this great suggestion. I'm so new to Android (and smart phones) that I did not even realize that one could use a better launcher. I'll certainly test them out.
I'll be happy to get rid of the ZTE apps that are 'permanent' on the home screens and crash all the time anyway. It will also be great to sort things in a way that makes sense to me.


Explained below is something that I basically stumbled on that kinda-sorta (temporarily) fixed the problem. It makes no sense to me how the two items are related, but here is the goofy discovery:
After trying every possible thing that I could think of with this problem, next was going to be a factory reset.
I was about to make a new pre-reset backup, but I was having trouble seeing the text, so I went to Settings - Accessibility - Large Text to see if there was a larger font than the one I already had the phone set on. (I had previously set it to "On" because my eyesight is poor.) Hmmm...

Could this large font be causing the shortcut problem?? Naw, no chance! But since I'm here....
I turned large font off. After turning it off, I could make shortcuts and folders. I could even re-arrange them and make another pane for the home screen.
After turning Large Font back on- The problems returned. Crazy, Ain't It?

Since I pretty much always need large text, I'll go with your 3rd party launcher suggestion MLSS. Thank You very much for sharing it. It will be fun to explore those apps. They look quite interesting.

Enjoy This Day!
Paul

Glad I could help. Their are several good launchers out their. I prefer Nova myself. With Nova Prime (the paid version) you can get unread count badges with Tesla unread and lots of gesture actions if you prefer them. It is smooth and integrated Google Hot word detection as well. You can adjust the grid size, background color on your folders and app drawer. It also has a night mode that automatically adjusts everything to black for a predetermined amount of time.
The icon packs you can download for Nova are practically endless. If you just take some time you can make your phone look exactly how you want it to look.

 

[PGB1213]

Thanks Again MLSS for your guidance.
I took your advice & explored some launchers. I ended up using Nova. It is flat out great!

The app took less than ten minutes for me to learn enough to get started. That is important for people like me who are quite dyslexic. Sometimes I will be studying something and all of a sudden, words are no longer are words. (Kind of hard to describe.) For me, that means starting over reading what I just learned when my brain eventually kicks back into "OK Mode". So, the intuitiveness of Nova Launcher is quite appreciated.

But the best part of Nova Launcher is: No More Disappearing Icons! (And I can keep on using the large font.)

I also like the customizations that are available. I should be able to waste (err.... Productively Spend) a lot of time goofing around with icon packs. I do believe I'll get the paid version to unlock even more of this app's talents.

Thanks Again for helping me out with the Disappearing Icon problem.

Be Sure To Enjoy Today!
Paul

 

[MLSS]

@PGB1213 I'm glad I could help you out! Enjoy your experience customizing your device with Nova!

 

[PGB1213]

Thanks Again, MLSS. I'm having a total blast with Nova. It will be the first app I'll purchase. It's gold.