Apps vanishing on Android phobile

[Forfarian]

I have a Oneplus Nord phobile (Which? Best Buy at the time).

From time to time, when I start it up, all the icons on my homescreen are missing, and I have to find them and restore them individually. That's annoying. I assume it's to do with some update or other.

The last time all my apps were missing, not only from my homescreen, but also from the start-up page, including some I had paid for. So I had to pay again for one of them - the others aren't important.

This morning, when I switched the phobile on, I was offered a screen to choose one of three languages - two oriental ones or English. I instantly switched it off, and on again, and it started normally (in English).

Does anyone know how to set it to prevent it losing all my apps and shortcuts from my homescreen when it's updated (or at any other time, actually)?

[greenrig]

Clearly this is not normal behaviour for a phone.  If you can live with it then do nothing.  Otherwise consider backing up all your data and apps, then doing a hard reset on the phone to get a fresh base system, and restore your apps and data.   There are many guides online to this procedure.

[Forfarian]

Thank you. I will have to try that.

[AngusMcCoatup]

In Settings, then Home Screen, see if there is a "Lock Home screen layout" option.

Whether that switch exists on the Oneplus, and whether it actually has any effect, is a different matter.

[Pheno]

What is a phobile?  I have asked around and nobody has ever heard of that expression.

Pheno

[Forfarian]

Phobile is a term for mobile phone, used by analogy with phobia by those of us who detest the ****** things and hate being forced to use one.

[Forfarian]

In Settings, then Home Screen, see if there is a "Lock Home screen layout" option.

Whether that switch exists on the Oneplus, and whether it actually has any effect, is a different matter.

Thank you.

It would appear that there is no 'Home Screen' option, unless it's hidden somewhere unlikely.

[RJ_Paton]

From the Oneplus Community group it appears that this is a problem for the Oneplus which rears its ugly head every so often (at least since 2021).

There doesn't appear to be a straight solution but the following suggestions are the most common

1. Clear the Oneplus App Launcher Cache and then restart the phone.
2. Disable Guest Mode and restart phone (Settings -> Multiple Users -> Select the User mode and disable multiple users)
3. Nuclear option - factory reset - unfortunately it means that you will lose all information on phone.

[Forfarian]

Thank you. If I could find an App Launcher Cache or Guest Mode setting I would try those.

Option 3 seems to be a more drastic version of what I would like to be able to prevent

Not that I keep much information - and certainly no sensitive information like bank details - on the d****d gadget, so it's not a question of losing vital stuff.