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KitKat 4.4 - Can't add Home screens

Fresh install of 4.4 on my Nexus 7(2012). Also installed the new Google launcher apk, but I can't add any more home screens. Tried dropping an app to the right but a new home screen never appears.
Anyone else experience this?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

erics88 said:
Fresh install of 4.4 on my Nexus 7(2012). Also installed the new Google launcher apk, but I can't add any more home screens. Tried dropping an app to the right but a new home screen never appears.
Anyone else experience this?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, erics88...
Yes, I have had the same problem... I think it's a bug in the LAUNCHER.APK itself... which is actually just a 'stub', that calls upon Google Search (which is now the real home launcher). And based on my experiments, the only way to make it work correctly, is to first enable Google Now.
Try the following... go to the GOOGLE SEARCH BAR at the top of the screen... and begin to type in some search word or phrase... You should see, in blue text, the words 'Get Google Now'... tap on this, and you'll be taken to a screen where you can optionally opt in to Google Now. Tap on the blue 'YES, I'M IN' button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
A dialogue box should then appear, asking which Google Account (gmail account) to use. If you have more than one (as I have)... tap on the one you want to use. Press the BACK BUTTON to take you back to the launcher home screen.
You should now have Google Now 'cards' as a screen in it's own right (at the far left)... and dragging app icons toward the right hand edge of the screen should now dynamically create more home screens.
Apologies for the convoluted explanation... but it's really tricky explaining this stuff in a way that is understandable.
Anyway... hope this helps.
Rgrds,
Ged.

Nope - maybe need to re-install
Thanks for the help. My apologies for not giving all the details.
I have the Google Now cards showing up on the left screen but no matter what I try, I can not get a third screen. I used the same apk files on my Galaxy Nexus (rooted stock 4.3) and the Google launcher & Search work great, but I have the same issue. Only 2 Home screens and can't create another one by dragging an app icon towards the right.
Maybe I have a corrupt apk file. I'll try removing the launcher and search from both of my devices. Then I try to located the apk files from a different source. I'l post an update later this evening (EST)
Thanks again!

just a reminder.. make sure u have at least 1 shortcut in the 2nd home screen before trying to add a 3rd screen..
i tried million times to add a 3rd screen in vain when i left the 2nd screen empty (just wanna leave it blank and add some widgets later)..
a bug? i think so.. maybe google think otherwise..

iamelton said:
just a reminder.. make sure u have at least 1 shortcut in the 2nd home screen before trying to add a 3rd screen..
i tried million times to add a 3rd screen in vain when i left the 2nd screen empty (just wanna leave it blank and add some widgets later)..
a bug? i think so.. maybe google think otherwise..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, iamelton...
I don't think it's a bug - I think it's intentional. Home screens are created dynamically, as and when you drag app icons to the right hand edge of the screen to create them.
Consider this... let's suppose you have five screens (excluding the Google Now screen), all with app icons on them... and the last screen contains just one app icon. For whatever reason, you either delete it, or drag it to the left in order to drop it onto screen number four. Screen number five vanishes.
Similarly, if you delete everything on the middle screen (screen number three in my five screen example), all the other screens will be 'pushed' to the left by one. The middle screen now no longer exists, because it is empty.
With Google Experience Launcher, unlike third party launchers such as Apex, Nova or Go Launcher, it's impossible to create launcher screens that are blank. They must have something on them... whether that be a widget, shortcut or an app icon.
To put it another way... in GEL, a launcher homescreen only exists if something is occupying it.
Rgrds,
Ged.

GedBlake said:
Hi, iamelton...
I don't think it's a bug - I think it's intentional. Home screens are created dynamically, as and when you drag app icons to the right hand edge of the screen to create them.
Consider this... let's suppose you have five screens (excluding the Google Now screen), all with app icons on them... and the last screen contains just one app icon. For whatever reason, you either delete it, or drag it to the left in order to drop it onto screen number four. Screen number five vanishes.
Similarly, if you delete everything on the middle screen (screen number three in my five screen example), all the other screens will be 'pushed' to the left by one. The middle screen now no longer exists, because it is empty.
With Google Experience Launcher, unlike third party launchers such as Apex, Nova or Go Launcher, it's impossible to create launcher screens that are blank. They must have something on them... whether that be a widget, shortcut or an app icon.
To put it another way... in GEL, a launcher homescreen only exists if something is occupying it.
Rgrds,
Ged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i understand the "ideal" embedded in the new GEL..
its just my own preference that i dont like the idea of dynamic screen handling..
say i wanna add a new screen in between screen no.3 and no. 4.. cant imagine an easy way to do this..
can only think of first adding a new screen 6, moving all apps from 5 to 6 (but leaving 1 in screen 5 to prevent the screen from being deleted), moving all apps from 4 to 5 (leaving 1 in screen 4 again), then adding my intended apps to screen 4, moving the 1 previous app in screen 4 to 5, and finally moving the 1 previous app in screen 5 to 6.. great now im done..
can u do better to beat me?

Thanks everyone for the help. I just started over with a new 4.4 install and used pa_gapps-modular-mini-4.4-20131118 instead of the launcher apk. Now I can add more screens, but I have a feeling my main screen might have been empty when I was trying to add a third screen earlier.
Might go back and try the launcher apk on my Galaxy Nexus 4.3 phone just to test this out.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
UPDATE: Doh! yep, you need to have a icon/widget on your main screen before you can add a third screen.
Thanks iamelton!!!

Or just use Nova Launcher from the play store !

Google Experience Launcher and Wallpapers

I'm currently using GEL and just have one homescreen/pane.
When I set the wallpaper to a custom image, it seems to be setting my home screen to the left most pane and not centered, like when I choose one of the default wallpapers that comes with the launcher. Any ideas?
The alternative I found was to add widgets so that I can get 5 home screens, and then the default homescreen is finally centered. But I feel it defeats the purpose.

I can't get my home screen centered using GEL for the life of me. Tried everything. Its always to the right of Google Now.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Q] DIsappearing widgets with new Google Launcher on Nexus 7

I have installed the Google Launcher (from Nexus 5) on my Nexus 4, 7 and 10. It seems to work fine on my Nexus 4 (though it clearly not optimised for it, not surprised of course) but I'm finding most of my widgets and some icons have disappeared on my Nexus 7. I spent quite a while setting up quite a few home pages but since then a lot of the pages have completely disappeared and some icons have gone. Also, I'm trying to drag Google Play to the bottom icon line but disappears as soon as move away from the home page and back again. Folders appear OK though.
Anyone else experiencing this? I'm wondering if there is a newer version of the launcher? I can't find anything other than the one originally released.
I'll return to the original launcher on my Nexus 7.

Replace Touchwiz Launcher with Google Launcher

If like me, you dislike the look and feel of Touchwiz ... it is possible to replace at least the launcher portion of it with Google Launcher. This will make the Note look cosmetically similar to a Nexus device. The remainder of the Touchwiz interface will remain unaffected.
For those of us on JB 4.3
Download the zip file from this post (credits @geoworld_200)
Extract the 3 apks but copy only GoogleHome.apk to external storage
Install (requiring temporary disabling of the "unknown source" security block)
Run the app and it will invite use of GoogleNow which you can either accept or decline
Press the physical "Home" button and you can now chose to use the Google Launcher instead of Touchwiz
I've tried this on my (rooted and custom ROM) P605 and it works just fine with no FC or issues so far. But, per usual, YMMV. And it obviously won't get updates via Play.
Presumably the same could be achieved for KK using the more recent version of the apk found here. But I haven't tested it yet pending a 4.4 ROM release ...

rickinoz said:
If like me, you dislike the look and feel of Touchwiz ... it is possible to replace at least the launcher portion of it with Google Launcher. This will make the Note look cosmetically similar to a Nexus device. The remainder of the Touchwiz interface will remain unaffected.
For those of us on JB 4.3
Download the zip file from this post (credits @geoworld_200)
Extract the 3 apks but copy only GoogleHome.apk to external storage
Install (requiring temporary disabling of the "unknown source" security block)
Run the app and it will invite use of GoogleNow which you can either accept or decline
Press the physical "Home" button and you can now chose to use the Google Launcher instead of Touchwiz
I've tried this on my (rooted and custom ROM) P605 and it works just fine with no FC or issues so far. But, per usual, YMMV. And it obviously won't get updates via Play.
Presumably the same could be achieved for KK using the more recent version of the apk found here. But I haven't tested it yet pending a 4.4 ROM release ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or just use Apex or Nova - which will be updated in Google Play? My personal preference is Apex, and I also use the LG Lock Screen app on the Play Store too.
I'm rooted, so have removed TW Launcher via Titanium completely.
YmmV

I own NOVA launcher on GS3 and tried on P600 but I prefer Touchwiz ability to show unread FB notification count directly on icon. I didn`t find any replacement with similar feature.

kornelius1982 said:
I own NOVA launcher on GS3 and tried on P600 but I prefer Touchwiz ability to show unread FB notification count directly on icon. I didn`t find any replacement with similar feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just place the FB widget on the home screen, and resize to 1x1. Does the same thing. Then you can escape the lag that TW gives.

cdinoz said:
Just place the FB widget on the home screen, and resize to 1x1. Does the same thing. Then you can escape the lag that TW gives.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the solution, I`ll give it a try later, but to be honest, Touchwiz on KK isn`t as laggy as older one, at least I for me.
p.s. I just tried on GS3 but when I try to resize I get white little widget without any info on it.

I was excited about trying the Google Experience Launcher because it would respond to "OK Google" on any launcher screen.
However, I was extremely disappointed with the lack of ability to configure the launcher. No, that's too general. There's absolutely no configuration options at all.
One of the things I don't like about the TouchWiz and Google Launcher is that there's no way to control the number of rows/columns and the spacing between them. I use Apex where I can get a lot more rows and columns on the page. And I can control the spacing so I can get icons right up to the edge of the screen. In addition I can reduce the size of the icons for a better look.
It's not like I want to fill the screen with icons, on the contrary, I like to have the icons near the edges and out of the way so I can better see the wallpaper. The TouchWiz and Google launchers are pretty much an iPad launcher. No flexibility and no configurations.

(flashable zip) Launcher

I'm using lineage os (7.1) and there is only one home app which is trebuchet launcher. Could anyone please recommend me any launcher (flashable zip) for my custom rom? Thanks.

@maztur10
Earlier, as you might know, Nova was the undisputed king of launchers having hell lot of the customizations along with the fluidity. But recently, Apex Launcher and Action Launcher has also caught upto it, if not crossed over; and there has been new entries in the game.
So following will be my top picks :
1. Nova Launcher (FREE | PRIME)
2. Apex Launcher (FREE | PRO)
3. Action Launcher (FREE)
4. Pixel Launcher by Google, (Android O) (PS | APKmirror)
5. LawnChair, your open source light-weighted launcher. This is the one I've been using from some time now. (gitHub releases | XDA thread)
Other worthy options
6. Google Now Launcher (FREE)
7. Evie Launcher (FREE)
8. Arrow Launcher by Microsoft FREE)
9. Z Launcher by Nokia (FREE)
Well there are a tons of them but these were my top picks. For fluidity and best user experience you should definitely go with Nova. LawnChair, I've been using, is also very good and comes for no cost. Nova can be customised and made to give you any kind of look with all those icon packs and customisations. But you don't want to do the hard work yourselves, Arrow Launcher is pretty good for UI. Z is good looking but isn't stable and hasn't been updated in ages. Apart from these there are like the Apus or Go or CM, which I would say are basically adwares; atleast that's what I like to think. Also there are these iOS and Mi like launchers which doesn't fetaure any application drawer and I find them very messy to manage. It takes so much time just to search for the app you want.
So now its totally upto you what you want to go with. My best wishes to you.
EDIT - One thing I forgot to mention is about Google Cards. Google Cards first came for the Pixels and later Nexus', which are basically google gathering all the relevant info from your google searches and on-screen activity on your phone and then displaying the relevant information. Its very useful and gives you continuous alerts about the traffic congestion or the weather and news updates relevant to you, or if their is a meeting coming up, or it's someone's birthday. So what I'm trying to say is, its pretty useful. Earlier you needed root permissions for this to use on other devices, but some time ago Nova and, I think, Action too has included this feature without root, so you can just swipe from left edge of your home screen to see your google cards. So that's definitely was a point worth mentioning. I don't know if any other launcher does provide this functionality. Hell even Google's Pixel Launcher doesn't (Google now too, ofcourse). But, then again, there's LawnChair too. Now, I remember why I'm hooked up to it from the last two months ;-B

Well, thanks @sasukay. I'm using Nova (prime) right now and it's great!