Huawei P9 Lite - all screen layout customisations lost

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CitizenErased

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#208422 11-Feb-2017 11:37

Yesterday I bought my first Android phone - a Huawei P9 Lite. I spent a few hours downloading all the apps I want, customising the layout of the app icons, grouping apps into folders and customising the home screen with widgets, etc. I powered the phone off overnight and when I powered it on this morning, all my customisations had been lost! The home screen had returned to the factory default layout with the default apps and widgets, the app folders had returned to factory defaults, and all the apps I'd downloaded were grouped together on a separate screen. I didn't lose any data, just the layout. The OS has all available updates installed. Is this likely to be a bug in Huawei's EMUI skin? I'm afraid to power the phone off again!

Also, an unrelated question: Huawei has started rolling out Android Nougat to the P9 Lite. Anyone want to guess how long we'll have to wait to get this on the 2degrees network?

jonathan18

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#1719210 13-Feb-2017 08:45

Have you thought about using an alternative launcher?

I've got a Mate 8 and my wife a P8. and we both run Nova Launcher on the phones. I'm not a huge fan of the Emui skin on Huawei phones, especially with the lack of an app draw (though I think this is an option now with the latest version?). Nova Launcher works perfectly well on these phones, and a key advantage is the ability to back up all skin settings so if anything goes wrong (or you replace the phone) it's easy to restore.

In terms of updates - you normally don't need to wait around for your carrier to release them; just find them on the internet, making sure they're for your specific model. I've found our Huaweis update perfectly - unlike the experience I've had with other Chinese phones. I see there are beta versions out there of Nougat for my Mate 8, but I'm waiting for a final release before upgrading.

CitizenErased

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#1719393 13-Feb-2017 13:41

jonathan18:

Have you thought about using an alternative launcher?

I've got a Mate 8 and my wife a P8. and we both run Nova Launcher on the phones. I'm not a huge fan of the Emui skin on Huawei phones, especially with the lack of an app draw (though I think this is an option now with the latest version?). Nova Launcher works perfectly well on these phones, and a key advantage is the ability to back up all skin settings so if anything goes wrong (or you replace the phone) it's easy to restore.

In terms of updates - you normally don't need to wait around for your carrier to release them; just find them on the internet, making sure they're for your specific model. I've found our Huaweis update perfectly - unlike the experience I've had with other Chinese phones. I see there are beta versions out there of Nougat for my Mate 8, but I'm waiting for a final release before upgrading.

Thanks, I'll check out Nova Launcher. Android is all new to me.

Huawei's Nougat update (EMUI 5.0) includes an app drawer.

I thought you had to root your phone if you wanted to download and install an OS update without waiting for an over-the-air update?

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#1719425 13-Feb-2017 14:08

Waiting for the official release. Beta is beta for a reason.

I use Google Now launcher.

jonathan18

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#1719437 13-Feb-2017 14:47

CitizenErased:

I thought you had to root your phone if you wanted to download and install an OS update without waiting for an over-the-air update?

Nah, I recently upgraded my wife's P8 to Marshmallow, given there'd been no OTA update, and it was simple to do and required no rooting. But it is best to wait for official releases and is necessary to make sure it's for the exact variant of your phone!

In terms of launchers, Google Now's worth trying as well, but personally I ended up finding it a bit limited - in particular I found the Google search bar on every page a waste of space. Nova Launcher is incredibly flexible in that one can specify the number of icons on each page (useful on my phone with a 6" screen); it also allows for multiple pages for the apps dock, which I find has completely changed the way I set up my launcher - I now only have widgets on the main part of three pages and have all my app shortcuts contained in three pages of apps docks (which rotate independently).