Widgets are disappearing after reboot Xperia S JB

[celllo74]

Hi,

a few weeks are gone since i updated my Xperia S to JB firmware .200 by PCCompanion!

No I've the weird issue, that some widgets(BW widget; moonphase; Runtastic) are vanishing or settings(Swiftback) were set back after reboot of the device.

I did a factory reset for many times now, also by PC Companion, but the issue remains. I never had a custom rom on my device or rooted it!

Is this issue known by sony and will it solved with .211 firmware?? If then I'll await the update.

thanks

[Sam]

The first thing I would do is uninstall/reinstall the problem widgets or at least check the Playstore for any update ot the ones with the problem.

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[celllo74]

Hello Sam,

thanks for your response!

To reinstall the widgets was one of the first things I did before doing the many factory resets of the device and the reset with SUS.

There are to many apps(Swift keyboard; runtastic app; BW widget; Moonphase; clock tower 3d Live wallpaper ...etc) involved in this issue for assuming a problem of apps.

It is like the device forget some settings after reboot. Even if you choose a new Launcher instead of Xperia home and you set the new launcher to always use it. After the reboot you'll be asked again which launcher you'll want to use.

This looks to me more like a big software bug in the JB stock rom than a problem of widgets and apps.

Best regards.

[TalkingHead · Accepted solution]

Celllo74 is correct, it's a software problem with 6.2.B.0.2xx ROM.

A fresh install of the Google Play application does not solve the problem.

You can use Titanium Backup to backup, unistall and restore the application and this corrects the location the application is placed in.

Maybe Sony Mobile could test this with Business Calandar or Neuron Music player  (or any paid application) with a widget placed on one of the home screens.

Doing a Titianium backup/uninstall/restore each time there is an application update is going to be painful going forward.

So I would say, the only answer is to fix the ROM.

[celllo74]

Thanks Zeke!

Titanium doesn't work for me cause my phone is still not rooted and it is hard to root it because of my net-provider. Both flash-tools (EMMA, XDA) reports that my device cannot be unlocked. Have to investigate this. 

But anyway I totally agree with you on the titanium-workaround. It is not really a good solution.

Talked to Sony-mobile in a chat yesterday and officially they do not know about this issue and they recommeded to send my device to the repair store! That's funny!

So I'm thinking of rooting the device and use custom roms with hoping that this issues will be fixed and wait until my contract with the provider will be renewed at the beginning of next year to leave Sony behind.

[webbo1966]

Thanks Cello.  I'm glad someone gave this issue it's own subject.  I have the same problem.  After restart, my desktop is defaulted to the GB Xperia S, non-animated, blue wave.

Then to restore what has changed, I must:

-Re-enable and default Swiftkey Keyboard

-Re-enable and again permit Notification Bar

-Replace flashlight widgit on desktop

-Reset theme

-Reset animated wallpaper

Efforts to solve include a full backup (minus pics and music), and a fresh install using SUS. Restoring these backups wouldn't work in 1 process.  I had to go through the entire, painfully long, process each time for contacts, messages, etc.

I've tried removing and reinstalling these apps.  All have been updated.  And, with the SUS install, all apps were removed anyway - so I've reinstalled them each like 3 times now.

To at least save some of the time required for this rediculous ritual, I thought I was being clever in creating a desktop folder with all 5 steps.  This nasty phone threw that folder out too, the next time I restarted.

There is suggestion here that it is a start-up issue, but I disagree.  While the phone is shutting off, near the end of the process, the desktop changes to this 'blue wave'.   I would presume that the phone remembers it's last settings and app configurations prior to turning off.  Maybe the problem is there, because it seems to make these changes prior to the actual shut town.

Does this help? 

[Bearings]

Seems to be a known Android Jelly Bean issue: android.stackexchange.com/questions/38366/how-to-stop-beautiful-widget-from-being-removed-on-device-....

I experienced the same issue with Opera Browser widget but after SUS update it seems to be accepted in JB. Hope Sony developers have a work around.

[celllo74]

Found a similar link in a XDA Thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/1057b1/are_your_paid_widgets_and_keyboards_disappearing/

But if this is only an Android JB issue than many more devices with JB should have this problem! Or is it only on JB 4.1? So Sony have to give us JB 4.2 ASAP!

[TalkingHead]

The paid application widgets on the home screen appear to be removed at shutdown.

You can watch the widgets disappear from under the shutdown prompt as the phone is powering off.

Even more fun, if you have a paid application widget on one of the home screens and you power off the phone, any paid application(s) on the home screen(s) are also removed.

If you just have paid applications on the home screens and no paid application widgets when powering off the phone, the paid applications will still be available on the home screen after the power off/on.

From my testing, it's just paid application widgets that prompt paid widget/application removal at power off/on.

I see a lot of comments about aftermarket keyboards which revert to default too. These are probably similarly impacted in some way. I don't use aftermarket keyboards, so can't comment on this.

[gibbylinks]

I can confirm it also affects keyboards. Swiftkey stops working

I hope they can sort this out quickly, it's annoying when you can't use apps you've paid for !!