How to add and remove Widgets from your Android home screen

by Ross McKillop on July 26, 2009

Android

This brief tutorial will show you how to add and/or remove Widgets to/from your Android home screen.

    Due to the large number of Android phones and tablets, the screenshots used in this tutorial will probably not match your device exactly. With that said, they’re similar enough that you shouldn’t have any trouble following along.

  1. On your Android home screen, tap any blank or “empty” area and hold down your finger.

  2. An Add to Home screen window will pop up. From that window, tap Widgets.

  3. You’ll be presented with a list of all the installed Widgets on your Android device. Select the one you want to add to your home screen by tapping it. In this example, I’ll be adding the Calendar widget.

  4. Now the widget will appear on your home screen. Tap the widget and hold down your finger again – this time you can “drag” it to the location on the screen you want it to reside.

  5. Should you decide you want to remove the widget from your home screen, tap it and hold your finger down. You’ll notice that the “slider” that normally brings up all of your installed programs turns into a “Trash can”.

  6. Drag the widget to that trash can. Both the widget and the trash can will turn red. At this point, let go of the widget (release your finger). That will “drop” it in the trash. Note: this does not actually uninstall the widget. It just removes it from your home screen. Should you ever decide to add it again, it will be there waiting for you.

  7. If you’re using a newer version of the Android OS, the “Trash can” might be located on a different place on your Home screen. In the screenshot below, you’ll see what it looks like using Android OS 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on a tablet.

  8. That’s it – the widget has been removed from your home screen.

  • Dan

    Thanks for this. Was exactly what I needed :)

  • Mike

    THANKYOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! I had accidently opened up 3 coorpret calenders one on each screen and I didn’t even have an account! You saved my droid experience

  • Debbie

    Just what I needed too. You saved me a long hold on tech support!

  • Marita

    OH thank you! this was a big help too! :)

  • Matt

    I feel stupid for not figuring this out on my own

  • Phillip

    I agree with MAtt, but tyvm

  • DESTINEE

    THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I was driving myself crazy tryn to figure it out on my own. This just saved me time on hold!

  • Sarah

    thanks for this. i was going nuts.

  • rob

    lol….EXACTLY what I was looking for. thanks

  • Valnir Fiel

    Muito obrigado. Foi

  • digibyte

    No HTC Magic, usei esta ajuda e fiquei impressionado com a simplicidade!…
    Obrigado, e parabéns pela clareza do tutorial.

  • Sherree

    Thanks, it worked perfectly!

  • scott

    Thank you very much it was a lot of help

  • aabonza

    thanks for all the info

  • bubba

    AWESOME!!! thank you!!!!

  • JB

    Thanks. Why on earth aren’t these tips in the user manual? You saved my bacon!

  • Katy

    OMG, this was sooo helpful! Couldn’t find anything on Motorola or Verizon site. This is awesome!!

  • Bryan

    This was great! I helped great.

  • Britt

    thanks so much! just got my DROID yesterday and am still playing around with it. Thanks for the help!

  • Rene

    This didn’t work for me? The tab never changes to a trash can. The whole screen just shifts around when I try to drag a widget.

    Stupid thing self-installed 3 ‘browser’ widgets on my home screen, I guess bc I use that app a lot. But I don’t need 3 !!!

  • Rene

    OK I figured it out… it’s a LOOOOOOONG press on the widget to make the tab turn into a trash can. Much longer than I expected.

    Thx

  • Alisa

    thank u so much

  • Brian

    thank you for this now i can remove my widgets.

  • Deborah

    Exactly what I needed it and explained very well. THANK YOU! :)

  • Mary

    I have tried and tried this and it just does not work. Any suggestions?

  • http://www.simplehelp.net Ross McKillop

    Mary – which Android phone do you have? And do you happen to know exactly which version of Android it’s running?

  • Android_shandroid

    I could not see the trash can till I held down the offending widget. Trash can magically appears when needed – Awesome !!

  • sharon west

    Thank you, very big help.

  • Raj

    THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Now my wildfire screen looks much better. I have accidently added some widgets & dont know how to remove. Thanks again.

  • Huey

    THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!

  • megan

    Mary, I had the same trouble at first, as well. I have to hold it over the trash can for a few seconds, and then let go. that worked!

  • lester

    Thsnks a lot u saved me so much time I was going crazie thank u so much

  • kat

    Wow, thatt is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for the info.

  • renton

    EXCELLENT. Clear and concise instructions. THANK YOU!

  • rorri

    Oh my gosh thank u ……most helpful for a previous blackberry user. I must say the change has been good ….thanks again

  • stella

    Thanks, same for me previous blackberry storm user

  • Rose BN

    thanks for the tips!!! it help alot for my wildfire. =)

  • Shan

    I can see the trashcan, but am unable to drag it to it successfully. Usually, another icon gets selected when I drag, or the app bar pops up. I am unable to drag the facebook widget to the trashcan. Argh!

  • kathym

    Thank you! This is the ONLY place I have been able to find what I thought would be a very simple answer. They tell you how to put them on, but no where do they tell you how to get rid of them!

  • http://achmatim.net achmatim

    thanks for the tips, it’s very usefull for me.

  • R.P. Allen

    Great explanation!

  • john

    How do I add a new page for more widgets

  • http://www.simplehelp.net Ross McKillop

    john – sadly, you can’t. There might be an app that adds this feature actually.. Search the market for ‘home screen’ (there will almost certainly be a lot of results) and see if one fits your needs…

  • Duke

    Thanks a lot.. i was driving myself crazyy…. !! :P :)

  • http://kmansoft.wordpress.com Kostya Vasilyev

    Hi,

    Great guide!

    I am an Android developer, author of two widget-type applications. Some of my users seem to be having difficulties understanding widgets: what they are, and how to use them.

    Can I include a link to your site in my application’s help screen?

    My applications:

    http://kmansoft.wordpress.com/sw

  • agus

    ???

  • nicola

    well done, really simple help from someone for a change!

  • pepe

    Thanks

  • randy

    you guys are a great help

  • annie

    Heya

  • Alicia

    Oh thank you so much, I placed 3 YouTube widgets on one screen and 2 power control on another

  • joe

    Yes

  • http://친구 김성훈

    친구

  • se

    Lo

  • me

    This was extremely helpful to know. One thing, though. How do you remove a widget if the screen is full? There’s no space to touch and hold down…. what should be done?

  • http://www.simplehelp.net/2009/07/26/how-to-add-and-remove-widgets-from-your-android-home-screen/ thank

    thank you so much , in prevoisly i’m use the clear all wall instead and make a new one .

  • Anton_tas

    Ths

  • mek

    It s good

  • Robert

    Einfach mal probieren

  • Lorie

    i tried this 3 to 4 times to remove the picture frame widget off of my home screen & it doesn’t work. I thought it would put a picture frame around the outside of the screen instead of putting another picture over the top of the picture I have on my home screen.

  • Kevin

    Great help. Thanks

  • http://danitamo David Garcia Palma

    Muchas gracias

  • Anderson

    Nao vi não sei

  • celg

    Vai no cu

  • tony yockey

    Ok

  • Kim

    yeah! my widget was driving me nuts!

  • thelma

    Como se usa???

  • argentina

    Bueno

  • http://www.insuranceactivist.com Insurance Guy

    I’m afraid that doesn’t work for me.

    It does work for little icons but I have some thumping great grey rectangle, seems to be some timer thing, complete with world clock, countdown timer etc, blocking the usual clock.

    Any idea how to remove that?

    Thanks

    (2.2 froyo)

  • Evelyn

    Thanksss really helpfull(:

  • xampos

    Helping

  • click

    Great advice, worked for me :)

  • Fergus808

    Merci.

  • http://www.insuranceactivist.com Insurance Guy

    I mentioned earlier that I had a large gray thing on the home screen. Turned out that somehow it had the main clock widet running twice!

    Hence it was just a gray blob.

    The only way I was able to remove it was to hit the menu button while looking at apps, to get the uninstall apps function, then force close both running clocks. At that point it went back to normal.

    I have decided however that this will be my last Android phone – as I have just discovered that it is impossible to buy apps from the Android Market if you live in Malaysia!

    Add to that the fact the operating system is clunky as all heck and I really can’t be bothered with Android anymore. For example I needed to send someone an SMS with a small map attachment. I was able to download it but where on my phone did it go? I dunno, I still haven’t found it!

    If fact it’s like that all the time with Android, because there is no sane means of finding anything. You actually have to download a 3rd party app (pick one you like…) as a “file manager”, in order to even view files, let alone organize or find anything.

    I mean, what kind of operating system is that? I cannot believe the iPhone could be any more restrictive or obscure. I was determined to try and avoid Microsoft but I think my next phone will be Windows again.

  • http://www.simplehelp.net smmzafar

    Please help me blutooth outgoing . Incoming procedure . Thanks

  • joe

    Thanks

  • chad20

    Thanks. A simple tutorial that was very useful for me wo is new to Android.

  • lo

    Thanks

  • Paulina

    Thanks !

  • w

    Ty

  • http://hotmail sergio

    Como se instala

  • http://hotmail sergio

    Como se usa

  • http://google.com restell

    thanks a lot

  • Lachel

    Thank you so muchhhhh…~~~~

  • http://www.life.nl Nick

    great thanks, simple things are only simple when you know they are simple!

  • Todd

    Thank you very much. I thought I was computer savvy until I ran into that on my daughters e-reader. BTW I program GIS systems and I still couldn’t figure that out from the documentation that came with the unit. Documentation is definately lacking.

  • tommy

    Yeah

  • magnum

    Ainda naum sei

  • bishram dhakal

    good

  • Montse

    Gracias

  • nanda darius

    Oke deh

  • rico hidayat

    Thank you

  • Luke yates

    Splendid

  • Mauro grau

    Olá

  • ever

    gracias

  • kingson

    Thanks for u

  • Den Olen

    Suured tanud!!! :)

  • t.yanagida

    Thunk you

  • http://hotmail javier calleja

    Javier calleja

  • Sid

    Thanks….. A simple task but impossible to do without the knowlege.

  • dee

    my widget is directly beside trashcmy widgets is at the bottom of screem beside trashcan, trashcan not cominan its not coming up,so widget can be removed

  • cesar

    Necesito ayuda.

  • http://brunoyowen gaston

    No carga la aplicacion

  • http://goigle tina@marco

    Hope this work

  • http://maaasz majid

    Love

  • http://google sancol

    Veramente comodo.

  • http://verizon htc

    Hay

  • Dosey

    Awesome instructions! Thanks so much!

  • nk

    Como instalar?

  • lauren

    I can drag the widget, but the trashcan nor the widget are turning red and I can’t remove the widget. Its starting to get really frusterating.

  • cheygirl_1975

    tytytytytytyty

  • Afoox

    Nice

  • msamei

    I houp work

  • ban

    Thankyou

  • Cath

    Great work, did work exactly as you said. Was frustrating there for a while. Thumbs up.

  • Leo

    Great :)

  • http://not lukinhas

    Bom ainda neim uzei o aplicativo
    mais ta de boa
    kkkk

  • Kaylee

    Thank you so much! I was going a little crazy trying to figure that out.

  • mae

    Thanks

  • http://pucallpa1 Rilder Flores Arevalo

    hola amigos

  • feliXD

    Cool:-P

  • Young gun

    Thanks very much, it worked perfectly.

  • carmelita

    I am deaf use cellphone

  • roger

    Thanks

  • cinda miller

    thanks

  • http://androidmarket nopasith

    thanks (tab 10.1)

  • http://santjoandelesabadesses(spein) juan maraver puerts

    Me parece bueno.

  • rj

    thanks,,,,,

  • cody

    hi

  • cangreburguer

    Wuacala

  • http://Facebook Laken

    Its awsome

  • jose Ricardo

    Foston

  • Edgar Silvestre

    muito bom

  • biggi831

    Ok

  • mayursinh

    $ I AM HAPPY $

  • Phonelady

    It has been a mystery until now, thank you.

  • thirdway7

    These instructions are great. But note that for newer OSes (ice cream sandwich 4.0) the trash can will appear at the top of the screen.

  • david

    so, i know how to put and remove a widget on the home screen. what i can’t figure out is how to remove a widget that is in one of the 4 corners. i’ve tried everything i can think of.
    i have 4 widgets/apps in the top right corner. i don’t want them there but the method to remove the widgets/apps from the main part of the screen doesn’t work. any ideas? if it makes any difference, i have a sony experia active, adroid v 2.3.4.

  • nattaraton

    I will learn it more

  • david

    I figured it out. tap the top right corner, it will open, then hold down the widget as you would on the main screen area.

  • http://www.amables.com lex

    Bueno pero anda nada jeje

  • http://yahoo.com jonathan

    Ya

  • reginal

    Very gud!

  • Steve

    Thank you thank you thank you

  • luis

    Gracias

  • http://noidea francis

    Its good

  • nawaf

    verygood

  • papi

    Good

  • arthur

    Nice app. Really working !!

  • Cheryl H

    Thanks so much. I am VERY new to android and NOT very savvy with things like this. I need it all explained like I was a two year old. This helped me sooooo much! Thank you!

  • gja

    Ok

  • tarob

    fnsb

  • glo

    Thanks

  • glo

    Nice

  • f4

    tqvm.. :)

  • TTLi

    Good, thank you very much, this worked perfectly!

  • pete

    What if dragging to trash can does not work?

  • angus

    Good

  • Jason

    Good

  • veronika

    Cool

  • cen gjana

    varia kot

  • http://fazmacetee thamiires

    Marece maneiro.

  • http://facebook cristiana

    ótimo

  • http://16/7/201211-32pm kplolali

    Bravo

  • Praw Pornpan

    ใช้ไม่เป็น

  • محمد

    الموت

  • Bain

    Thanks bro ..

  • jo

    Thanck

  • stephen

    Have a HTC android phone and want to remove widgets permently from the all widget screen so they are no longer there?

  • jeffhall2002

    All good!!!

  • jaramillo

    Nice

  • asadullah

    Thanks

  • rodrigo evangelista santos

    Muito bon maravilhoso

  • wesleine

    Well done

  • kid

    thank you

  • http://www.facebook.com/gullinkala2604 Balasubramanyam Gullinkala

    Thanks it helps

  • علي الشهري

    الحين اجربه

  • fudol ismail

    Welcome

  • Anonymous

    Nice, Thanks for help.

  • محمد

    الاول نشوف وبعدين نحكم عليه

  • http://www.facebook.com/KarlEtzer KarlEtzer Merdelus

    Yes,I like. that.

  • dhel

    Ok

  • sam

    On my motorola razr it doesnt give me an option to add widget when i long click on home screen

  • Sam

    Great

  • samu

    Sarojin

  • samu

    Samu
    Kayn
    Widura

  • mary

    Ok

  • Malibu

    Thanx, This helped!

  • Gcb

    Good

  • portugal

    votre merde est trop nul

  • ahmad

    Nice

  • hasan
  • hasan
  • http://www.facebook.com/joseantonio.herrerabunon Jose Antonio Herrera Buñon

    Excelent

  • Patricia Huffman

    Thank you so much! I was halfway there, trying to remove widgets by tapping and holding, but my finger covered the trash can and I didn’t know it was there.

  • amer

    Thaks

  • Nathalia

    Obrigado

  • imad

    bonjoure a tous

  • dave dave

    great

  • 好的

    好的