Icons disappearing from your Pixel’s home screen? You’re not alone

If you’ve got a Google Pixel and you’ve experienced app icons vanishing from your home screen, there’s good news: you’re not imagining things, and you’re not the only one. 9to5Google says the problem appears to stem from the December 2019 security patch (not the recent feature drop), and that it’s only affecting a small number of users.

Your apps are safe –– The primary manifestation of the bug is home screen app icons disappearing, but their labels remaining. That’s not the case with the Favorites tray where it can look like an app has actually been deleted. Fear not; it hasn’t. It’ll still be in your full list of apps. And if you tap the space where it’s meant to be, you’ll find it still works.

Expect a fix soon –– The problem will likely be fixed in this month’s security update, so if you’re one of those affected, hang tight. And if you are, here’s hoping one of the wayward apps are those you should be spending less time on anyway… like Facebook.