Enraged
After having spent more than a day on the matter, I have finally figured out how to remove the Couldn’t add widget block in the Overview Screen. This is the block which appears in place of the Google search bar on top of the recent apps list after you have disabled the Google app.
Step by step
- Open the Play Store.
- Install KISS Launcher.
- Enable the Google app.
- Update the Google app.
- Touch the Home button.
- Set the KISS Launcher as default launcher.
- Reboot in Safe Mode (the process may differ on your Android OS):
- press the power button,
- long touch on the Power Off button,
- touch OK.
- When the reboot is done, the Google bar should have returned in the Overview Screen.
- On this step, the bar wasn’t interactable on my phone.
- Power off normally your device.
- Power on your device.
- When the reboot is done, the Google bar should still be in the Overview Screen.
- Go to Settings > Apps > ALL.
- Disable the Google app. Accept everything when it says it will uninstall updates and data.
- Touch the Home button.
- Wait a few seconds.
- Open the Overview Screen.
- Enjoy!
Additional Notes
- I have succeeded two times on a nearly fresh install of Android 5.1 (Lollipop) on a Moto E.
- I have updated a lot of native apps until the internal storage was full (yes, on the 1st gen Moto E 4GB, you cannot have all the default apps up to date with the tiny internal storage space).
- Please refer to your device manual for Safe Mode reboot.
- A lot of websites and user feedback will tell you to just restart in Safe Mode to remove the bar. It did not do the trick on my phone for some reason.
- I had to try a lot of possibilities so I don’t remember exactly what are the triggers for the bar removal. My guess is a combination of the KISS Launcher as default launcher app, a Google App up to date before disabling, and reboots between Safe Mode and normal mode, and maybe a full internal memory.
- The only apps disabled when the bar removed itself after the disabling were:
- Assist (by Motorola)
- Motorola Alert
- Motorola Migrate
- Help (by Motorola)
- Email (the default Android app)
- The only apps enabled but not up to date were:
- Google Play Books
- Google Play Movies & TV
- Google Play Music
- Google Play Newsstand
- Google Street View
- Maps – Navigation & Transit
- Motorola Camera
- Motorola FM Radio
- The remaining apps were up to date.
- Third party apps installed from the Play Store:
- Amaze File Manager
- SuperSU
- Third party apps installed from the SD Card includes:
- Conversations
- Link Intercept
- Two games I have worked on
- I did not remove KISS Launcher afterwards because I like it. But feel free to change to another launcher. I guess it will work.
- Pour les francophones, la méthode démontrée ci-dessus indique comment retirer le bloc avec le message « Impossible d’ajouter le widget » dans l’écran « Overview » qui affiche la liste des applications récentes (gestionnaire de tâches).
- The step by step needs to be more accurate so I am wishing to get some feedback.