# The mail widget on my phone

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mail-widget-on-my-phone/809521>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 25, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mail-widget-on-my-phone/809521 "2018-02-25T03:06:15Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mail-widget-on-my-phone/809521/1 "2018-02-25T03:06:15Z")

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On the home screen of my phone (Moto G running Android 5.1) I have, or rather had, an email widget, which showed me the topic lines of the most recent few e-mails, so I could tell at a glance if there was anything new. Earlier today, though, it stopped working: It just said “Loading”, and kept on saying that no matter how long I waited (though I could still open up the app and read mail through it just fine).

OK, I decided, I’ll just remove that widget and put it back in, and see if that helps. And that’s where it went from bad to worse: I was able to remove the widget, but I can’t remember how I put it on in the first place. And when I Google for how to do it, it says to just press and hold in any empty spot, and a window will come up with the option to put in a widget. But when I do that, all that I get are wallpaper options, no widgets.

How do I get this widget back and working?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mail-widget-on-my-phone/809521/2 "2018-02-25T03:10:07Z")

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OK, you know how sometimes, you try for hours to fix something, and finally ask for help, and then fix it yourself a couple of minutes later? Yeah, that.

For anyone else who stumbles upon this, you have to open Apps from your home screen, and then at the top there’s a tab for widgets, and you can go from there.

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [February 25, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mail-widget-on-my-phone/809521/3 "2018-02-25T03:50:03Z")

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I guess it varies by OS. You’re running Lollipop. I have Marshmallow. To get widgets, I long press on an empty space, and a menu comes up on the bottom. There are three icons from left to right, Wallpapers, Widgets, and Settings.