For better or worse, widgets have become a ubiquitous part of the Android ecosystem, often arriving on your phone’s home screen whether you like them or not. What started as relatively unobtrusive weather or date widgets has expanded to include everything from breaking news to live updates of your stock portfolio. Some apps have gone so far as to offer rewards for adding their widget to your home screen: Duolingo, for example, will grant bonus XP or extra energy for more daily lessons if you give up a large square of land to its widget.
Unfortunately for those who now rely on widgets as part of their daily routine, the Android 17 update seems to have broken them. Although 17 comes with a number of interesting updates, some of which should be added to iOS 27, and a fun gaming feature for foldables, it also hits a bit of a rocky landing. As some users on Reddit have noticed, installing the update causes certain widgets to disappear without the possibility of adding them back. The issue appears to affect any application using managed profile limits. No official word on a fix has been released, but fortunately there are workarounds to, at least temporarily, remedy the situation.
The mysterious case of the missing widget
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The problem dates back to the Android 17 beta, as indicated by a bug report on Google Issue Tracker from February 26 of this year. A number of reports indicate that the problem appears to be with Work Profile, Android’s virtual container that lets you separate work apps from your personal apps to ensure privacy (and that no data leaks back and forth). Another Reddit user encountered the issue while using an app called Island, which lets you isolate apps for privacy; others have encountered it using Microsoft InTune, which, among other things, lets you create a discreet work profile.
A number of workarounds have been suggested in the various threads regarding the issue. Disabling the work profile seems to bring back the widgets for most users, although re-enabling them will make them disappear again. An InTune user noted that “setting Android Enterprise > Models > Device Restrictions to ‘Allow Work Profile App Widgets’ from ‘Enabled’ to ‘Not Configured’ fixes the issue.” Some have experienced temporary success on the work profile side by restarting their phone after restoring a profile. Until Google releases a fix, these types of workarounds may be the only option.
