Google Pixel issue with disappearing widgets persists in Android 17 QPR1 Beta 1

Google has started rolling out Android 17 QPR1 Beta 1, but one annoying issue that has been haunting some beta users still does not appear to have a clear fix: disappearing home screen widgets. While Google’s latest QPR1 beta release notes list fixes for printing, the Terminal app, and two audio-related bugs, there is no mention of the long-running widget problem in the official changelog.

Reports of widgets vanishing have been appearing for weeks across the Android Beta subreddit, and they seem to date back to the early stretch of the Android 17 beta cycle. A bug report in the Google Issue Tracker linked to this issue describes most of the widgets disappearing, including clock widgets, with existing widgets gone altogether.

User reports on Reddit paint a similar picture. About two months ago, one Android Beta user said the YouTube Music widget and several others had disappeared after a beta update, while another replied that they were seeing the same thing with the Clock app widget too. A month ago, another report on a Pixel 10 running Android 17 Beta 2 said all widgets disappeared after a restart and were no longer available in the widget picker. One follow-up comment said the widgets could reappear after pausing and unpausing the affected app, but then disappear again after the next reboot.

The more recent reports are what make this especially notable. One user on Android 17 beta 4 said the home screen search bar vanished, and clearing Pixel Launcher cache deleted all remaining widgets, leaving only shortcuts available when trying to add them back. Another commenter said they had been dealing with the same bug for more than a month, with widgets disappearing after every reboot. Then, in a separate thread, a Pixel 7a owner said they had updated to Android 17 Beta 4 and the problem was still the same and not solved. Another reply said it was also still not fixed on a Pixel 10 Pro XL.

While Android 17 Beta 4 did include a fix for a different issue where the media control widget could disappear, that appears to have been separate from the broader home screen widget problem users are describing here. And we’re still seeing fresh reports that the issue with disappearing widgets is still present even on the latest beta build.

So, based on what is publicly visible right now, Android 17 QPR1 Beta 1 does not appear to explicitly fix the disappearing widgets bug. At minimum, Google has not said that it has. And given that users are still seeing the same behavior after QPR1 Beta 1’s release, this is one issue beta users will probably want to keep watching.

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