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I just purchased a Galaxy Note 3 and was surprised that the Voice Recorder app is not included on the screen with the rest of the apps. However, the Voice Recognition feature opens the Voice Recorder app when I say "Open voice recorder". Thus, obviously the app is installed. How can I the app to either the list of apps or even better yet, to one of the "home screens"?

Note that my device in not in English, so I'm not sure of the English names of all the windows. However, to open the app I do say in English "Open voice recorder" so I know that is the name of the app.

Previous Samsung devices, such as the S3, had this app on the screen with all the other apps.

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2 Answers 2

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If your Launcher includes an "activity browser" (as e.g. Nova Launcher and Apex Launcher do), this is easy to achieve: Just long-press on an empty place of your homescreen, select to add an activity.

Select activity
Activity selector in Apex Launcher (click image for full size variant)

Each app that provides activities (that is, basically, a screen to interact with the user), should be listed here together with all the activities (screens) it offers. Scroll the list until you find the app you want to add to your homescreen, then open the list containing its activities (in the screenshot, the arrows on the left border indicate whether the list is opened (up-arrow) or closed (down-arrow)).

If there's only one activity shown (screenshot-example: LocMgrPT), that's probably the one you need. Simply tap it, and the icon should appear on your homescreen. If, on the other hand, multiple entries are shown (as for LocMgrPD in the screenshot), you might need to try until you find the correct one. Often, the activity name helps you sorting out unlikely candidates.

If you've found your target, you'll have a corresponding shortcut on your homescreen. Other than a simple "app start icon", this is a "shortcut", i.e. you could even jump directly to a "sub-screen" of the app.

And there are even more uses for your findings: having the activity name, you could have that activity launched automatically using e.g. , or call it from the using a terminal app or .


If your launcher doesn't support adding Activities this way (just apps, widgets, and shortcuts), take a look at Activity Launcher to substitute for this feature. Additional highlight: it even allows you to chose an icon of your choice.

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  • Thank you. I am referring to the default Android launcher. I long-click to add the application, however the Voice Recorder application is not in the list of applications that I can add.
    – dotancohen
    Commented Feb 2, 2014 at 19:55
  • The "default launcher" (wichever that is on what device) obviously doesn't offer to add "activities" (just apps, widgets, or shortcuts). You might wish to take a look at Activity Launcher then (updated my answer to include that hint).
    – Izzy
    Commented Feb 2, 2014 at 20:36
  • Though this answer did not resolve the issue, I +1 as it taught me some other tips to know about the device. Thank you.
    – dotancohen
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 16:20
  • Glad to read it was of some assistance then at least! +1 for your own answer as well from me: Now that I read it, it's quite obvious – but I wouldn't have thought of it. Will certainly prove helpful to others!
    – Izzy
    Commented Feb 6, 2014 at 17:33
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It turns out that on the Galaxy Note 3 that the Voice Recorder app is hidden away inside a folder called, simply, "Samsung". There is no visual distinction between a folder and between an app, so I had no reason to suspect that there was anything of value or interest to be had by clicking the icon named Samsung.

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