How to Install Missing Lumia System Apps on your Windows 10 Mobile

Microsoft Lumia Mexico revealed on their Facebook page that  Microsoft would be releasing the first wave of Windows 10 Mobile update to some Lumia devices on 29th February. However, according to sources, the official update will be nothing but a better, bug-free, and fully-featured build 10586, where everything will be fixed, hopefully. Some of the Lumia phones have already started receiving the update in some regions, more phones to receive later, but only test release.

However, many people will continue being an insider, even after the official launch. Those people must be ready to deal with the bugs! Talking about the thing which annoys me the most these days is missing system apps from Extras. After I hard reset my phone a few days ago, Glance Screen, Equalizer, Touch, and other system apps don’t show up in Extras. And when you search for updates, it downloads but refuses to install.

The issue I’m facing on my Lumia 640 is very irritating. I always used to use Glance Screen on my phone, but since I hard reset it once, the Glance screen is gone from Extras! I tried doing another hard reset, hoping it will fix the issue, but it didn’t.

If you’re facing something similar, here is a small workaround for you:

How to Install Missing Lumia System Apps on your Windows 10 Mobile

First, what are System Apps?

System apps are Windows 10 Mobile compatible apps for Microsoft/ Nokia Lumia devices. These apps include:

  • Advanced Info (advancedinfo.appx)
  • Equalizer (audio.appx)
  • Color Profile (displaysettings.appx)
  • Glance Screen (glancescreen.appx)
  • Lumia motion data (motiondatasense.appx)
  • Network services (networkplus.appx)
  • Touch (touchsettings.appx)
  • Devices Hub (devicehubspiderman.appx)

You can also use Phone System Updater to install system apps directly from the Store. However, this won’t fix the error. It will just help in downloading/ updating any system app from the Store.

Another way to Install the System Apps:

  • Download the apps to your Laptop from OneDrive here.
  • Now, copy each app or the ones you need to your phone’s storage. Don’t copy your SD Card.
  • Open each one of them using the default File Explorer to install.
  • Restart if required.

Note: I have tested them on my Lumia 640 running Windows 10 version 10586.107. Sometimes the apps don’t work, like the Glance Screen didn’t work on my Lumia 640. I will not be taking any responsibility if your phone does not work as expected after installing these apps. A hard reset should fix any issues encountered. Also, there is no guarantee that the apps will work after getting the official update.