Google Play Store bug is causing Collections confusion

It has been about two years since Google introduced the Play Store feature known as “Collections.” This feature organizes your apps by topic and highlights content recommended by your apps. It’s meant to help you discover new content or resume content already in progress right from your home screen. If you tried to set up the widget recently, you may have noticed that something is a little off.

Accessing Collections is as easy as long-pressing on the Play Store app. It appears as the last option in the pop-up menu. Normally, the Collections option is accompanied by an icon in a circular enclosure. However, a bug appears to be causing a visual glitch.

Users are reporting that the icon next to the Collections shortcut is completely blank on the stock Pixel Launcher. The only thing there is a white circle sitting off to the left. This is not a contrast issue, as the circle remains blank in both light and dark mode. I can confirm that the icon is empty on my Pixel 6 Pro, and my colleague Chethan Rao is experiencing the same issue.

A member of the Pixel product support team has responded to the thread with a few recommendations. They suggest checking for the latest update, which you by going to Settings > System > Software updates > Check for updates. If updating doesn’t work, you may want to try clearing the Pixel Launcher’s cache (Settings > Apps > See all apps > Pixel Launcher > Storage & cache > Clear cache). The final recommendation is to reboot into safe mode to see if the issue persists. If everything is fine, then that indicates that a third-party app may be the problem.