Android 101: What Do the Status and Notification Icons on Your Phone Mean
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Are you wondering what the glyph icons are on the notification or status bar of your Android smartphone and why they are there? You're not alone! nextpit shares the different statuses and notification icons on Android and what their meanings are.
Icons appearing on the status or notification bar on your phone can differ for each brand or the Android version it runs on while those devices on stock Android would likely share the same icon designs. Regardless of how they look, though, the meaning and functions are likely the same.
Keep in mind that the location of these icons may also vary between manufacturers. Some symbols for services and features may appear on the status bar while others are on the notification bar.
Status bar vs. Notification Bar vs. Quick Settings
Before diving into those glyph icons, it is appropriate to know the difference between the status bar and notifications bar on your Android system since those icons will be shown and grouped depending on their type.
Status Bar
The status bar and the notification bar differ in their position. The status bar is located at the top-right of the display. This is where you will see the current time, battery status, and connections. See the usual list of status icons you can find on the status bar:
Common symbols and icons on the Android status bar
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Battery | Shows battery level or percentage and charging status |
| Airplane Mode | Indicates airplane mode is enabled |
| Wi-Fi | Shows Wi-Fi connection status |
| Bluetooth | Indicates Bluetooth connection status |
| Mobile Data (5G, 4G, LTE, H+, 3G) | Shows mobile data connection status |
| Modes or profile | Indicates which mode or profile is active |
| Location or GPS | Shows location services are enabled |
| Battery saver | Battery saver icon |
| Rotation Lock | Indicates screen rotation is locked |
| VPN | Shows VPN connection status |
| Screen Cast | Indicates screen casting is active |
| Alarm | Shows active alarms |
| Headset | Indicates a headset is connected |
| Hotspot | Indicates mobile hotspot is active |
| Data Saver | Shows Data Saver mode is active |
| System Update | Indicates a system or security update is available |
| Airplane Mode | Indicates airplane mode is enabled |
Notification Bar
Meanwhile, the Notification bar is located on the upper left side, where you'll find app icons to alert you to new messages, updates to the Play Store, current tracks being played, and other notifications.
Common icons appearing on the notification bar
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Clock | Current time |
| Apps | App-specific icons (e.g. Facebook, Google) |
| Envelope icon or custom email app icon | |
| Messages | Chat bubble icon |
| Calls | Missed calls, diverted, etc. |
| DND | Do Not Disturb icon |
| Voicemail | Tape reel icon |
| Calendar | Calendar page icon |
| Media Controls | Playback controls (e.g. play, pause, skip) |
| Navigation | Turn-by-turn directions and location pin icon |
| Weather | Cloud, sun, or weather-specic icon |
| App Downloads | Download arrow or app icon |
| Software Installation | Software update status |
| Screenshots | Camera shutting or photo icon |
| File Transfers | Up/down arrows showing transfer status |
| Screen recorder | Recorder icon |
| Crisis Alerts | Shows emergency alerts are enabled |
The notification bar also contains notifications, which you can open with a swipe-down gesture. This gesture reveals a lot of information–examples of which include recent screenshots, a WhatsApp message, Facebook notifications, and email alerts. For multiple notifications, the number of icons appearing is limited to 3 to 4 and will show the latest.
Quick Settings Panel
Another set of important things you can access from this swipe-down gesture is the quick settings panel. From here, you can quickly turn on/off features or controls without having to go to the settings menu.
From here, you can enable and disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other connections, turn on/off the hotspot, toggle the auto-rotate option, and switch on the flashlight, among others. If you press and hold down an icon, you will enter the settings for this function. If enabled, most of these toggle icons will appear on the status bar.
- Connectivity toggles
- Tool shortcuts
- Modes
- Brightness slider
- Profiles
- SIM manager
- Controllers
Most manufacturers also customize the quick settings themselves. Therefore, there are always several options here. Fortunately, the selection can be personalized to your tastes and habits, so you always have access to the most essential settings for you.
Also, you can always disable annoying or uninteresting notifications just by long-pressing an alert. This will open a small menu where you can choose how you want to be notified by the app.
Most common notification and status icons by manufacturers
Let's dive into the most commonly used notification and status icons you'll encounter on your smartphone. We've covered major smartphone brands and their custom Android skins. While these customizations don't drastically alter the icons' appearance or behavior, they can include unique features exclusive to your software.
Samsung (One UI)
Samsung's user manual includes a list of symbols that are usually displayed on the notification and status bars on Galaxy smartphones and tablets. You can find unique additions to these symbols such as for S Pen usage status and Samsung DeX. Check the image below to see the most important ones.
Xiaomi/ Redmi/ Poco
Here are the most commonly used status icons on Xiaomi smartphones. These icons will be seen on almost all devices from the company that runs HyperOS (how to customize). This includes sub-brands like Poco and Redmi.
HyperOS also uses a custom Android skin, so you will see that these icons look differently from other skinned Android user interfaces.
OnePlus / Oppo
These are the icons you will encounter while using OnePlus or Oppo smartphones that run the company's own Android skin operating system – ColorOS.
Huawei / Honor (HarmonyOS, EMUI, and MagicUI)
Honor might have separated from Huawei, but many of the statuses and notifications on Honor devices that run MagicUI are inspired by Huawei's HarmonyOS.
Motorola (Stock Android)
As for Motorola devices, they run on a custom Android, but the overall look of the icons is similar or doesn't differ from the pure Android OS. At the same time, there are a few touches on how the glyph icons on their status bar appear.
Stock Android (Google, HMD, Sony, HMD, and Asus)
If you happen to be an Android purist who prefers the stock Android experience, chances are high that you would own either a Google Pixel smartphone or one of the many devices that offer the stock Android experience. These brands that offer stock Android experience include HMD, Sony, and Asus.
Some of the icons that you will encounter on stock Android are listed in the image below. While these icons are from Android 11, most of these have remained unchanged on the latest version of Android.
In case the icon that you are looking for isn't listed above, Google has a comprehensive list of icons that are part of Android 11 on its Fonts portal. This page lists all the icons that you will encounter on your Android phone. It is divided into multiple sections, some of which are listed below.
Since then, these icons haven't vastly changed even in the latest Android 15, which you can check from the below screenshots.
Have you ever seen a notification or an icon that you just can't figure out the meaning of? Describe it in the comments, and let us know what type of phone you have!
music note (red) on notification screen there a couple seconds and disappears
I have an icon in my LH side top of me Moto G plus phone that i cannot find a way to delete the information that sends to my mail. (Its X rated site ) Looks like a double lined triangle and that is all . Thanks for your help! Mike email address: hammockmikejr@gmail.com
I just got a Schok flip phone. In the Notification bar, there's a little white shield shape. There's a black triangle in the middle; one angle points to the right. The shield itself has a rounded bottom. At the top, there are three corners--right, left, and center pointing straight up.
Hi! Asus ZenFone: 3 people from shoulder to top of head ( one in front, the other two kind of behind) . Which app's notification icon is this? Thanks!
I have a oppo 94 5g mobile and there is a upside down pear symbol with white at the bottom on my notification bar can you tell me what it could be please.
I have a note 21 ultra and a notification that I belive may be restarting my phone is an "s" with eyes.
What is this??
This will be a long shot but I really hope someone knows what it is. I have a Maxwest Neo LTE flip phone and there a notification icon that (to me) looks like a champaign top & cork
going into a notch in a rectangle that looks like the top edge of the bottle.
So basically the bottom half of the icon is a horizontal rectangle with a square notch in the
top center. In the notch is a vertical rectangle (the cork) with a horizontal rectangle on top
of the cork like the top of a champaign bottle.
I've written to Maxwest but they doesn't have any customer service people. I went through
most of the settings on the phone and made changes and couldn't get the icon to go away.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Irv
Idk what it means but these descriptions are gold 🤭👌
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra; white dot inside white circle, 3 curved small lines on outside, almost looks like a radar emitting signals?
I have a Moto Edge 2020 at the top right I see an icon I've never seen before. I have, from right to left, the time, battery level and battery icon, data level, WI Fi level, and the one I have no idea about is simply a small filled in dot. It's not dirt or anything I can't wipe off. The camera is in a large black "dot" on the far left upper corner. This is a much smaller black dot I can't come up with a meaning for. Any ideas?
I have this same little pin head dot and I'm trying to find out what it means. If you do figure it out, please let me know.
I have the samsung galaxy S21 (Samsung SM-G781U1) and the icon is a speaker notes icon i believe (that is what it says when i look it up) however i dont know what that is or where it comes from. it is like a message icon shaped the same but has three lines in it the top two are the same the bottom one is shorter and it has a dot by each line which makes it look like bullet points. the icon is white the lines and dots are black
Trying to figure out what the circle with a smile icon is
Is that not Upday news ? It comes with Samsung or Bixby which is built in with your phone. You can disable it.
We have a Samsung Galaxy A22 5g, there's an icon top left, next to the time, it looks like the signal icon, but has a question mark on the left. Since this afternoon we have no Internet. Can someone please help?
That is telling your WiFi is off or you aren't getting phone signal for your mobile data. Go to settings > Wifi> Connections and look for your Router, put in your routers password and you should connect to your WiFi. Hope this helps. If you are using your phone data then make sure you have mobile data switched on :)
It appears that your questions go unanswered anyway. But I still will give this a shot period and the face page the very first one that appears black with say your time on it Before you activate it I have a camera icon that I don't understand it is the camera with an arrow up along the side of it I have an Android 7 I believe
I have a Nord 100 and in the notifications on the top left shows a head with shoulders and + sign to the right of it
Samsung galaxy a32 5g with a shield with a lightning bolt inside.
Looks like an eye in the top right of screen, next to the 4g notification. It showed up for a second and then left soon after. I have a samsung a10e
i have a nokia 7.1 mobile and have a notification icon which is a head and shoulders with a plus sign
I have an LG G3 Android smartphone it won't hold a charge and it won't charge and there's a arrow indicators pointing to one side of the phone
I have a Google Pixel 4a-5g. In the top right corner I now have a icon that appears to be what looks like a ekg symbol, or heartbeat line with a slanted line through it. Like it's turned off. I noticed this as now my camera app isn't loading.
Did you find a solution to this? I have the same exact problem and can't find any information online.
Did you find. Solution to the squiggly symbol with a slanted line?
Any new insights? Camera stopped working as this new symbol turned up. Might do a factory reset
Did you find a fix? My note 9 has this icon in the status bar and no camera
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and im trying to figure out what app makes a notification that shaped like a name badge and has a person on the left side (inside the badge) and a check mark on the right. Any help would be very very appreciated!! :)
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and im trying to figure out what app makes a notification that shaped like a name badge and has a person on the left side (inside the badge) and a check mark on the right. Any help would be very very appreciated!! :)
I have an LG stylo 4 (LML713DL) and there is an icon at the top right thst is a rectangle box with a total of 7 dots inside of it. Can't get rid of it and can't figure out what it is
I have a c900 pro and have an icon appeared that looks like a stethoscope or cable with 2 prongs never seen it before and can't get rid of it.
I have a s21+ and it had a little flame guy waving in the top left notification bar
It looks like a little. Flame guy waving with one hand
I have a galaxy j7 pro and the other day a icon came up on the left hand side of my screen and it's three dots across three dots down and three dots making a Square. I have never seen it before and it never goes away what is it
I have a MOTO G8 plus with Android 10 and I get what looks like a phone handset icon (like you get on buttons to pick up a call), with a tiny Wifi symbol (like a fan) next to it. I was thinking along the lines of Wifi calling, but I don't think my phone or carrier support those, and can't find anything in Settings. Any clues?!
My Samsung tablet has sign like a no entry road sign next to my wi fi sign and I cant connect to data outside my house
My LQ phone has a tiny icon between the radio and wifi cons. I had to use a camera with a macro lens to enlarge it enough to make it out. It toggle between "4G" and 4G with a diagonal line across it. The two states are impossible to differentiate without a magnifying glass. There is no action the user can take to in response to either. That makes the icon pointless.
my bf had a red icon that almost look like the target symbol what does that mean
Maybe the touchscreen calibration tool
Cool!
Behold the evil of manufacturer skins who deviate into the paths of confusion and self-prioritization over user choice and control. Shun them.
Ik have a downloadsymbol with next to it a red dot. It keeps on appearing even after restart. Anyone knows what it is and how you stop it?
I have a blue circle with a line through it by the telephone number that called in.
I have a broken sided triangle - what does that mean
What is the hand and dot notification mean?
LG G8 - I have an icon that just starting showing up on the status bar. It looks like a phone on its back with maybe what appears to be the word MUTE or VALU with a curved line at the top. As far as I know nothing is muted if that is what is says (too small to read).
That icon is your wifi calling icon..it means you are connected to wifi and that you are using your internet connection to make and receive calls. You can turn that off under settings if you lime.
Linc this is not the icon swally2 was talking about. The wifi icon does not have text in the middle, just the handset and half circles.
swally2 the text in the middle is "VoLTE" and stands for Voice Over LTE. This means you can make HD voice/video calls over your (4G) LTE network without any 3rd party apps.
I have an icon that pops up quickly and disappears so I cannot find the app or thing it belongs to. It's on the left side and shows the head and bust of a person with 2 or 3 curved lines running vertically on the right side. I have an LG V30 upgrade to 9.0 if that helps.
On the right hand side top bar. a square with symbol that resembles a N. Samsung note 10. Please help. ( It is next to my alarm icon for a reference as to location.
That should be NFC. You can turn it off in the drop down menu.
I have a disability and have an extremely difficult time seeing the tiny icons. They were much bigger on my previous phone. How does one make these icons big enough to see?
I would be very appreciative if anyone could help me with this. I can't use them the way they are. Thank you.
I have an icon on the upper left of my screen that looks sort of like an EKG sign. Can anyone tell me what that one is? Please!
After an update I have a green square with android robots head, at the top left of my screen any ideas??
I have a symbol that looks like a spider with a T inside it???!!
I have a symbol on the top rhs next to the sound on/off icon. I looks like a triangle with a small gap in each side and 2 arrows inside, pointing up and down. No idea what this is
I have the same thing on my phone and haven't been able to find out what it is yet. Let me know if you find out. Thanks jaxaccord@gmail.com
It means your data saver is on. Go to connections under settings, then data usage. You can toggle it on or off
I am trying to figure out what app icon is popping up on my notification bar... it looks like a wifi network signal with a llittle speech bubble (for messages) on the right corner of icon. could someone help me figure out what app is causing this on my phone....
I have wifi symbol with a tiny symbol on its bottom right side. It is so tiny I can't see it clearly but it looks kind of like the M on Monster drinks...
Verizon
Samsung J7V
Could it be the padlock for locked Wi-Fi? You can take a screenshot then zoom in to see it better.
Not a padlock. I did screenshot and can see it is a box with 2 vertical lines that might be 2 arrows pointing up
?
What does an x show up after metro by TMobile mean on a motorcycle e5 plus...can sumone plz help me wit this question ty
Huawei P20 - Status bar icon symbol looks like a pair of earphones wityh a tick in the middle. What does it indicate please. (Earphones are NOT connected)
I think it is probably the speedometer symbol. It means performance mode is enabled.
That is correct! Manty thanks
What does ••• mean?
More notifications are available but the icons cannot fit in the status bar.
I have a triangle with a break on each side with up and down arrow inside. It's in the first picture at the top of this page next to the vibrate symbol.
It's the data saver icon. You can turn data saver on and off in the settings.
T-Mobile V7 have a ghostly pac man icon (not snap) that popped up on my notification bar. What is this.
Well, this article addresses Android 10, it doesn't mention anything for Oreo and Pie (and that's a disservice to those who don't have OS 10).
How about a follow up with Android OS Oreo and Pie users? The Notification Bar, it's Icons, the Features - the whole shebang!
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Admin
Oct 6, 2019 Link to commentVery confusing. Too many icons.
What is the meaning of the large donut/ data usage icon with a leftward circular arrow inside it???
I have a thick white circle thr3 quarters Colored with a cross in the middle. ?? Never changes
The first picture above shows multiple notification icons from the same app, for example: there appears to be 4 youtube icons and two Instagram cons, etc. With Android 8 and 9 this is more of an issue because now there is only room for four notification icons along with a dot indicating overflow. I'm using Android 9 and to me this makes no sense. Just now I got a audible email notification. I looked at my screen and in the notification area I see one notification icon for a text message and three notification icons for The Guardian followed by a dot. Why am I being told I have three notifications from the Guardian and no sign of the email notification? Wouldn't it be more efficient and practical to show one notification icon for each app, for example: One text message icon, one Guardian icon and one email icon? This is how it was done up to Android 6 I believe. Who makes these decisions and changes that makes no sense?
How do I upload a photo of the icon I'm wondering about? It looks like a rectangle with a circle on top.
i have one icon i dont know what it is yet, its two hands holding a battery, you can check this screenshot, please help me. ibb.co/HCJ8760
I have 2 icons I haven't been able to find out what they are, hopefully one of you can. 1 icon is like the recycling triangle with 2 arrows in it, 1 pointing up , 1 pointing down. I would like to know what it is. Second icon is a phone like I'm in a call but it's got the wifi signal top right and below it, it's a 1. Keeps freaking me out thinking I'm in a actual call atm. It's a Samsung A7, 2018.
Found out by trial and error, that the triangle icon is for when you have Data Saver active. Why isn't that icon shown in the large icon database in the post...
Would still like to know about the phone icon though
The phone icon with WiFi icon above is for the WiFi Calling feature whereby the phone can fallback to WiFi if you are making a call and both WiFi and Cellular are available.
All you have to do is enable the WiFi calling feature on your phone and place a call just like you would with cellular infrastructure. You may have to register the physical address of where the WiFi connection is so
as to facilitate finding your location in a 911 emergency call scenario.
I'm seeing a circle enclosed in a broken circle. First time was today.
A head with three commas after it keeps randomly flashing in my notifications. Makes no sound and isn't there for even a second. Looks like a person listening but idk what it is. Galaxy note 8
What does battery unknown mean ? What is it about? thanks!
Any idea what an icon that looks like a car speedometer is on a huawei p20 pro please? I would post a screen shot but it's not
possible.
Update:-, It was the performance mode icon.
Sorted. It's the performance mode icon.
I have a single white vertical line by my wifi indicator icon in status bar. Only there when im on home screen or in app drawer, disappears whenever i use any other apps. It should be visible in my profile pic. I didn't know how else to show anyone. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
My experience with that is that the verticle line is actually an exclamation mark which is telling you to do something such as login to the WiFi hot spot. That is what my Samsung Galaxy A520 does when I need to login to get internet connectivity. I think this typically when you have an open hotspot with no wifi connection security but there is a guest login action you need to take to actually get internet connectivity
In the top left appears an icon of a person (shoulders up) with 3 "broadcasting" lines on the right side, it pops for a few seconds and then dissappear... What does it mean???
Hi Itzi! The icon you are referring to is used by Google Maps, and it is a notification that the app is updating your shared location. This will only appear occasionally if you are actively sharing your location with another user. Hopefully this helps!
Ohh thank you so much, yes that makes total sense, 😁😁😁😁
Same... What is this?
Hello I have a envelope looking icon with a heart with it. What is that icon?
I have a triangle on the right top side of my phone. I cannot find a picture of it anywhere. What does it mean? It just showed up one day
I have a signal icon that has a little home above it with a open paran rotated 90 degrees clockwise and bouncing up and down on top of the house. I have a Samsung 4g network extender. Is this the new icon to show that I am connected to said extender?
I have a moto e5 plus and there is an icon shaped like a person on the bottom right side of my navigation bar...what is this?
Whats the icon ib in a square mean ...and a chain link ? Both are in top left of samsung s8 active
On my Samsung J3 running Android 6.0.1 there is an icon in the upper left corner that looks like a mobile phone, but has an "X" overlapping the right side of the phone. Does anyone know what it means?
Data Saver status icon in Android Oreo update for Galaxy S8 and S8+
Data Saver status icon in Android Oreo update for Galaxy S8 and S8+
The icon shown on the left is the new data saver status icon in Android Oreo update for Galaxy S8 and S8+.
Ths icon indicates you turned on data saver in your Galaxy S8 or S8+.
I have the same icon too.. Note 8
I have an icon that is a pluse sign in half circle. What does it mean and how do I get rid of it?
Data Saver on. Turn Data Saver off and icon will disappear.
That is the old data saver icon and it means you have data saver enabled which is a good thing. The updated icon is a small triangle outline with an up and down arrow within it.
I have a status bar icon i have no idea what it means. Its like a triangle with two arrows pointing up and down. I have a samsung galaxy s8
That's is the new data saver status icon in Android Oreo update. Google 'new-status-icons-in-android-oreo-update-for-galaxy-s8-and-s8'
What is the icon in the status bar next to the Alarm and Wi-Fi icons in the close up picture there? Its a rectangle with 2 lines on each side.
Hey, thats the icon for the vibrate mode :)
Are you at/near your data allowance?
I have a Samsung S7 and recently had an icon appear in the Status bar that I have no idea of. It is a plus sign surrounded by a circle with a quarter of the circle missing. Any help would be great! Thanks
Are you at/near your data allowance?
Just figured this one out on my phone. It's the data saver notification.
Yep, that's it.
there are two, one green and one blue.they are square with with what looks like book pages with a red line over the top left corner.one has something that looks like a capital E. I could provide a screenshot if I knew where to send it
I have an icon that is a magnifying glass in front of a wifi icon. What does it mean and how do I get rid of it?
I have a notification icon that look like a hand holding a tablet, but if I hold my device sideways it looks like an L. I'm using Lenovo yoga tab 3 plus, this icon showed up when the device updated to android nougot 7.1.1.
I have an icon that looks like N)) with the vertical lines of the 'N' curved like the brackets. Anyone know what it stands for?
It means NFC is enabled. I wondered the same, turned off NFC, and it disappears.
@google Feature request: Please add an entry to the Android pull-down notification menu that can be expanded to explain the meaning of all the icons on the right hand side. (Even the 'obvious' ones like battery, bluetooth, and NFC.)
I have a icon (en) that I have no idea what it is please help
Describe the icon and we'll try to help.
One of those almost android free Obama phones the letter w the word wave and three horizontal wavy lines in the top status bar? Haven't found a clue! What do they mean? Only have photographic memory of them and don't remember exact position in status bar.
All icons are from "Font Awesome"
Thank you
This is were some software should be made available so you could customise it,like changing the status bar colour on the S8 models,as white buttons do not show up clearly,with any wallpaper you put on the phones,you can change the background but it's the button colours I want to change to Black or Red
I agree. My Huawei honor 7x has the icons in black. I can hardly see them. I'm not rooted, so can't customize them
I use the excellent app X-plore which is by far the best file management app, it has a handy wifi sharing which allows you to see your phones internal/external file structure on your tablet, anyway it has a cool way to activate it - drop down menu - wifi server icon.
Peace 🖖🏼
dmc98.blogspot.com
check my website
Customizing my phone with substratum makes the quick settings icons really shine, and every one that I have is self descriptive, absolutely no confusion here. If your rooted, and your phone supports it, use it.
Thanks for the tip!