Android cell phones, tablets and Chromebooks are now fully featured devices and they have a substantial number of sometimes confusing notification icons. We regularly receive requests from visitors about what the icons on their various Android devices mean so we invested a day researching all of the current Android icons we could track down.
For beginners, the single graphic below will explain most of the common icons.
However, there are a myriad of other Android icons that sit in the notification bar at the top of your screen and here is the most complete list of explanations we could create:
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- Vo)) LTE – Voice over LTE instead of 3G Network
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- Phone handset with 4G – Voice Traffice is going over 4G Network
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- Vertical bars getting larger to the right – Cellular signal strength indicator
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- Up arrow with horizontal line under it icon Something is being uploaded
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- Down arrow with horizontal bar at he bottom – Cell is downloading something
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- Horizontal Left and Right Arrows – Voice over LTE as opposed to voice going over a 3G network
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- Screen with a down arrow inside icon – A system update is available
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- Triangle with up and down arrows inside it – Some apps have restricted data usage aka Data Saver Mode
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- Triangle with up and down arrows – Data limit has been reached according to your service provider
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- Triangle pointing right icon – Music player is on
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- Triangle icon – Cell is connected to a network different than your contracted company aka Roaming is enabled
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- Thought bubble with C inside it – ChatOn app is active
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- Tape icon – Voicemail has been received
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- T with a curved top aka Tesla icon – Tesla app is active
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- Steering Wheel aka Circle with three lines to center triangle icon – Driving mode aka hands free is enabled
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- Square with number 1 icon – Scheduled item from calendar is happening now
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- Square with M inside and second icon behind – Gmail has received more than one email
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- Square with M inside – Gmail has received a single message
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- Speaker with diagonal line through it and waves on each side – Notifications with vibrate but not provide audible alerts
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- Speaker with a lin through it – No audible alerts aka Silent Mode
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- SIM card with X in front – SIM card is not deteded
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- SIM card with exclamation mark to the right – SIM card is not detected
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- SIM card with exclamation mark in a circle – SIM card is not detected
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- Shopping bags on angle icon – Samsung Apps have updates
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- Shopping bag with right facing triangle inside icon – Google Play Store has updates to the apps installed on your cell
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- Shopping bag with checkmark inside -Google PlayStore has successfully downloaded and installed an app
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- Sheild icon with horizontal curved lines inside icon – aka lookout icon – a security notice has been received
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- SD Card with exclamation mark icon – Something is wrong with your SD Memory Card
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- SD Card with cog inside it icon – SD card is being prepared
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- SD card icon – SD Memory card has been unmounted and is now safe to remove without needing to power down
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- Satellite dish with Curves to the top right icon – Devices GPS is active
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- S in oblong circle aka Samsung long – Notification about your Samsung Account has been received
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- Rectangle with eye waves icon – Your screen is being duplicated on an external monitor or TV aka screen mirroring
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- Rectangle with corner missing and red X in the middle – SIM Card missing – Used by Verizon
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- Recangle with mountains inside – A screenshot has been captured
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- R with an airplane icon – Cell is connected to a network different than your contraced company aka Roaming is enabled
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- Printer icon – Print job is in process
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- Pitch fork pointing up icon aka USB- Device it teathered using USB
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- Phone handset with horizontal lines under it icon – Device is conencted to a TTY as an accesibility feature
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- Phone handset on angle with two virtical bars icon – Call is on hold
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- Phone handset on angle with right arrow icon – Call Forwarding is active
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- Phone handset on angle with curved waves to the right icon – Call is on speakerphone
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- Phone handset on angle with A and circle slash icon – All calls or calls from a Reject List are being automtically regected
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- Phone handset on angle icon – Call is active
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- Phone handset horizontal with bent arrow above it icon – You missed a call
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- Phone handset horizontal icon – Call has ended
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- Pencil icon – Samsung S Pen has been detected
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- N icon – Near Field Communication NFC is enabled – this is used for Tap applications
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- Microphone with slash through it icon – You microphone is set to mute
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- Microphone inside box icon – Voice Recorder is recording
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- Microphone icon – Voice input is enabled
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- Mail envelope with right arrow icon – Email is being sent
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- Mail envelope with circle and exclamation mark icon – Text MMS message failed to send
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- Mail envelope icon – New message has been received
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- Mail envelope with @ sign icon – Email has been received
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- LTE Plus with up and down arrows under it icon – LTE plus data network is in use
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- Lock with exclamation mark inside triange – Device lock has not been setup – like a password pin or face recognition
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- Lock with door behind icon – Private Mode is enabled
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- Lightening bolt icon – Download booster enabled – both Wifi and Cellular being used for Downloads
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- Light Bulb icon – Camera LED light is on aka flashlight
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- Left Pointing Arrow with Plus sign in the middle icon – More notifications available – too many to display here
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- Keyboard icon – touch screen keyboard is on
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with question mark inside – a WiFi network has been detected but not connected to
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with question mark in circle icon – a WiFi network has been detected but not connected to
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with clock in circle icon – WiFi timer has been set
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with arrows on each side pointing in – WiFi is connecting to another device aka WiFi Direct mode
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards icon with different background color – WiFi is active
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- Horizontal Curves expanding upwards icon – Device is acting as a hotspot allowing other devices to use its internet connection
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- Horizontal curved lines with up and down arrows to the right icon – Device is connected to WiFi and up and down arrows show upload and download usage
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- Headphones icon – Earphones are connected
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- Head with waves to the right icon – Voice Recorder is recording
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- Hand icon – Device will voice what is on the screen aka Talk Back mode
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- H with plus sign to the right icon – Device is connected to an enhanged 3G network
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- Funnel with black circle aka Here icon – GPS is enabled
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- Film with right facing triangle in the middle icon – Video is playing
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- Eye icon – Smart Screen is enabled allowing the device to stay on when it thinks you are near – aka Smart Stay
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- Circular arrows with an exclaimation mark inside the middle – Syncronization Error detected
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- Circular arrows with an exclaimation mark inside a circle – Syncronization Error detected
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- Circular arrows icon – Synchronization is working
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- Circle with whole in it and small cirle to the left with exclamation mark to the right icon – your storage disk is full
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- Circle with line up down right and left and circle in the middle – GPS is transmitting
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- Circle with line up down right and left – GPS is acquiring a signal from satalites
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- Circle with horizontal line icon -Blocking mode enabled – only calls from those on appoved list are allowed
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- Circle with diagonal slash through it aka Do Not Enter icon – Your phone can not find a cellular signal to connect to
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- Circle broken in top right with a plus sign in the middle icon – Data Saver is enabled
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- Cell with curved arrow icon – Your cell is sha sharing media with nearby devices
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- Cell phone with rectantgle behind it – Cell is connected to an external monitor or TV using HDMI
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- Cell phone with exlaimation mark inside triangle – Your cell is in Safe Mode
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- Cell phone inside round cicle on angle – You cell is using a docking station
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- Book with arrows pointing left and right icon – Android Beam function is connected to other devices
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- Bluetooth icon with triangle arrows – Bluetooth i communicating
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- Bluetooth Icon- cell is tethered to a different device
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- Battery with recycling icon – Power Saving is enabled
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- Battery Red Exclaimation Mark icon – Battery has less than 5 percent charge
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- Battery lightening bolt – Cell phone is charging
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- Battery 100 icon – Battery is fully charged
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- Alarm Clock icon – Pending Alarm has been set
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- Airplane -Icon – Airplane mode – Cellular connections disabled
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- 4GLTE up and down arrow icon – Using Data on 4G network
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- 4G up and down arrow icon – Using Data on 4G network
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- 3 Cell phones with arrows in middle – You cell has started or joined a Group play session
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