SOLVED: The Complete Guide To Icons on Android Devices

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:

: Vo)) LTE – Voice over LTE instead of 3G Network

: Phone handset with 4G – Voice Traffice is going over 4G Network

: Vertical bars getting larger to the right – Cellular signal strength indicator

: Up arrow with horizontal line under it icon Something is being uploaded

: Down arrow with horizontal bar at he bottom – Cell is downloading something

: Horizontal Left and Right Arrows – Voice over LTE as opposed to voice going over a 3G network

: Screen with a down arrow inside icon – A system update is available

: Triangle with up and down arrows inside it – Some apps have restricted data usage aka Data Saver Mode

: Triangle with up and down arrows – Data limit has been reached according to your service provider

: Triangle pointing right icon – Music player is on

: Triangle icon – Cell is connected to a network different than your contracted company aka Roaming is enabled

: Thought bubble with C inside it – ChatOn app is active

: Tape icon – Voicemail has been received

: T with a curved top aka Tesla icon – Tesla app is active

: Steering Wheel aka Circle with three lines to center triangle icon – Driving mode aka hands free is enabled

: Square with number 1 icon – Scheduled item from calendar is happening now

: Square with M inside and second icon behind – Gmail has received more than one email

: Square with M inside – Gmail has received a single message

: Speaker with diagonal line through it and waves on each side – Notifications with vibrate but not provide audible alerts

: Speaker with a lin through it – No audible alerts aka Silent Mode

: SIM card with X in front – SIM card is not deteded

: SIM card with exclamation mark to the right – SIM card is not detected

: SIM card with exclamation mark in a circle – SIM card is not detected

: Shopping bags on angle icon – Samsung Apps have updates

: Shopping bag with right facing triangle inside icon – Google Play Store has updates to the apps installed on your cell

: Shopping bag with checkmark inside -Google PlayStore has successfully downloaded and installed an app

: Sheild icon with horizontal curved lines inside icon – aka lookout icon – a security notice has been received

: SD Card with exclamation mark icon – Something is wrong with your SD Memory Card

: SD Card with cog inside it icon – SD card is being prepared

: SD card icon – SD Memory card has been unmounted and is now safe to remove without needing to power down

: Satellite dish with Curves to the top right icon – Devices GPS is active

: S in oblong circle aka Samsung long – Notification about your Samsung Account has been received

: Rectangle with eye waves icon – Your screen is being duplicated on an external monitor or TV aka screen mirroring

: Rectangle with corner missing and red X in the middle – SIM Card missing – Used by Verizon

: Recangle with mountains inside – A screenshot has been captured

: R with an airplane icon – Cell is connected to a network different than your contraced company aka Roaming is enabled

: Printer icon – Print job is in process

: Pitch fork pointing up icon aka USB- Device it teathered using USB

: Phone handset with horizontal lines under it icon – Device is conencted to a TTY as an accesibility feature

: Phone handset on angle with two virtical bars icon – Call is on hold

: Phone handset on angle with right arrow icon – Call Forwarding is active

: Phone handset on angle with curved waves to the right icon – Call is on speakerphone

: Phone handset on angle with A and circle slash icon – All calls or calls from a Reject List are being automtically regected

: Phone handset on angle icon – Call is active

: Phone handset horizontal with bent arrow above it icon – You missed a call

: Phone handset horizontal icon – Call has ended

: Pencil icon – Samsung S Pen has been detected

: N icon – Near Field Communication NFC is enabled – this is used for Tap applications

: Microphone with slash through it icon – You microphone is set to mute

: Microphone inside box icon – Voice Recorder is recording

: Microphone icon – Voice input is enabled

: Mail envelope with right arrow icon – Email is being sent

: Mail envelope with circle and exclamation mark icon – Text MMS message failed to send

: Mail envelope icon – New message has been received

: Mail envelope with @ sign icon – Email has been received

: LTE Plus with up and down arrows under it icon – LTE plus data network is in use

: Lock with exclamation mark inside triange – Device lock has not been setup – like a password pin or face recognition

: Lock with door behind icon – Private Mode is enabled

: Lightening bolt icon – Download booster enabled – both Wifi and Cellular being used for Downloads

: Light Bulb icon – Camera LED light is on aka flashlight

: Left Pointing Arrow with Plus sign in the middle icon – More notifications available – too many to display here

: Keyboard icon – touch screen keyboard is on

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with question mark inside – a WiFi network has been detected but not connected to

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with question mark in circle icon – a WiFi network has been detected but not connected to

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with clock in circle icon – WiFi timer has been set

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards with arrows on each side pointing in – WiFi is connecting to another device aka WiFi Direct mode

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards icon with different background color – WiFi is active

: Horizontal Curves expanding upwards icon – Device is acting as a hotspot allowing other devices to use its internet connection

: 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

: Headphones icon – Earphones are connected

: Head with waves to the right icon – Voice Recorder is recording

: Hand icon – Device will voice what is on the screen aka Talk Back mode

: H with plus sign to the right icon – Device is connected to an enhanged 3G network

: Funnel with black circle aka Here icon – GPS is enabled

: Film with right facing triangle in the middle icon – Video is playing

: Eye icon – Smart Screen is enabled allowing the device to stay on when it thinks you are near – aka Smart Stay

: Circular arrows with an exclaimation mark inside the middle – Syncronization Error detected

: Circular arrows with an exclaimation mark inside a circle – Syncronization Error detected

: Circular arrows icon – Synchronization is working

: Circle with whole in it and small cirle to the left with exclamation mark to the right icon – your storage disk is full

: Circle with line up down right and left and circle in the middle – GPS is transmitting

: Circle with line up down right and left – GPS is acquiring a signal from satalites

: Circle with horizontal line icon -Blocking mode enabled – only calls from those on appoved list are allowed

: Circle with diagonal slash through it aka Do Not Enter icon – Your phone can not find a cellular signal to connect to

: Circle broken in top right with a plus sign in the middle icon – Data Saver is enabled

: Cell with curved arrow icon – Your cell is sha sharing media with nearby devices

: Cell phone with rectantgle behind it – Cell is connected to an external monitor or TV using HDMI

: Cell phone with exlaimation mark inside triangle – Your cell is in Safe Mode

: Cell phone inside round cicle on angle – You cell is using a docking station

: Book with arrows pointing left and right icon – Android Beam function is connected to other devices

: Bluetooth icon with triangle arrows – Bluetooth i communicating

: Bluetooth Icon- cell is tethered to a different device

: Battery with recycling icon – Power Saving is enabled

: Battery Red Exclaimation Mark icon – Battery has less than 5 percent charge

: Battery lightening bolt – Cell phone is charging

: Battery 100 icon – Battery is fully charged

: Alarm Clock icon – Pending Alarm has been set

: Airplane -Icon – Airplane mode – Cellular connections disabled

: 4GLTE up and down arrow icon – Using Data on 4G network

: 4G up and down arrow icon – Using Data on 4G network

: 3 Cell phones with arrows in middle – You cell has started or joined a Group play session

4 Comments

Melanie · June 15, 2021 at 11:13 pm

Hi Ian
What is two circles with arrow through?
I’ve checked your contact page on where to send screenshots – On site support does not give any contact information?

Ian Matthews · June 17, 2021 at 2:55 pm

Hi Melanie;

In your private message to me, you identified that icon as an app named “Reface”. We are putting this comment through to help others with similar questions.

Thanks.

Jenny · May 5, 2021 at 11:40 am

What is a phone handset on angle with a plus sign?

Ian Matthews · May 10, 2021 at 9:44 am

Hi Jenny;

If you can send me a screenshot of that icon (see our CONTACT PAGE) I will dig into it further, but it sounds like (pun intended) it might be to add more callers to a conference call.