SOLVED: The Complete Guide To Icons on Android Devices – Up & Running Technologies, Tech How To's

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

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

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