The icons at the top of Android smartphones have changed a lot over time. As features have been added, more icons have appeared, and it can sometimes get confusing. Here's what they all mean.
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Perhaps the most easily understood icon is the battery icon - here are variations of the battery icon.
Note: The Android status bar is the strip of icons that runs across the top of the screen. The top-right corner is where you'll see most of these icons, while the top-left corner is mostly for app notifications.
The network bars and Wi-Fi icons represent your cellular and Internet networks , as well as additional connectivity features. The cellular and Wi-Fi icons show a rough estimate of signal strength—the shaded icon level is used to gauge how strong the signal is, just like the battery icon. Some carriers also display the network speed—LTE, 4G , or 5G —next to this icon.
Traditional icons for the calling experience have been there for quite a while.
Typically, you put your phone in one of the many available modes to turn off notifications, silence pings, or just to focus on the actual thing you're doing.
Occasionally, you'll see a bunch of other icons in the status bar. In addition to these status icons, you'll see app-specific icons whenever you receive a notification.
Now that you can recognize some of the most common Android status bar icons, a quick glance to the top right corner will always keep you informed about what's going on with your phone.
ADB is a powerful set of tools that give you more control over your Android device. Although ADB is intended for Android developers, you don't need any programming knowledge to uninstall Android apps with it.
You might think you know how to get the most out of your phone time, but chances are you don't know how big a difference this common setting makes.
The Android System Key Verifier app comes pre-installed as a system app on Android devices running version 8.0 or later.
Despite Apple's tight ecosystem, some people have turned their Android phones into reliable remote controls for their Apple TV.
There are many reasons why your Android phone cannot connect to mobile data, such as incorrect configuration errors causing the problem. Here is a guide to fix mobile data connection errors on Android.
For years, Android gamers have dreamed of running PS3 titles on their phones – now it's a reality. aPS3e, the first PS3 emulator for Android, is now available on the Google Play Store.
If you really want to protect your phone, it's time you started locking your phone to prevent theft as well as protect it from hacks and scams.
Android Picture-in-Picture mode will help you shrink the video and watch it in picture-in-picture mode, watching the video in another interface so you can do other things.
The common point of most of these AI chatbot tools is that they need an Internet connection to use. But with the article below, you will learn more tips for using AI chatbots without the Internet on your phone.
Depending on your needs, you'll likely get a set of Pixel-exclusive features running on your existing Android device.
After years of using Android phones, many people have become familiar with a number of open source Android apps. These apps are better than their closed source counterparts.
Samsung's camera app works well out of the box, but Camera Assistant adds new features that you wish were built in from the start.
Android Debug Bridge (ADB) is a powerful and versatile tool that allows you to do many things like find logs, install and uninstall apps, transfer files, root and flash custom ROMs, create device backups.
Chrome on Android is a great browser out of the box, but you can make it even better. These tips and features will help you browse the web faster.
When you compare smartphones from nearly two decades ago and today, you can't help but notice that they've gotten worse in a variety of ways.
Through your purchase history on the App Store, you will know when you downloaded that app or game, and how much you paid for the paid app.
iPhone mutes iPhone from unknown callers and on iOS 26, iPhone automatically receives incoming calls from an unknown number and asks for the reason for the call. If you want to receive unknown calls on iPhone, follow the instructions below.
Apple makes it easy to find out if a WiFi network is safe before you connect. You don't need any software or other tools to help, just use the built-in settings on your iPhone.
iPhone has a speaker volume limit setting to control the sound. However, in some situations you need to increase the volume on your iPhone to be able to hear the content.
ADB is a powerful set of tools that give you more control over your Android device. Although ADB is intended for Android developers, you don't need any programming knowledge to uninstall Android apps with it.
You might think you know how to get the most out of your phone time, but chances are you don't know how big a difference this common setting makes.
The Android System Key Verifier app comes pre-installed as a system app on Android devices running version 8.0 or later.
Despite Apple's tight ecosystem, some people have turned their Android phones into reliable remote controls for their Apple TV.
There are many reasons why your Android phone cannot connect to mobile data, such as incorrect configuration errors causing the problem. Here is a guide to fix mobile data connection errors on Android.
For years, Android gamers have dreamed of running PS3 titles on their phones – now it's a reality. aPS3e, the first PS3 emulator for Android, is now available on the Google Play Store.
The iPhone iMessage group chat feature helps us text and chat more easily with many people, instead of sending individual messages.
For ebook lovers, having a library of books at your fingertips is a great thing. And if you store your ebooks on your phone, you can enjoy them anytime, anywhere. Check out the best ebook reading apps for iPhone below.
You can use Picture in Picture (PiP) to watch YouTube videos off-screen on iOS 14, but YouTube has locked this feature on the app so you cannot use PiP directly, you have to add a few more small steps that we will guide in detail below.
On iPhone/iPad, there is a Files application to manage all files on the device, including files that users download. The article below will guide readers on how to find downloaded files on iPhone/iPad.
If you really want to protect your phone, it's time you started locking your phone to prevent theft as well as protect it from hacks and scams.
