The friendly usability of the iPhone’s operating system is well known for its success. As more features were adapted in the newer iPhone, the status bar at tops of the screen, in Control Center and other app’s internal icons’ meaning was getting unfamiliar for some.
It is certainly difficult to look around Google for the unfamiliar icons or symbols we found in the iPhone, but you have come to the right place because we have compiled down all the available icons you can find on the iPhone are all here.
You should just find the icons here that look familiar to you but you have no idea what it really means, which we compiled with individual’s symbol or icons with their own meanings. For instance, if you have no idea what are the commonly found blue dots shown beside the apps, meaning that the apps have been updated from the App Store recently. Therefore, you should worry less about the weird icons or symbols you found in your iPhone.
We shall not waste your time here, just proceed yourself with the following complete list of iPhone symbols and icons with meanings for your solution.
Here is a complete list and meaning of iPhone symbols used in iOS.
Shows you the signal bar strength of the connected carrier’s 5G internet data network which is 10 times faster than 4G network.
The Varieties of 5G icon might appear for USA’s iPhone:
● “5G UC” indicates a status icon which means your iPhone has connected to T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity of 5G millimeter wave network
● “5G+” indicates a status icon which means your iPhone has connected to AT&T’s 5G millimeter wave network.
● “5G UW” indicates a status icon that means your iPhone is now connected to Verizon’s Ultra Wideband 5G network.
● “5G E” indicates as a status icon that means, a marketing term AT&T which relabeled from the older 4G LTE network. Therefore, the “5G E” wasn’t a real 5G network which is the reality of marketing terms, but if a 5G network has connected, you shall get 5G+ or 5G UW. Dilemma of suing telco for this mis-practice back in 2019 leads to mislead from the customer’s standpoint.
To simplify that, if you saw your iPhone showing 5G icons such as 5G UC, 5G+,5G UW, or 5G icons that are all good and fast 5G signals. However if you saw the 5G E icon, it literally means now you are connected to the 4G network but labeled as the 5G E icon.
What happened outside of the USA’s iPhone when connected to a 5G network, the typical and only 5G logo or icon would appear on the status bar.
Wi-Fi calling allows your iPhone to make high-quality phone calls through internet LTE data network or when you are connected to Wi-Fi network as well automatically.
You can enable/disable iPhone Wi-Fi calling as following, Settings > Phone > Wi-Fi Calling
This Wi-Fi icon shows that your iPhone’s Wi-Fi is turned on and connected. The Wi-FI signal bar will show you how strong your Wi-Fi connection is from less bar (weak) to full bar (strong) connection.
VPN is a virtual private network which ensures all the data traveling to and from your iPhone will be encrypted from data snoopers and cybercriminals. If your iPhone has installed a VPN app, then enabling it will connect to a VPN server in the Setting > VPN.
Location service is conditional or restricted, whereby you will only see this icon on the top right status bar when an app such as Maps is using it. You can enable or disable it as following:
A gray arrow shows that an item has used your location in the last 24 hours.
Network activity shows that there’s network activity. Some third-party apps may also use it to show an active process.
(or)
Safari or Apps is connecting or processing a website.
The status bar on top of the screen will show you this loading icon whenever you’re opening a website in Safari which shows that the website is now loading, connecting or processing. This icon would appear as well if you are shutting down your iPhone.
Call forwarding is a useful feature for the iPhone whenever you are expecting to lose cell phone coverage. You can set up call forwarding on your iPhone if you have cellular service through a GSM network.
Settings > Phone > Call Forwarding.
Otherwise if you have cellular service through a CDMA network, you should contact your carrier for more information about enabling and using these features.
You can use Airplane Mode to turn off the wireless/network features on your device while you’re flying in an airplane or you desire to turn your phone signal off the network.
For those who are having a hearing disability or have a hard time hearing, you can enable the RTT(Real-time text) or TTY (teletypewriter) feature on your iPhone that looks like a phone and keyboard icon. This feature allows users to send text messages immediately as soon you type them without needing you to press the send button. You can enable this feature as following:
This orientation lock feature helps to prevent the screen on your iPhone from switching a portrait to landscape mode when the device is rotated beyond a certain point when enabled.
Do Not Disturb is a great feature found in Focus mode icon to silence from calls, silence alerts, and silence notifications that you get while your device is locked. You can set a schedule for Do Not Disturb and could also selectively allow certain people to only call you while the “Do not disturb” feature is enabled.
This icon shows that your iPhone is now used by iTunes to sync with your computer. You can now sync iPhone through same Wi-Fi with your computer at ease as following:
The Lock Screen means your phone is now locked or not yet unlocked, appears when you turn on or wake iPhone and would show you the current time and date and your most recent notifications. In the Lock Screen, you could see notifications, as well as at the bottom are fast shortcut apps of Camera and Control Center, that notify you by your favorite apps at a glance, and more.
This icon shows your iPhone paired with a wireless headphone. You could also check your headphone’s battery level by asking Siri such as, “Hey Siri, how much battery is left on my headphones?”. Siri would reply to you with the headphone’s name and the battery percentage left.
Alarm icon would usually be shown at the top status bar just right beside the battery icon. But for the newer update of iPhone, the alarm icon is now shown in the Control Center at the top right corner.
Based on the default setting, the color of the battery would change from green to red based on % of battery level it is. As for the latest iPhone’s update, the following are the best explanation of battery level color and meanings.
● If the battery icon color is Black, it means the screen background color is light color.
● If the battery icon color is White, it is due to the background color being dark.
● If the battery icon color is Green, it means the iPhone is charging.
● If the battery icon color is Yellow, it means the iPhone is enabled with low Power Mode and is <80% battery level.
● If the battery icon color is Red , it means the iPhone battery life is below 10%.
Bluetooth device with battery level icon indicates when paired with smartphone. You can show a widget with all paired Bluetooth devices with battery level.
Green bubble behind the time means that your iPhone is currently connected to an audio or video call. Once you hang up the call, the color will be gone.
This AirDrop icon is a feature used to share and receive photos, documents, and more with other nearby Apple devices. You can set the AirDrop option to either, “Receiving Off, will not receive AirDrop requests”, “Contacts Only, meaning your contacts list can only see your device” or “Everyone: All nearby Apple devices can share & receive using AirDrop”.
This cellular data icon looks like an antenna with radio waves beside it. This cellular data icon will turn green when you enable cellular data icon, otherwise it is gray out meaning it is turned off.
Bluetooth is a feature to pair with any Bluetooth accessories. This Bluetooth icon will turn blue when you enable it, otherwise it will gray out when turned off.
With Apple’s Notes, you can write down any quick thoughts, create checklists, sketch ideas, and more which can now be stored in iCloud so that you can keep your notes viewable or updated across all your devices.
Apple Wallet is an e-wallet app on iPhone and Apple Watch that safe, securely and conveniently organizes or stores your Credit/Debit card, public transport passes, boarding passes, tickets, rewards cards and more all in one place for the Apple wallet.
The Voice Memos app can be found in the Utilities folder, is a great feature for the iPhone that acts as a portable recording device for recording personal notes, during classroom lectures, musical ideas, and much more. You can edit your recording with trimming, replace and resume functions.
You can change the text font size in your iPhone Settings > Display & Brightness > Text Size. You could also increase the font size even larger by going to the Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
Accessibility Shortcut comprises functions of VoiceOver, Assistive Touch, Guided Access, and more. You can enter accessibility shortcuts through Triple-click the Side button, inside Control Center upon added, and more.
You can access to App Switcher by swiping up from the bottom to the middle of your screen and then hold until you can see the App Switcher before you let go. You can swipe left or right to select the apps you want to use.
You can use the Apple TV Remote in the Control Center of your iPhone to control your Apple TV or compatible smart TV with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
The Apple TV Remote is automatically added to the Control Center of the latest updated iPhone.
Siri Apple’s version of Google Assistant. You can ask Siri any questions to get things done. Ask Siri to translate a phrase, set an alarm, find a location, report on the weather, and more. You can verbally activate Siri by calling, “Hey Siri.”, then greetings from Siri and you may ask about your questions.
You often see this audio or microphone like icon in your iPhone’s keypad, which is useful to convert audio speech to text easily without typing. You can enable or disable this microphone like symbol in your keyboard by going to settings > General > Keyboard > Dictation > on/off.
Voice Control is a very useful feature in Accessibility when enabled, you can operate your iPhone almost entirely through voice commands without needing to touch your iphone.
Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control > toggle to enable/disable the Blue Microphone icon in iPhone.
Use SharePlay to watch and listen together in FaceTime on iPhone. If you click this Shareplay sharing status, it will enable you to share your screen with this icon light up, otherwise it will gray out if disabled.
Use SharePlay to watch and listen together in FaceTime on iPhone. If you click this Shareplay recipient status, it will enable you to watch the person who invites you to watch their screen with this icon light up, otherwise it will gray out if disabled.
Sync status shows that your iPhone is syncing with your computer, so you can use iTunes to sync music, movies, and more using iTunes on your Mac or PC.
Do Not Disturb While Driving is a great iPhone Focus Mode feature that silences incoming phone calls, texts, and notifications while you’re driving, so that you can focus on driving and not get distracted by any incoming ringtones. This feature was introduced by Apple to help iPhone users be aware and reduce motor vehicle accidents caused by distracted driving behavior.
However if you want to disable “Do Not Disturb While Driving Mode”, you can go to Settings> Do Not Disturb > Activate > select “Manually” to turn off Do Not disturb while driving feature.
This cloud looking down arrow icon is a feature called “Offload Unused Apps”, in iOS 11 or newer that automatically saves storage for you. When this is enabled, your iPhone will perform housekeeping and delete apps that have not been used for a long while. This feature helps to noticeably reduce the storage limit on a device, since most of us have several apps that may not be used which are taking up significant storage space on an iPhone.
You can enable/disable this at the Settings” > ‘iTunes & App Store > Offload Unused Apps > Toggle on/off.
You can add your favorite gestures such as using touch and hold or two-finger rotation setting in the AssistiveTouch menu. You can even create more different gestures with different degrees of rotation at your desired gesture for ease of accessing certain features.
You can set your Gesture now at the Settings > Accessibility > Touch > AssistiveTouch > Create New Gesture.
The control Center can be easily accessed by just swiping top right side of the screen. You can customize the Control Center for which feature you want to add in to enable/disable easily.
If you make a mistake when typing on your iPhone, you don’t have to correct your mistake by dragging the finder cursor to select the typo, instead you can utilize the Shake to undo feature to remove your latest entry typo.
If you are annoyed with this feature, you can disable the “shake to undo” feature on iOS.
Follow these steps then the “shake to undo” will disable in no time. Go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> and disable Shake to Undo.
Shake to undo is ON by default, as a user, you need to disable it manually.
How to take a screenshot on iPhone 13 and other models with Face ID. Press the side button and the volume up button at the same time.
Image shows arrows pointing to side and volume up buttons
Quickly release both buttons.
After you take a screenshot, a thumbnail temporarily appears in the lower-left corner of your screen. Tap the thumbnail to open it or swipe left to dismiss it.
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch, then turn on Reachability. To lower the top half of the screen, do one the following: On an iPhone with Face ID: Swipe down on the bottom edge of the screen. On an iPhone with a Home button: Lightly double-tap the Home button.
Go to Settings, then do one of the following: On an iPhone with Face ID: Tap Face ID & Passcode. On an iPhone with a Home button: Tap Touch ID & Passcode.
Tap Turn Passcode On or Change Passcode. To view options for creating a password, tap Passcode Options.
Notifications help you keep track of what’s new—they let you know if you missed a call, if the date of an event moved, and more. You can customize your notification settings so you see only what’s important to you.
To put your iPhone into silent mode, simply push the physical mute switch to the left side. You should be able to see the orange indicator when you’ve muted your iPhone, as shown below. Next, to turn off sound during music or video playback, hold the volume down button located on the left side of the device.
By enabling this Magnifier, you can turn your iPhone into a magnifying glass so that you can zoom in on objects/small letters near you by using the camera lens.
Select a as a full size keyboard style when selecting this icon. You can tap and hold on the globe or emoji icon on your iPhone’s keyboard and you can select which keyboard style to choose.
Warning sign which happens due to certain not common issues with your iPhone. Eg. when your iPhone can’t be activated or an alert says the activation server is unavailable or the SIM card is unsupported.
With the Home app, you can easily and securely control your HomeKit accessories from all your Apple devices. Turn off the lights, see who’s at the front door, adjust your living room temperature, turn up the music and so much more. And with the new HomeKit Secure Video capability and HomeKit‑enabled routers, it’s all even more secure. The Home app makes all your connected devices work harder — and smarter — for you.
Apple iPhone’s “Ear Button” activates the Live Listen feature, meaning with your connected headphone or earphone (AirPods, AirPods Pro, AirPods Max, or Powerbeats Pro) owners are able to use their iPhone’s microphone and remotely listen to its audio capture through their iPhone’s microphone. It is available in the control center to easily enable. Its usefulness is quite brilliant especially if you are using a headphone or AirBud while driving, with this Hearing feature enabled could assist you to listen to external sound such as car honking if any, to ensure you drive safely while listening to music or anyone with the headphone or AirBud. The sound is picked up from your iPhone’s microphone.
By enabling the True Tone, it will help you to automatically adjust the color and intensity of your display to match the light in your environment to ease your eye.
Noise Control detects external sounds, which your AirPods Pro or AirPods Pro Max block to cancel the noise. On the other hand, the Transparency mode lets outside noise in, so you can hear what’s going on around you.
Use Spatial Audio with AirPods Pro or AirPods Pro Max for a dynamic listening experience. Spatial Audio changes the sounds you’re listening to so it seems to come from the direction of your device, even as your head or device moves.
Tap the “Focus” button in the control center, then tap “Do Not Disturb” to silence notifications for an hour or until the end of the day. Or turn it on just for an event or while you’re at a location, and it automatically turns off when the event ends or when you leave that location.
Your iPhone will listen for certain sounds and notify you when sounds are recognized. Examples include sound such as sirens, fire alarms, door bells, and more
Use Guided Access with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to limit your device to a single app and lets you control which features are available. You can turn on Guided Access when you let a child use your device, or when accidental gestures might distract you.
To set up Guided Access, go to Settings > Accessibility, then turn on Guided Access.
Tap Passcode Settings, then tap Set Guided Access Passcode.
Enter a passcode, then re-enter it. From here, you can also turn on Face ID or Touch ID as a way to end a Guided Access session.
Favorite icon will be shown in the favorite website in the favorite tab of Safari apps.
Favorite icon in the Control Center can allow add-in any feature you want.
Summarizing all of the available icons available in the iPhones to help your clear your doubts and understanding every single icons’ meaning so that you can easily utilizes all the available features along your great iOS/iPhone adventures. If you have more icons that you found that are not listed above which appears rarely or unknown one, just comment below by sharing us the pictures or just elaborate in words for us to help you identified it instantly. Wish you have a great day using your brilliant choice of iPhone or iOS devices.
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