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What do iPhone Symbols Mean in iOS 10

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7 years ago

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There are nearly two dozen iPhone symbols that show up in the iPhone status bar in iOS 10, many of which don’t clearly explain what they mean.

We commonly explain what the iPhone Symbols mean on iOS 10 but this guide explains what each of these symbols means in one place, so it is easier to understand what the iPhone is trying to tell you with the symbols and icons on the status bar mean.

Apple updates the iPhone symbols slightly in each new version of the iPhone software, but they should be the same across the various iPhone models from the iPhone 6 to the iPhone 7 Plus. Some of the symbols will also look the same on the iPad.

You will always see some of the iPhone symbols, while others will only show up at certain times when you need to know about an event or action that is taking place on the iPhone.

Common iPhone Symbols

The following iPhone symbols are in the status bar almost all of the time, so it is a good idea to know exactly what they mean. The basics will stay the same, but some parts may change depending on the type of connection you have.

iPhone Symbols iOS 7

Starting on the left side, here are what the iPhone symbols mean on iOS 10.

  1. Five Dots – Signal Strength. More dots means a better signal.
  2. Carrier Name – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint etc, will show here.
  3. Type of Connection – LTE, 4G, 3G, E, GPRS, 1x – these are ranked by speed with LTE the fastest and GPRS/1x the slowest.
  4. Time – The current time. In most cases, this will auto update based on location.
  5. Small Arrow – Location Services. This indicates that an app is using your location.
  6. B symbol – Bluetooth icon. This is grayed out when there are no Bluetooth devices connected and white when a device is connected.
  7. % icon and Battery – A visual and percentage indicator of battery life.

iPhone Symbols and Icons in iOS 10

In addition to these symbols that you may see on a day to day basis, there are other iPhone symbols and icons in the status bar which can alert you to other activities and actions as well as provide you with more information.

iPhone Symbols Guide iOS 7

  1. Personal Hotspot – Shows the personal hotspot is active and how many devices are connected.
  2. Bluetooth Battery Life – Shows the battery life of a connected Bluetooth device.
  3. Airplane Mode – Indicates the iPhone is ready for use in an airplane.
  4. WiFi indicator – Shows the signal strength of WiFi network, more black bars is better.
  5. Do Not Disturb – Shows that Do Not Disturb is turned on and blocking notifications
  6. Orientation Lock – Shows that the phone will not auto switch to landscape orientation when moved.
  7. Battery Charging Symbol – Shows battery is charging.
  8. VPN Icon – Shows the iPhone is connected to the Internet through a VPN or Virtual Private Network
  9. Alarm Clock – Indicates an alarm clock is set.
  10. Syncing Icon –  Indicates the iPhone is syncing with iTunes.
  11. Network Activity – Indicates network activity like a web page loading or app accessing network.

There are a few other less common iPhone symbols that may appear in the iPhone status bar including one for call forwarding and one for when the iPhone is connected to a TTY compatible device. The icons below show what this looks like, from the iPhone support manual.

iOS 7 iPhone Sumbols

These cover the major iPhone symbols and icons in iOS 10 and should help you understand what is going on with your iPhone without going to settings or hunting around.

What’s New in iOS 10.1

What's New in iOS 10.1

What's New in iOS 10.1

This is a list of what's new in iOS 10.1, including new features like Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus and a number of important fixes for the iPhone and iPad. 

Camera and Photos

  • Introduces Portrait Camera for iPhone 7 Plus that creates a depth effect that keeps your subject sharp while creating a beautifully blurred background (beta)
  • People names in the Photos app are saved in iCloud backups
  • Improved the display of wide color gamut photos in the grid views of the Photos app
  • Fixes an issue where opening the Camera app would show a blurred or flashing screen for some users
  • Fixes an issue that caused Photos to quit for some users when turning on iCloud Photo Library

Maps
  • Transit support for every major train, subway, ferry, and national bus line, as well as local bus systems for Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya
  • Sign-based transit navigation including layouts of all underground structures and walkways that connect large transit stations
  • Transit fare comparison when viewing alternative transit routes

Messages
  • New option to replay bubble and full screen effects
  • Messages effects can play with Reduce Motion enabled
  • Fixes an issue that could lead to contact names appearing incorrectly in Messages
  • Addresses an issue where Messages could open to a white screen
  • Addresses an issue that could prevent the report junk option from displaying with unknown senders
  • Fixes an issue where videos captured and sent in the Messages app could be missing audio

Apple Watch
  • Adds distance and average pace to workout summaries in the Activity app for outdoor wheelchair run pace and outdoor wheelchair walk pace
  • Fixes issues that may have prevented Music playlists from syncing to Apple Watch
  • Addresses an issue that was preventing invitations and data to appear in Activity Sharing
  • Fixes an issue that was allowing Activity Sharing to update over cellular when manually disabled
  • Resolves an issue that was causing some third-party apps to crash when inputting text

Other improvements and fixes
  • Improves Bluetooth connectivity with 3rd party accessories
  • Improves AirPlay Mirroring performance when waking a device from sleep
  • Fixes an issue where playback would not work for iTunes purchased content when the "Show iTunes Purchases" setting is turned off
  • Fixes an issue where certain selfie apps and face filters used with the FaceTime HD Camera on iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus did not display a live preview
  • Fixes an issue in Health where individual strokes are converted to separate characters when using the Chinese handwriting keyboard
  • Improves performance of sharing websites from Safari to Messages
  • Fixes an issue in Safari that caused web previews in tab view to not display correctly
  • Fixes an issue that caused certain Mail messages to be reformatted with very small text
  • Fixes an issue that caused some HTML email to be formatted incorrectly
  • Fixes an issue that in some cases caused the search field to disappear in Mail
  • Fixes an issue that could prevent Today View Widgets from updating when launched
  • Fixes an issue where Weather widget sometimes failed to load data
  • Fixes an issue on iPhone 7 where Home Button click settings would not appear in search results
  • Fixes an issue that prevented spam alert extensions from blocking calls
  • Resolves an issue that could prevent alarm sounds from going off
  • Fixes an issue where audio playback via Bluetooth would cause the Taptic engine to stop providing feedback for some users
  • Resolves an issue preventing some users from restoring from iCloud Backup
  • For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit this website:  https://support.apple.com/HT201222 

Keep reading to check out the iOS 10 features and iOS 10.1 features that these updates offer.

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2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Patty Smith

    01/01/2014 at 12:35 pm

    Nice article. Informing.

    Reply

  2. H Samuel

    03/10/2017 at 3:47 am

    Thank you so much.

    This information is really helpful to me.

    Reply

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