Learn About Your Apple Watch Icon Meanings

The Apple Watch you buy comes with several different faces to choose from. 

And If you’re an Apple Watch user, you know that there are all kinds of icons that appear on your screen the moment you pick up your iPhone. 

But what do all those little pictures mean? What do those little icons mean? We explain all the Apple Watch status icons and the meaning of each one alphabetically.

Apple Watch Icon Meanings-

1. Airplane Mode Icon

Tapping on this icon disconnects your watch from every wifi network and any other wireless connections as well.

You will still be able to do all the non-wireless functions but not the wireless features.

2.  Airplay Icon

Apple Watch Icon Meanings

The icon assists you to variate between different audio output levels.

You can also stream music on your television or any other compatible device through this icon.

3. Battery Percentage

Battery Percentage

The icon will tell you how much is your apple watch battery percentage. 

Tapping on this icon will also give you the choice to reserve the power of your watch.

4. Call icon

Call icon

The icon will come up when you get on a phone call, either from your watch or your iPhone itself. You can multitask while this icon comes up and tap on it for extra features.

5. Cellular Icon

Cellular Icon

The cellular icon appears when a cellular connection is made on your apple watch.

These networks can be used for the apple watches with eSims capabilities. 

6.  Do not disturb (half-moon icon)

You might be familiar with the icon through other ios devices as well. The icon is used when you don’t want to be alerted about any calls or notifications.

So, your apple watch display will not light up or ring at all, The only sound you will hear from your watch when it’s on DND is the one of the alarm!

7. Flashlight

Flashlight

The icon is simply to turn on the torch on your watch. It has three flashlight modes and you can choose yours by swiping across the screen of the watch. 

8. Green Lightning bolt icon

This green icon is present in all the other ios/android devices as well.

It imparts that your device is connected to power and is charging.

9.  Headphone accommodation ( Hearing or live listening)

It enables you to hear on devices compatible with hearing and paired/connected with your watch.

10. iPhone connected icon

The icon appears when the iPhone you want gets connected with the watch and is now paired.

11. iPhone disconnected icon

The icon appears when the previously paired iPhone is disconnected from the watch and hence unpaired. 

12. Location Indicator icon

Whenever you open an apple watch app that you have permitted to use your location, this icon comes up.

13. Lock icon

When you put a passcode on your watch, a lock icon appears. This happens when you take the watch out of your wrist and the wrist detection gets turned off. To unlock it, you will need to fill out the passcode.

14. LTE Icon

When you watch gets GPS or cellular network, this icon appears. This icon will also help you know the signal strength of the network you have. 

This icon will only appear if you have a cellular apple watch.

15. Maps icon

Maps icon

The icon will come up when you are using the Apple Maps app on your watch. It will show a blue dot while showing directions.

16. Mic icon

This orange microphone icon will appear on the watch face while you are using Siri, dictation, or have a call in progress.

17. Navigation icon

 Navigation icon

This icon presents itself when the apple watch is showing directions to a third-party application on the watch itself.

18. No cellular network icon (cross icon)

As the name suggests, this icon pops up when there is no GPS or cellular network for the watch to connect to.

19. Now playing icon

Whenever you play any music on your watch, this icon will indicate the same and will even give you access to go and change your music when you tap on it. 

20.  Parental Control, Schooltime icon (Student raising hand)

Parental Control, Schooltime icon

Present in the control center of the watch, this icon is yellow-colored. It aims to prevent the distraction of students during their school hours. There is also a work mode icon with a similar purpose.

The icon is meant for children but can be set up by parents with the family-setup feature in their iPhone. 

21.  Ping iPhone

 Ping iPhone

This button is supposed to help you for finding your paired iPhone. When you tap on this icon, your phone makes a noise or beeps and helps you locate it.

22. Red dot icon

 Red dot icon

The icon on top of your watch reminds you that you have unread notifications on your paired iPhone. 

You can simply swipe down to read the notifications and remove the icon.

You can also long-press the dot to read your notifications

23. Red Lightning icon 

Similar to the green flash icon, this icon has an opposite meaning. It means that your device is low on battery and you should charge it.

Your device will also shift into Power reserve mode by default

24. Silent mode (Bell icon)

Silent mode

The icon changes itself between this bell and a crossed-out one to signify if the watch is on silent mode or not.

25. Sleep mode

Sleep mode

Enabled in the control center, this feature switches your phone to the ” Do not disturb” mode.

You can even set up sleep detection to enable tracking of your sleep every night. It will keep track of when you go to sleep and will wake you up through an alarm.

It’s also called the bed icon or bedtime icon.

26.  Square box (and a squiggly on the left corner)

If you have Siri enabled on your watch through your paired iPhone, you can automatically listen to your new messages or notifications on your headphone with this feature.

Siri will also give out the notifications to you.

27. Target Looking

The ring is also called an Activity ring and it shows which activity you are performing at that particular time. 

The rings are assigned as follows-

Red ring- You’re moving

Green ring – You’re exercising

Blue ring- You’re standing up

28. Theater mode icon

Theater mode icon

This icon prevents the watch from the apple watch screen from lighting whenever you put your wrist up. You can activate this feature when you go to any theatre to enjoy the movie you’re watching without any interruptions. 

29. Walkie-talkie icon

Walkie-talkie icon

It represents the walkie-talkie app present on your watch. It helps you talk and connect with your acquaintances remotely. 

30. Water Lock icon

The icon shows only when the water lock mode is turned on from the control center.

It indicates that accidental touches by water won’t affect the watch’s functioning. Even if water enters the speakers, the device will clean and eject water itself.

To enable this feature, you have to rotate the digital crown of your watch and wait till you hear a bunch of beeps.

31. Wi-fi icon

Wi-fi icon

You might be familiar with the wifi icon. It is pretty common and it implies that your watch is connected to a wi-fi network.

32. Wireless activity icon

Wireless activity icon

The icon will pop up when any wireless activity is ongoing on your watch. 

33. Workout icon

The icon often pops up on your watch when you are using a workout app that is on your watch.

If you want to put a stop or pause this, you can simply tap on the X button.

Conclusion

Your Apple Watch’s icons can seem puzzling at first, but they’re pretty straightforward. And these were some clear ways to interpret and understand them.

If you have an Apple Watch, you can use this blog to track various things: steps, heart rate, water intake, and more.