Here is a description of all of the icons that sighted users see on the
iPhone or iPad.
Master list of the icons on an Apple iOS Device
Apple's iOS software is an extremely visual environment, with icons that
VoiceOver has been programmed to describe. An icon is a picture or symbol on
the screen, used to represent an application, action, or a status message.
This article will attempt to describe what a sighted person sees when
looking at his/her iOS and iPad OS device. Having a basic understanding of
these visual concepts can help non sighted users explain and teach iOS to
those who can see, as well as providing an easier means by which Voiceover
users and sighted users can relate to each other with regard to the iOS
interface.
Please keep in mind that the descriptions presented in this document are
based on initial layout, which you might see if you purchase a new iPhone or
iPad and set it up as new, rather than restoring from a back-up. As you, or
other people, use your device, changes may be made, additional apps may be
installed, thus adding new icons, and much more. Additionally, the layout
and descriptions presented here represent the current configuration as of
iOS 13 and iPad OS. Much can change as new software updates are released.
That said, the information in this document is subject to change or to be
inaccurate.
General Overview:
When your Apple device is asleep, you can wake it up in one of several ways
as described in the user guides, such as pressing the Home or Sleep/Wake
button, or tapping/lifting your device. You are then immediately presented
with the Lock Screen. This screen displays a padlock icon in the center of
the screen, with the padlock either open or closed, depending on the current
lock state of your device. Directly below that are the current time and
date, one above the other. This Lock Screen also displays any notifications
you may have received while your device was asleep. Select models also
display a flash light icon in the bottom left, and a Camera icon in the
bottom right. By default, devices with Face ID hide notification preview
text until the device is unlocked.
From here, you can place your finger on the Home Button (devices with Touch
ID), or glance at your device (Face ID devices) to unlock your iPhone or
iPad. if necessary, you can slide up with one finger, using the bar at the
very bottom center of the screen, to go Home. This places you on the Home
Screen.
The Home Screen is divided into four distinct elements. These include:
- App Icons
- Page Selector
- Dock
- Status Bar
Giving special locations on the screen for the fixed elements can help
sighted people find them. For example, the Status Bar is at the top of the
screen and the Dock is the bar with app icons across the bottom of the
screen. It displays the same app icons, no matter which Home Screen page you
are on. The Page Selector is just above the Dock, and the App Icon area,
located between the Status Bar and the Page Selector, is a grid of icons,
representing all the apps installed on your device.
The Status Bar (Top left and right of screen; not a physical bar):
Many different icons can show up on the Status Bar, depending on what
services you have, etc. For example, an airplane icon will replace the WiFi
icon if your device is in airplane mode. LTE, 3G, 4G, 5GE, or others may
show up depending on your current cellular service. There are indicators for
personal hotspot, a call indicator when a call is in progress, location
services icon, etc.
Normally on the top left side of the Status Bar, the time is in numbers,
like a Digital readout.
Further to the right, the Cellular signal strength is represented by
vertical bars. The stronger the signal, the more bars are represented (a
maximum of 4 bars can show up).
To the right of that is the Wi-Fi indicator which is two downward curved
lines pointing with a dot under the two curved lines (some people call this
graphic for WI-FI a Rainbow). The stronger the Wi-Fi signal, the more parts
of this graphic appear filled in.
At the far right is the Battery indicator which is like a double A battery
lying on its side and the center is filled with the level of charge which
changes as the charge is used up or replenished.
Note that the Status Bar also appears at the top of the Lock Screen.
App Icon Area:
The majority of the Home Screen is comprised of the app icon area. This is a
grid of apps, which is laid out with usually six rows (vertically) of apps
with four apps (horizontally) in each row. Apps can be rearranged on the
Home Screen, so that they appear in the order you prefer. You can even make
folders which can store numerous apps. As new apps are installed, they most
commonly appear last on the Home Screen. When you set up a new device, all
Apple apps appear on the Home Screen first, followed by any third-party apps
you may choose to install. Additional Home Screen pages are automatically
created as needed, so that as new apps are installed, and the current Home
Screen page is filled up, more pages will automatically appear. You can
quickly swipe left and right between Home Screen pages (Voiceover users must
swipe with three fingers), or you can use the Page Selector, to be discussed
shortly.
App icons on the Home Screen appear as squares with rounded corners. Every
app icon is the same size - about the size of a thumbnail Each app has a
background color, an actual picture symbolizing the app, and the text name
of the app which appears just below the icon itself.
Page Selector:
The Page Selector is a series of gray dots, just above the Dock. If you
have six pages of apps, then there will be six dots in a row (side by side)
to show how many pages there are VoiceOver will say "Page 2 of 6". So if
you are on Page 2, that page is represented by a white dot. Note that on
iPhone devices, the first page of apps is actually considered page 2,
because the Today View and Widgets Panel occupy Page 1. Users never
automatically land on Page 1. They must use the Page Selector, or the swipe
gesture, to get there.
The Dock:
The Dock is represented as a gray, round-cornered rectangle across the
bottom of the Home Screen. On an iPhone, the Dock can support four app
icons. These four icons remain the same, no matter what Home Screen page the
Slider takes you to. You can change which apps appear on the Dock. The
current default apps on the Dock for iPhone devices are Phone, Safari,
Messages, and Music. You can move the apps on the Dock around just like
other apps.
The Phone app is green with a white handset of an old telephone; the
Messages icon is green with a solid white speaking bubble; the Safari app is
white with a compass graphic; and the Music App is a white app with a two
musical eighth note graphic.
General App Icon Descriptions:
Please note that the following app descriptions are based solely on the
native Apple apps that ship with every iPhone, as of iOS 13.5. Note also,
that apps requiring special attention will contain an app badge, a red
circle with a white number, at the upper right hand corner of the app icon.
For example, if you have three unread messages, the Messages app will have
an app badge with the number three. Some of the below apps may be in a
folder called Utilities.
APP Name
App Color
APP Description
Apple Store
White
Blue shopping bag with white apple that has a bite taken out
Apps Store
Blue
White capital letter A
Books
Orange
White open book
Calculator
White
Black calculator image
Calendar
White
Current day of week (in red), date in numbers (in black)
Camera
Gray
Black old fashioned Polaroid camera
Clips
White
Blue circle with white movie camera
Clock
Black
White face of click with current time in black analog
Compass
Black
White compass image with cardinal directions: W, E, N, S
Contacts
White
Circle with person image and colored tabs like an address book
FaceTime
Green
White movie camera
Files
White
Blue file folder
Files
White
Blue file folder
Find My
Gray
Green and blue circular radar
Garage Band
Orange
White guitar image
Health
White
Red heart symbol
Home
White
Orange house
iMovie
Purple
White 5 pointed with purple movie camera
ITunes Store
Dark pink
White 5 Point Star
iTunes U
Orange
White mortar board
Keynote
Blue
White podium
Mail
Blue
White envelope
Maps
Multicolored
Interstate graphic, white directional arrowhead, in blue circle
Measure
Black
White ruler markings with yellow horizontal dotted line
Messages
Green
Solid white speaking bubble (like in cartoons)
Music
White
2 multi-colored eighth notes tied with bar
News
White
Red striped capital letter N
Notes
Yellow heading
White below
Gray lines across
Numbers
Green
4 white vertical bars
Pages
Orange
Whites slanted pencil with straight horizontal line
Phone
Green
White old fashioned handset phone
Photos
White
Pinwheel of primary colors
Podcasts
Purple
Two white circles with a microphone symbol in middle
Reminders
White
Three colored bullet points each with a gray horizontal line after them
Safari
White
Blue compass with die final needle in white and red
Settings
Gray
Dark gray gear wheel
Shortcuts
Black
Red and blue squares on top of each with space in between
Stocks
Black
White horizontal graphic line with blue vertical line with blue dot
TV
Black
White apple with word TV in white
Voice Memos
Black
Red and white vertical sound wave lines
Wallet
Black
Multi-colored rectangle with rows representing credit card slots
Watch
Black
White watch - side view
Weather
Blue
White cloud with partial sunshine behind it
Notification Center: white header style letters "Notification Center". In
the Settings app, the Notification icon is red and within it is a white
rounded corner square outline with a white ball at the right top corner.
However, in the Notification Center, each notification will be a gray
rectangle with rounded corners, and the icon within at the top left of the
rectangle will look like whatever app is sending the notification.
Control Center: You can add other app icons to this area, so you may run
across someone's phone that is setup a little differently. By default, there
are two black round- cornered squares side by side, near the top, with icons
in them. The one on the left has four icons, two on top and two below. In
the top left is the Airplane mode icon. It is a gray circle with a white
small airplane. In the top right is the Cellular data icon. It is a green
circle with a graphic that resembles a small radio tower. In the bottom left
of the square is the WiFi icon. In the bottom right is the Bluetooth icon.
It is based on the shape of the Viking Rune letters, H&B, which stands for
Harald Bluetooth, a Viking King. It resembles somewhat a small butterfly
paperclip lying on its side or a small bow on its side.
The square on the right is the Music App and has a white Play button arrow
in the middle and gray left rewind and gray right fast forward buttons on
the right. In that top right corner of that app is the airplay icon which
looks like a target of white circles with a gray tiny triangle at the bottom
and within the circles.
Below the large square on the left are two small icons. On the left is the
Screen Orientation Lock. It is black with a white small padlock symbol and a
white partial arrow circling around it. To the right of that is the Do Not
Disturb icon. It is white with a gray quarter moon symbol.
Below that is a small black round-cornered rectangle, Screen Mirroring app.
It has two small white outlined rectangles overlapping each other and the
words, Screen Mirroring.
To the right of those apps are two long black narrow vertical slider apps.
The one on the left controls the screen brightness. The slider is white and
has a small gray sun symbol on it. To the right of that is the black volume
control. The slider is white and has a small speaker symbol on it.
Below that, from left to right on most iPhones, are four apps. All are black
with white graphics representing each app: but the flashlight app, a timer
app (has a partial circle outline with a needle point to the 10 o'clock
position), a calculator app (image resembles a calculator), and a camera app
(image looks like a camera).
Below that at the bottom, left to right are three additional apps. All are
black with white graphics representing each app: The Home app (looks like a
house nested within a house), low power mode icon (looks like a AA battery
on its side), and the QR Code app (looks like four corner brackets with 4
small squares inside).
Other Common Icons Within iOS Apps:
Many Apple apps, and even a variety of third-party apps, conform to standard
implementations of common icons, such as Back, Share, and Cancel, just to
name a few. Learning what these icons look like can help you to recognize
them, thus enhancing the ability to learn and use new apps.
Back button: a left pointing arrow.
Share option: a rectangle with an up-pointing arrow, or three dots.
Attachments: a paper clip
More option: a circle with 3 dots in the middle
Edit: the word Edit in a square
Add: the plus sign
Cancel: the word Cancel
Search: gray long round cornered rectangle with gray outline of magnifying
glass, the gray word Search, and a gray microphone
---
Here is another version of this document:
Master list of the icons on an Apple iOS Device
The iPhone is a very visual environment, with icons that VoiceOver has been
programmed to describe the picture type symbols on the screen.
The main Home Screen is in 4 distinct elements: Giving special locations on
the screen for the fixed elements can help sighted people find them. For
example, the Status Bar is at the top of the screen and the Doc is the bar
with icons across the bottom of the screen. The Page Selector is just above
the Doc bar and the Grid of Apps is the all the icons between the Status Bar
and the Page Selector.
The Status Bar, the Grid of Apps, the Page Selector, and the Doc.
The Status Bar... Bear in mind that there are many different icons that can
show up on the Status Bar depending on what services you have, etc, For
example a airplane icon will replace the WiFi icon if you have it in
airplane mode. LTE or 3G, 4G, 5Ge or others may show up depending on the
type of cell service you have or the area you are. There are indicators for
personal hotspot, a call indicator when you get a call, location services
icon, etc.
Normally on the left side of the Status Bar, the time is in numbers, like a
LED readout.
Further to the right, the Cellular signal strength bars look like straight
up and down bars and there is a possible 4 bars that can show up.
To the right of that is the Wi-Fi indicator which is two curved lines
pointing down and a dot under the two curved lines, possible, (some people
call this graphic for WI-FI as a Rainbow).
At the far right is the Battery indicator which is like a double A battery
lying on its side and the center is filled with the level of charge which
changes as the charge is used up or replenished
The grid of apps is laid out with usually 4 apps across and 6 lines down.
The Page Selector is a series of gray dots, just above the Doc. If you have
6 pages of apps: then there will be six dots in a row (side by side) to show
how many pages there are. VoiceOver will say "Page 2 of 6". So if you are
on Page 2, that page is represented by a white dot.
The Doc apps... Remember the apps that are normally on the Doc mention are
the default. They can be changed either accidently or on purpose if someone
says theirs are different. You can move the apps on the Doc around just
like other apps.
The Phone app is the handset of an old telephone, the Mail icon is an
envelope graphic, the Safari app is a compass graphic, and the Music App is
a musical note graphic.
Back button = a left pointing arrow.
The Share option = a rectangle with an up pointing arrow, or 3 dots.
Attachments = a paper clip
More option = a circle with 3 dots in the middle
Search = a magnifying glass as its icon
Edit =the word Edit in a square
Add = the plus sign
Cancel = the word Cancel
The Lock Screen = a padlock
Visually, the Lock Screen shows the Status Bar at the top, however, in the
far left where the time normally is, is the name of your cellular carrier.
The rest of the status bar icons are normal. Just below those in the center
of the screen is a padlock icon showing the padlock either open or closed
depending on the lock state of your phone. Just below that is the time in
very large numbers and below that is the current Day, Month and Date. There
may be various notifications below that depending on how your notifications
are setup. Near the bottom on the left side is a flashlight shape icon and
on the right side is a camera symbol icon. At the very bottom in the middle
is the Swipe bar that you swipe up to unlock the phone.
---
The health app = a white box with a heart symbol
The camera app = an old fashion rectangle black box with a white circle for
the lens
The Photos App = a Pinwheel showing the primary colors
The Apple apps app = a big letter a There are two Apple apps which can be
confusing to newbie's. There is the Apps Store app which is the big letter A
and there is an Apple Store app which is like a shopping bag with the Apple
symbol in the middle. The Apple symbol looks like an apple with a bite
taken out of the right side.)
Contacts App = a circle with a body representation inside the circle
Messages App = a green background with a cartoon speaking solid white bubble
Calendar App = a solid white background with the current day of the week
depicted in red letters, and the date in numbers in black numeric display
Settings App = a gray background with a gear wheel
Reminders App = a white background colored representing bulleted points with
a line across
Notes App = yellow heading, with 4 sections with lines like on a sheet of
paper
Apple Native Weather App = a blue background and has a Sun partially covered
by a cloud
FaceTime = a green background symbol of a movie camera
Maps App = an interstate Sign with an image of arrow head pointing
directionally
Voice Memos App = a sound time line depiction
Find My App = a gray background with circular radar depiction showing it
searching
Books App = orange background with an open book
Files App = a white background with a blue file folder
TV App = a black background with the white Apple logo, with the TV letters
in white
---Notification Center = white banner style letters for Notifications. In
the Settings app, the Notification icon looks like a small rounded corner
box outline with a ball for a right top corner. However, in the Notification
Center, each notification icon will look like whatever app is sending the
notification.
Control Center = ...(You can add others app icons to this area, so you may
run across someone's phone is setup a little differently. By default, there
are two square boxes near the top with icons in them. The one on the left
has 4 icons, two on top and two below. In the top left is the Airplane mode
icon that looks like a small airplane. In the top right is the Cellular data
icon and resembles a small radio tower. In the bottom left of the box is the
WiFi icon. In the bottom right is the Bluetooth icon. It is based on the
shape of the Viking Rune letters, H&B, which stands for Harald Bluethooth, a
Viking King. It resembles somewhat a small butterfly paperclip lying on its
side or a small bow on its side.
The box on the right is the Music App and has a Play button arrow in the
middle and left rewind and right fast forward buttons on the right.
Below the box on the left are two small icons. On the left is the screen
orientation lock. It is a small padlock symbol with a partial arrow circle
around it. To the right of that is the Do Not Disturb icon. It looks like a
quarter moon symbol.
Below that is a small but long, Screen Mirroring app. It has a small
rectangle superimposed over another one and the words, screen mirroring.
To the right of those apps are two long skinny vertical slider apps. The one
on the left is controls the screen brightness(has a small sun symbol on it.)
To the right of that is the volume slider and has a small speaker symbol on
it.
Below that from left to right on most iPhones, is 4 apps. A flashlight app
a timer app (has a partial hollow circle with a needle point to the 10
o'clock position), a calculator app (image resembles a calculator), and a
camera app (image looks like a camera).
Below that at the bottom, left to right are 3 apps. The Home app (Looks
like a house nested within a house), The battery app (like a AA battery on
its side) and the QR Code app (looks like 4 corner brackets with 4 small
squares inside.
Airplane mode = a circle with an airplane inside the circle
Cellular = curved bars showing signal strength
Wi-FI = 2 downward curved lines with a dot at the bottom, under the two
curved lines
BlueTooth symbol = the Registered BlueTooth Logo, which is the capital
letter B with half of the letter X overlaid, on the left side
Flashlight = an old fashioned flashlight lying on its side (sometimes the
flashlight icon is vertical.)
Timer = incomplete clock face with one pointer hand
Calculator = a black background with an image of a calculator
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