This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

iPod Icons and What They Mean

EXPLANATION

BATTERY
When's the last time you charged your battery? Probably not recently. Plug in your iPod to your computer or an electrical wall outlet and let it charge for a couple hours or so. If this battery icon will still not go away, even after you charge your iPod, then you might have a problem. Try trouble shooting your iPod battery or get your bad battery replaced.

FOLDER ICON

The folder icon means your iPod has a software problem. You should probably Restore your iPod with an iPod system update or erase your iPod.

SAD iPOD

The sad iPod is not something you want to see. You should try to erase and Restore your iPod. If this doesn't work, you need to replace the hard drive inside your iPod.

ELECTRICAL OUTLET

You might see this icon during an update or a restore. When you see this icon, disconnect your iPod from the computer and connect it to an iPod power adapter. It needs some juice to complete the update process. The update or restore will complete and iPod will restart to the main menu. However not all iPods come with a wall charger anymore. If you don't have an iPod wall charger you can do any of the following: 1) find a friend with a wall charger and borrow it, 2) go to an Apple store and use their wall charger, or 3) buy an iPod wall charger for yourself. It's not a bad thing to have. They come in handy when traveling.

DO NOT DISCONNECT
Is your iPod configured to update songs manually? Do you frequently use your iPod as a hard drive to transport files? The "Do Not Disconnect" message will appear as long as your iPod is connected to your computer. If you are having problems disconnecting your iPod, please read the Do Not Disconnect Won't Go Away article on our website.

MAGNIFY GLASS
Sometimes you will see this magnify glass icon on your iPod's screen. Don't get alarmed just yet. The iPod has built-in diagnostic software that will occasionally check out your iPod for problems. These are the possible results of the hard drive scan:

	DISK SCAN: CHECKMARK The hard drive inside your iPod was automatically scanned its built-in diagnostic software. This is the result: Good news! Your iPod is fine. No major issues were found.
	DISK SCAN: ARROW The hard drive inside your iPod was automatically scanned its built-in diagnostic software. This is the result: Problems were found. You should erase and Restore your iPod right away.
	DISK SCAN: CAUTION The hard drive inside your iPod was automatically scanned its built-in diagnostic software. This is the result: The scan failed! Reset your iPod now by holding down the Menu and Play buttons for 10 seconds. The scan should start again.
	DISK SCAN: X The hard drive inside your iPod was automatically scanned its built-in diagnostic software. This is the result: Canceled. Did you get impatient and cancel the scan?

For more information, check out Apple's iPod Iconology page.

Top