My iPhone surprised me yesterday. I was at a gathering, located in some sort of community center. During the coffee break, I was looking at my phone, and it showed a symbol on the screen that I hadn’t seen before, in the list of possible wireless networks to connect to.

two interlocked chain links

What would be the meaning of it? I think it’s not listed in the iPhone symbols list on Apple’s site.

I think those indicate a cell phone that is being used as a hot spot. For example, someone with a laptop is using their phones cellular service to connect to the Internet. Laptops don't have cellular service capabilities in and of themselves.

To connect requires a passcode generated by the phone in use.

Then again, maybe not…

Two links of a chain connected is a common symbol to use to describe "paired".

Like if you have a bluetooth speaker set paired with your phone, I would expect to see that icon when listing bluetooth devices you have connected to in the past (to indicate that specific device was nearby and you were connected to it), or when scanning for nearby bluetooth devices to indicate which ones you are already paired with, or perhaps as the only icon on a button whose purpose is to pair with the currently selected device.

That sounds plausible. Apparently my phone can then distinguish a ‘personal hotspot’ (internet tethering over wi-fi) from a regular wi-fi router. Which is impressive, unless that nature is broadcast along with the SSID.


The symbol did show in a list “Select a Wireless Network”, while having “Ask to Join Networks” turned on (=seek alternatives for 4G). I was in a new location, and pretty sure I had not paired with any devices there previously.

My experience with cell phone hot spots is they typically have name like "Joe's iPhone" but the symbol is as shown here. But then I never have "Ask to join networks" turned on to conserve battery life.

If you mean the symbol like what's shown in the screenshot at

http://i.imgur.com/5PpMQ.jpg

It shows an ad-hoc network (that is, a computer or phone set up to act as a wireless access point).

Yes, that’s the one. Thank you.

in that case it means devices connected ("linked") to each other, and not necessarily to the internet