14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has started the Note 7 recall program worldwide, and one way to differentiate the old models from the safe ones is a software update that turns the battery icon in the status bar to green.
And it all makes sense at the first glance, but not if you’re asking Google. The Mountain View-based search giant has strict Android guidelines, which it details in the Android Compatibility Definition Document and where it requires companies that install Android on their devices to keep status bar icons white. Not blue, not red, not yellow, and obviously, not green, but white.
Here’s an excerpt from these guidelines where Google makes it clear that icons that show up in the status bar need to be anything but green:
“It is important the status bar icon style is maintained across different device implementations. Therefore, Android device implementations MUST use white for system status icons (such as signal strength and battery level) and notifications issued by the system.”
Why the “no green” Android icons make sense
And it all makes sense. There are certain system apps, such as the Google Play Store, where the theme is green, and a green battery icon would obviously look awful - or it might not “look” at all. As Ars notes, whenever companies release software updates impacting these visual elements, they must first send them to Google for approval, so Samsung’s new fix for the Note 7 needs to receive Google’s go-ahead first before releasing it to users.
But although it looks like it’s violating Android guidelines, it appears that Samsung and Google worked together on this to find a resolution and the search giant has given the manufacturer the permission to use a green battery icon with one simple visual tweak: the icon will employ a small white border, so although the battery will be green, it’ll be surrounded by an almost unnoticeable - but still visible on a green background - white line.
“We worked with Samsung on this given extraordinary circumstances. White border around icon to ensure compatibility,” Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's SVP of Android, Chrome OS, and Google Play, confirmed on Twitter.
Samsung hasn’t yet started rolling out the software update, but given that Google has already agreed with a green battery icon, the company shouldn’t hit any other roadblocks in its attempt to use this icon in order to distinguish the old models with faulty batteries from new ones that are safe to use.