Why There’s a Briefcase Symbol on Your Android Phone Screen (And How to Disable It)

So you’ve just received your new business phone and you’re exploring the business applications available. Looking around, you notice something you don’t normally see on your personal Android phone: a briefcase symbol. It appears in several places, like the status bar, Quick Settings panel, and even the app drawer.

This briefcase icon on your Android device simply means that your phone has a work profile set up. An Android work profile is one of the best-hidden Android features, especially for employees. It is specially designed to create a new workspace on your phone, exclusive to the apps you use for work. If you need the same app for both business and personal purposes, the business profile also allows you to have two separate versions of that app. For example, you can install Gmail in your personal workspace even if there is already a Gmail app in your work workspace.

In terms of privacy, the data in the two workspaces is separate and private from each other. Your work profile data is fully encrypted and accessible remotely by your organization’s IT administrator. But at the same time, they can’t see your apps and personal data, regardless of whether the device belongs to the company or not. To make sure you don’t mix up your personal and work apps, a briefcase icon will appear in your Android status bar. This means you have opened a professional application. To disable this briefcase icon, simply close the app. You can also temporarily suspend your work profile and even delete it completely to disable the briefcase icon on your Android. Here’s how.

It’s actually quick and easy to pause the work profile on your Android. Once you do, your work apps (the ones with a briefcase icon) will disappear from the app drawer, and you won’t receive their notifications until you re-enable your work profile. On some devices, these apps will still be visible but grayed out. A crossed out briefcase icon may also appear in your Android status bar to let you know that your work profile is paused.

To temporarily deactivate your professional profile, you can choose between two ways. From your Quick Settings panel (dropdown from the top of the screen), simply tap the briefcase icon. If you can’t find it, try adding it to your Quick Settings panel first. You can also pause your work profile from the app drawer. In the app drawer, navigate to Work tab and type Pause work apps in the lower right corner. If the button isn’t there, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and choose Work. Once you’re ready to start working again, simply re-enable the work profile from Quick Settings or the app drawer.

If you prefer to automatically turn your work profile on and off at certain times, you are free to do so from Android’s Digital Wellbeing settings. Here’s how to do it:

1. Launch it Settings application.
2. Open Digital well-being.
3. Under “How to sign out”, select Professional Applications Calendar.
4. To light up Plan business apps.
5. Choose a start and end time and the days of the week your work profile is activated.

Outside of this selected time, your work profile will be paused and you will not be able to access your Android work apps.

Pausing your work profile is convenient when your work day is over or when you go on vacation. But this only temporarily disables the briefcase icon on your Android. What if you want to delete it permanently? In this case, you will need to delete the work profile from your Android phone. This removes not only the briefcase icon, but also all work apps and data stored locally on your phone.

Keep in mind, however, that you can only delete your work profile if the device originally belonged to you or the company has transferred ownership to you. If so, here’s what you need to do next:

1. Open it Settings application.
2. Select Passwords and accounts.
3. Access the Work tongue.
4. Press Delete professional profile.
5. In the pop-up window, choose DELETE.
6. Check if the Device Policy app has been uninstalled.

Another way to delete your work profile is to factory reset your Android (one of the easiest Android phone fixes). This also deletes your apps and personal data, so proceed with caution.