Exclamation Mark (Alert?) on Phone Icon in Infotainment Center

[MrLeadFoot]

I can't figure out what the system is telling me when it displays what looks like an emergency triangle with an exclamation mark on the Phone icon on the Infotainment screen. It looks like it's telling something is wrong, but all functions work. Anyone have any idea of what this means?

Edited May 26, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

[dieselfan1]

It means your phone isn't charging.

[MrLeadFoot]

That's the very first thought I had, but it doesn't go away when I plug my phone into the USB-C port, even though the phone itself shows it is charging just fine. Am I missing something? I've also disconnected my phone via the phone menu to see if it actually had something to do with some notification coming from my phone. No change. I even unpaired and repaired my phone, still no change. To be clear, that weird symbol doesn't always come on, just sometimes, which is even more puzzling. The owners manual is so lacking in so many ways, so it's no help. 

Edited May 27, 2023 by MrLeadFoot

[kickass audio]

I may not have the newer model year but could it perhaps be something like a missed call notification that is incorrectly showing up? On my 14 if you miss a call it will show the exclamation on the call icon until I disconnect and reconnect from the truck like if I fail to acknowledge the missed call by going into my call history from the HMI itself or if I do acknowledge the call history from the HMI without restarting the truck. Do you have anything like an onstar call that it tried to run through and is failing there?

[MrLeadFoot]

OK, I just figured it out, with the help of the reply from @dieselfan1

My phone does not have wireless charging, so I charge with a cable. Being that I don't use the wireless charger in the center console, I sometimes put my wallet on the wireless charger. Well, the charging pad senses something is there, but gets no feedback from my wallet, thus the alert symbol comes on. For grins, I placed my phone there (which doesn't have wireless charging) and the light came on then, too. Moral of the story is if you put anything on that charging pad that doesn't have wireless charging built-in, you will get the alert. 

[Silverado4x4]

6 hours ago, MrLeadFoot said:

OK, I just figured it out, with the help of the reply from @dieselfan1

My phone does not have wireless charging, so I charge with a cable. Being that I don't use the wireless charger in the center console, I sometimes put my wallet on the wireless charger. Well, the charging pad senses something is there, but gets no feedback from my wallet, thus the alert symbol comes on. For grins, I placed my phone there (which doesn't have wireless charging) and the light came on then, too. Moral of the story is if you put anything on that charging pad that doesn't have wireless charging built-in, you will get the alert. 

Mrleadfoot thank you for finding the answer, my wife's 2022 Tahoe does this also and I was the same as you I went through everything trying to find why it was doing it. I put things in the tray it was there,  removed them and the yellow triangle was gone I said to myself "well I'll be damn" hahaha. That's one thing off my list that drove me crazy. 

Edited May 27, 2023 by Silverado4x4

[Datonyjr]

I had the same issue. It is basically telling you something is wrong with the wireless charger. I had my keys toss in there and some dirt.  I removed the metal keys and pulled the rubber pad out of wireless charger. I cleaned it all and the icon was gone.

[FingerTight]

My theory on this one is that something about your phone is not accepting the charge. On mine, I believe it is the 'optimized charging' setting on the phone that charges it to a certain percentage and then turns off charging. Now if I could just figure out why wireless CarPlay fails 70% of the time...

[MrLeadFoot]

3 hours ago, FingerTight said:

My theory on this one is that something about your phone is not accepting the charge. 

Thank for trying, but that's not the problem. Turns out GM only made the transmitting coil large enough, and positioned it, to accommodate large phones. Smaller phones can't be charged reliably without some form of modification to the charging area. specifically, the transmitting coil is positioned too high up on the charging pad for shorter phones. I experimented with some spacers, and found the sweet spot where the phone can now sit higher up on the pad, and apparently in the perfect position for the transmitting coil. I later added sides to the spaced, and now I have the perfect bracket for my phone, such that the phone can't slide around side to side now either.

Edited August 5, 2024 by MrLeadFoot

[FingerTight]

5 minutes ago, MrLeadFoot said:

Thank for trying, but that's not the problem. Turns out GM only made the transmitting coil large enough, and positioned it, to accommodate large phones. Smaller phones can't be charged reliably without some form of modification to the charging area. specifically, the transmitting coil is positioned too high up on the charging pad for shorter phones. I experimented with some spacers, and found the sweet spot where the phone can now sit higher up on the pad, and apparently in the perfect position for the transmitting coil. I later added sides to the spaced, and now I have the perfect bracket for my phone, such that the phone can't slide around side to side now either.

Interesting, appreciate the heads up! I do have a 'standard' size phone (not the oversize garage door opener my wife has, lol). I wondered about that, will look into making a little foam block to sit at the bottom

[MrLeadFoot]

I made something u-shaped out of strips of nice birch plywood I happened to have saved when I was making cabinet doors. I wood glued them together. And, my wife says to throw things out... ha, I showed her!

[FingerTight]

4 minutes ago, MrLeadFoot said:

I made something u-shaped out of strips of nice birch plywood I happened to have saved when I was making cabinet doors. I wood glued them together. And, my wife says to throw things out... ha, I showed her!

Ha...I have a similar situation. When I buy something that has an especially nice foam insert I usually toss the foam into a pile in the corner of the shop (wifey gives me grief about saving that 'junk'). Guess who's gonna go raid his foam pile and cut a little U out? lol. How far up would you say the bottom of your U pushes your phone? I'm thinking maybe 1/2 inch?

[billybob denali]

Thanks for the past posts which helped me figure out why the triangle was appearing on the phone symbol. Not sure if this is what I now experience, I place my iphone on the charging pad and the phone symbol then shows a green charging symbol, but within 10-15 seconds the yellow triangle appears??? is the charging pad not charging?? or is the darn thing broken? makes no sense to me

[MrLeadFoot]

7 hours ago, billybob denali said:

Thanks for the past posts which helped me figure out why the triangle was appearing on the phone symbol. Not sure if this is what I now experience, I place my iphone on the charging pad and the phone symbol then shows a green charging symbol, but within 10-15 seconds the yellow triangle appears??? is the charging pad not charging?? or is the darn thing broken? makes no sense to me

After two years of owning my truck, I finally solved this mystery just 2 weeks ago.

 

Depending upon your phone settings, the triangle will come on at certain times. There is nothing wrong with your charger, your phone, or the position of your phone on the charger. Let me explain.

 

My phone is set to a "battery condition saver", or whatever it's called, whereby the phone only allows charging to 80%. When my phone is placed on the charger with a charge over 80%, the triangle lights up on the infotainment center because the car charger has a sensor on the pad that knows there's something there, but when the charger tries to charge it, it does not see a "charging response" from the device being charged. (I say this because when I first got my truck I did not have a phone with wireless charging capabilities, so I kept my wallet on the charging pad instead. And, I always got the triangle when I put my wallet on the charging pad, so I know the pad knows when something is there and is not accepting a charge.)

 

How I confirmed the "battery condition saver" on my phone is the culprit:

 

I waited until I got the triangle with the phone in the charger, then immediately turned off the phone. Sure enough, the charging icon on the truck went back to the green lightning bolt. That's because the "battery condition saver" is a software setting, and when the phone is off, that function is not available so the phone battery just keeps getting charged. And, whenever I put my phone on the charger when it's under 80%, I never get the triangle.

 

Not sure if this is exactly what is happening to you, but I hope my findings help you sort out your issue. I would appreciate you letting me know either way if what I shared was helpful, or not. 

Edited October 11, 2025 by MrLeadFoot

[Bikerjon]

On 10/10/2025 at 7:03 PM, MrLeadFoot said:

After two years of owning my truck, I finally solved this mystery just 2 weeks ago.

 

Depending upon your phone settings, the triangle will come on at certain times. There is nothing wrong with your charger, your phone, or the position of your phone on the charger. Let me explain.

 

My phone is set to a "battery condition saver", or whatever it's called, whereby the phone only allows charging to 80%. When my phone is placed on the charger with a charge over 80%, the triangle lights up on the infotainment center because the car charger has a sensor on the pad that knows there's something there, but when the charger tries to charge it, it does not see a "charging response" from the device being charged. (I say this because when I first got my truck I did not have a phone with wireless charging capabilities, so I kept my wallet on the charging pad instead. And, I always got the triangle when I put my wallet on the charging pad, so I know the pad knows when something is there and is not accepting a charge.)

 

How I confirmed the "battery condition saver" on my phone is the culprit:

 

I waited until I got the triangle with the phone in the charger, then immediately turned off the phone. Sure enough, the charging icon on the truck went back to the green lightning bolt. That's because the "battery condition saver" is a software setting, and when the phone is off, that function is not available so the phone battery just keeps getting charged. And, whenever I put my phone on the charger when it's under 80%, I never get the triangle.

 

Not sure if this is exactly what is happening to you, but I hope my findings help you sort out your issue. I would appreciate you letting me know either way if what I shared was helpful, or not. 

Hey MrLeadFoot great information in your post! I was getting the exclamation error from the phone charger. My phone is rarely under 80% charge so it may be a "battery condition saver". I almost always get the yellow exclamation symbol when i plop my phone into the charger. The only way i have found to get it to work is to "cycle" the phone into the charger. Drop the phone into the charger, symbol changes from green charging to yellow not charging after 3 seconds.

I have to drop the phone in and wait to see if it charges, If it goes yellow i take the phone out and wait for the symbol to go away and then cycle the phone back into the charger until the green charge light comes on and stays on. I have a brand new Samsung Galaxy Ultra so i know there is nothing wrong with the phone. Your info about the charging coil was very helpful, I think somehow my battery is not aligning correctly with this charging coil. I may have to experiment with some sort of shim. Thanks for your info!