Icon meanings
What Slack status icons mean
Slack shows three separate signals: presence, custom status, and Do Not Disturb. They can appear together, but they describe different things.
Slack considers you active. Teammates can see that you are currently available in the app.
Slack considers you away because the app is closed, you have been inactive, or you set yourself away.
Do Not Disturb is on. Notifications are paused, although teammates can still choose to notify you about something urgent.
A custom status emoji explains what you are doing—such as OOO, focus time, a meeting, or a sick day. It does not replace your presence dot.
For Slack’s current behaviour, see the official guides to status and availability and Do Not Disturb.
Popular choices
Best Slack status icons for work
Familiar icons work best. Pair the emoji with short text so teammates understand your availability without guessing.
Available
Normal availability and open to messages
AvailableFocus time
Deep work with an urgent path for blockers
Focus time, urgent onlyIn a meeting
A calendar block with a return time
In a meeting, back at 2OOO
Vacation, PTO, or a long weekend
Out of office, back MondayLunch
A short break with a clear return
Lunch break, back at 1Sick
Under the weather without oversharing
Sick today, slow repliesRemote
WFH or hybrid work with normal availability
Working remotely todayTraveling
Flights, trains, commute, or work travel
Traveling, limited availabilitySlow replies
Async work or intermittent availability
Slow replies todayAppointment
Private appointment with a return time
Medical appointment, back after 2Need help choosing? Use the free Slack status emoji generator.
Reference directory
Slack status emoji ideas by situation
Search all 42 ideas or narrow the list to a work situation. Select an emoji to copy it, or copy the complete status text.
42 icons shown
Availability & focus statuses
Use these icons when your response speed changes, you are heads down, or you want to show that only urgent messages should break through.
Available
Normal response speed and open to messages
AvailableFocus time
Deep work, writing, planning, or no-ping blocks
Focus time, urgent onlyDo not disturb
Use when interruptions should wait
Do not disturbDeep work
High-concentration work with a back-at time
Deep work until 3Slow replies
Async work, overloaded days, or intermittent availability
Slow replies todayCatching up
Inbox triage, admin work, or returning from time away
Catching up on messagesUrgent only
Let blockers through without inviting routine pings
Urgent onlyOut of office & out of pocket
Use these icons for PTO, travel, commuting, lunch, breaks, and other moments when teammates should not expect normal availability.
Vacation
Planned PTO with a clear return date
Vacation, back MondayPTO
A day off or long weekend
PTO todayOffline
Not checking Slack until the status clears
Offline for the dayTraveling
Flights, trains, airport time, or work travel
Traveling, limited availabilityCommuting
In transit and not fully responsive
Commuting, slow repliesLunch
A short break that should expire quickly
Lunch break, back at 1Coffee break
A quick reset or short pause from Slack
Coffee breakMeetings & collaboration
Use meeting icons when you are in a call, presenting, in training, or collaborating live and replies may wait.
Meeting
A standard calendar block with a return time
In a meeting, back at 2On a call
Voice or video call where replies may wait
On a call1:1 meeting
Manager, teammate, or customer 1:1
1:1 meetingPresenting
Speaking live or leading a meeting
Presenting, slow repliesTraining
Workshop, onboarding, or learning block
In trainingConference
Multi-day event with limited Slack time
At a conferencePlanning
Roadmap, sprint planning, or strategy time
Planning sessionHealth & personal
Use these icons for sick days, appointments, family care, parental leave, and personal situations where privacy matters.
Sick
Under the weather without sharing medical details
Sick today, slow repliesNot feeling well
A softer status for reduced availability
Not feeling 100%Doctor appointment
Private appointment with a return expectation
Medical appointment, back after 2Parental leave
Maternity, paternity, or bonding leave
Parental leave, back next monthNew baby leave
Warm but still clear for longer leave
New baby leaveSchool pickup
A recurring family-care window
School pickupFamily emergency
Private and clear during urgent family situations
Family emergency, unavailableDeveloper & engineering statuses
Engineering icons should make the work mode clear: shipping, debugging, reviewing, incident response, or being blocked.
Deploying
Release window or launch monitoring
DeployingDebugging
Bug fixing or investigation work
DebuggingIncident
Urgent production or customer-impacting issue
On incidentPR review
Code review and feedback time
Reviewing PRsTesting
QA, staging checks, or verification
Testing releaseBlocked
Waiting on access, review, or a dependency
BlockedShipping
Final packaging, launch, or handoff work
ShippingSales & support statuses
Customer-facing teams can use icons to show when they are live with customers, on support, following up, or handling an escalation.
On support
Support rotation or live queue coverage
On supportCustomer call
Live customer conversation
Customer callClosing
Sales focus or end-of-cycle work
Closing dealsDemo
Prospect or customer demo
In a demoFollow-ups
Email, CRM, and post-call notes
Follow-up timeEscalation
Urgent customer or account issue
Handling escalationCustomer handoff
Transitioning ownership or context
Customer handoffNo matching icons. Try a broader situation or clear the search.
How to
How to change your Slack status icon
Set the emoji, status text, and expiration together so the signal remains accurate after you return.
- 01
Open Slack and click your profile picture in the sidebar.
- 02
Click Update your status.
- 03
Enter short status text, or choose a suggested status.
- 04
Select the emoji that should appear next to your name.
- 05
Click Remove status after... and choose when the status should clear.
- 06
If needed, choose Pause notifications.
- 07
Click Save.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
What do the default Slack status dot icons mean?+
The green dot usually means active, the empty or outlined circle means away, and the pause or DND indicator means notifications are paused. These presence indicators are separate from custom Slack status icons like 🌴, 🤒, or 🎯.
Can I use custom emojis as my Slack status icon?+
Yes. If your workspace has custom emoji, you can use them as Slack status icons. Custom team emoji work best when everyone understands what the icon means.
Why is my Slack status icon not changing automatically?+
A scheduled Slack status can change its icon at the start time you choose. For schedules that repeat, an integration like AutoStatus can update the icon and status on every occurrence without rebuilding the schedule.
Should I use only an emoji for my Slack status?+
Usually no. An emoji is fast to scan, but short text like “back at 1,” “slow replies,” or “urgent only” makes the status much clearer.
What is the best Slack status icon for focus time?+
🎯 is the clearest focus icon for most teams. Pair it with text like “Focus time, urgent only” and set an expiration so people know when normal replies resume.
More status ideas