iPhone owners were left baffled after finding the mysterious 'P' appearing in chats

AN IPHONE owner was left confused after discovering a mysterious 'P' symbol next to his chats.

The baffled gadget fan saw the symbol in their Messages app, but couldn't figure out what it meant.

That's no surprise: it's not obvious and only seems certain iPhone owners.

The user shared a photo of the problem on Reddit, with the text: “What does this icon mean? Never seen it before. Maybe new, maybe obvious, but I can't figure it out.”

This “P” symbol appears in a small box next to Messages chats and has a very useful meaning.

A smart user replied: “Dual SIM, it tells you which SIM card you received that message on.”

Another clarified: “Only appears in dual SIM mode. That is the first letter of the 'Cellular Plan Label' of the SIM card under Settings > Mobile > eSIMs.

“You can change that, by the way. It defaults to 'Primary'.”

Dual SIM means that you have two SIM cards (both of which can be eSIMs) loaded on your iPhone.

To make sure you don't get confused about which chats are linked to which number, Apple indicates this with a letter.

So if your main SIM card is named 'Personal' in Settings, you will see a 'P'.

And if you had a second SIM card called 'Work' in Settings, chats associated with that number would have a 'W' next one to them.

“Use one number for business calls and another number for personal calls,” Apple explains.

“Both phone numbers can make and receive voice and FaceTime calls and send and receive messages via iMessage, SMS and MMS.

“Your iPhone can use one cellular data network at a time.”

You can only use two different carriers on your iPhone when it is unlocked.

Otherwise, make sure both plans are from the same provider.