All Apex Legends connection symbols and what they mean

Apex Legends is an online multiplayer shooter game, which means there’s a lot of dependency on a steady network connection if you are to experience the game as intended. Online games require a good Internet connection as it determines various aspects such as the ping you receive, which is particularly important in Apex Legends.

While ping is perhaps the most common factor to take care of, there are also other connectivity issues players may experience in Apex Legends. The game offers indicators while in-game which informs players if they are having a bad connection and there are different Apex Legends connection symbols which specify exactly what kind of issue players are experiencing.

Here are all Apex Legends connection symbols and what they mean:

Latency

Latency, or ping, is one of the most common errors in Apex Legends. When you see this symbol pop up on the top-right of your screen while playing Apex Legends, it means that you’re getting higher ping in Apex Legends than you ideally should. Marked by a red speedometer symbol, high ping is due to the far distance between your PC or console and the servers.

This means that if you’re playing from the US but on an Asian server, you are likely to receive a high ping in Apex Legends. Ping determines how long it takes for input from your end to reach the server, and a high ping means that actions you take in Apex Legends will be slightly delayed. Another reason for high ping can also be a poor internet connection, so try out some methods to fix ping issues in Apex Legends.

Congestion

Unlike Latency and Packet Loss, Congestion is an issue that is more prevalent due to issues with the server. Congestion refers to a situation when the server is overloaded with more players than the server is effectively able to serve, leading to connectivity issues in matches. While players can improve their internet connection to reduce ping and avoid packet loss, there is not much players can do if a server is overloaded, other than to wait.

The best workaround in these situations is to hop onto a different server where comparatively fewer players are playing. So, try changing your server in Apex Legends in these instances.

Packet Loss

Packet Loss refers to instances when some of the data from your PC or console is not reaching the server. This can lead to some actions such as movement not being registered, random freezes while playing, and even shots not hitting the enemies as some data failed to reach the servers in time. Packet Loss can occur due to a weak internet connection.

Prediction Error

While not as common as the above three, Prediction Error does occur in Apex Legends but it is again an issue that happens due to problems with the server. Prediction error means that the game failed to correctly predict the movement or events happening in real-time in the game. Since this is also a server-side issue, the best bet to avoid this is to change to a different server in Apex Legends.

While these are the most common connection symbols you may come across other symbols as well.

UCMD Delay (Input lag)

The UCMD delay is particularly an indicator of an issue where there is an input lag. This means that the time between the press of a keyboard or controller button and the action being performed in-game is being delayed. This could be a hardware issue, and efforts such as switching to a wired keyboard, mouse, or controller over a wireless connection may help reduce the lag.

Lag compensation error

The lag compensation error happens when Apex Legends server is trying to compensate for the lag you’re experiencing in the game by reversing player actions back to the state where things were before the lag began. This attempt is made so as to ensure that there is consistency of movement or other actions within the game. If this lag compensation error is displayed, this means that the server failed to accomplish this task, and it may result in glitches and freezes while playing Apex Legends. Given that the server is trying to compensate for the latency issues, players can try to fix this issue by improving ping on their end.

Data error

Another Apex Legends connection symbol is the data error, which refers to instances when Apex Legends is unable to process data accurately. There’s not a lot players can do at their end to try and fix this issue other than checking their internet connection.

Starvation

Starvation is an instance where your PC or console is not getting the required amount of resources to process the actions in the game. This can likely occur when you’re sharing the internet connection with other people, through your home Wi-Fi network. If there are too many users sharing the same connection, or if other devices are consuming major chunks of the bandwidth, this may lead to Starvation issues in Apex Legends where the game is not receiving a strong enough connection for a smooth experience.

Limit

Limit is not a common error in Apex Legends, however, it can occur for players if they’ve surpassed their data usage limit on their internet plan. If you are on an internet plan with limited data, and that upper limit gets surpassed, Apex Legends may show this error to communicate that it is not receiving the necessary access to data to keep the game running smoothly.

Issue Marker

While this error does pop up, it is meant to inform users that there are connection problems but that the issue is different from all the other connection errors listed above. Since there is no specific problem to look for, the best bet is to check your internet connection and ensure you have a steady connection.