# Viewing IPA symbols on an Android device **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 30, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-ipa-symbols-on-an-android-device/645591 "2012-12-30T20:11:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-ipa-symbols-on-an-android-device/645591/1 "2012-12-30T20:11:56Z")
Does anyone know a way to make IPA (International Pronunciation …things?) symbols viewable on an Android device? All too often I see words which have pronunciations unbeknownst to me, either because the words are foreign, archaic, or I just don’t know them. A helpful soul will then clarify by using these symbols. They are also common in Wikipedia articles. Unfortunately however, most of them show up as little rectangles and it doesn’t help at all. I am using a Samsung phone that runs an Android OS. Is there any patch or app I can download that will get my phone to display the symbols properly in its browser and other applications, like TapaTalk? I wasn’t quite clear which forum, or even which message board would be the most appropriate for this question. If the mods want to move this, then that’s fine (as if I had a choice ). I just chose MPSIMS bc I’ve had questions moved here in the past because they were deemed not important enough for GQ or something (question was “why do people keep decorative house plants?”, in case you wanted to know. ) Unfortunately, I do not belong to any technology based message boards at the moment and didn’t feel like signing up just for this. Thanks in advance for any help. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-ipa-symbols-on-an-android-device/645591/2 "2012-12-30T21:30:52Z")
There is a [talk page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AInternational_Phonetic_Alphabet) on Wikipedia about this, apparently. It mentions: > [@](#): > > I wonder if it would be worth mentioning Android in the closing Technical Note. The Android Browser is an increasingly widely-used current browser, but the default font it comes with lacks the glyphs for the IPA, and so users just see boxes. I don’t think there’s a way for them to fix this with font downloads at the moment. There is a bug report related to this issue ([Google Issue Tracker](http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3167) ) which users can “star” if they think it’s important, which could encourage Google to act on it. Emertonom (talk) 23:16, 24 August 2011 (UTC) This makes me think that changing browsers might help. Further reading [here](http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3167) makes me think you need to root your phone to make things work. Except for this: > [@](#): > > That’s not strictly true, as new android devices with Ice Cream Sandwich take care of this issue out of the box. It’s up to the carriers to update older hardware. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-ipa-symbols-on-an-android-device/645591/3 "2012-12-30T21:52:58Z")
Ah, thank you. What does it mean to “root” my phone? How do I upgrade to ice cream sandwich / can I? ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-ipa-symbols-on-an-android-device/645591/4 "2012-12-30T22:34:50Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > Ah, thank you. What does it mean to “root” my phone? How do I upgrade to ice cream sandwich / can I? Short answer - if you have to ask what it means to root your device, you probably shouldn’t do it. Basically, it means breaking the security of it, and loading custom programs. If you do that, you probably void your warranty and stop getting support from your carrier. Upgrading to ice cream sandwich - typically, if you can, your carrier will provide the update. You would have to contact them and ask. -D/a