ICS

What does ICS mean when discussing Android OS?

Ice Cream Sandwich

Developers, techies, and other power users may refer to version 4.0 of the Android operating system as ICS. This acronym stands for Ice Cream Sandwich, which is Android 4.0's full name.

Why is Android 4 named Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS?

Prior to Android 10, Google named most of Android's major releases after desserts. For example, Android 2.0 was named Eclair, Android 4.4 was named KitKat, and Android 8.0 was named Oreo.

With the release of Android 10, Google stopped officially naming Android releases after desserts. According to Google VP of Product Sameer Samat, the company quit assigning desert-based names because "the dessert names are not universally understood in different cultures and different languages. Food tends to sometimes be a local thing." Google does, however, still use dessert-based names internally.

What else might ICS refer to when discussing Android?

These days, not many Android users are discussing the OS's now-very-old 4.0 release. However, many Android users do discuss .ICS files, which are used to send calendar appointments as email attachments.

Example

Remember Android ICS? Now that was an operating system

You may also see ICS used to discuss IRL ice cream sandwiches

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Updated January 12, 2022

ICS definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the acronym "ICS" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

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