How to remove the icon, caused by a voicemail, from Status bar? I have a Sprint Nexus 6 running Android 5.1.1. 

The icon that I see in my Status bar when I receive a voicemail does not swipe away. It remains in my Status bar even after I listen to the message and delete it. 

The only solution that I have found for this is to reboot the phone. Is there another way around this?
This is an app independent answer.

For cases where an icon seems to be stuck in the Status bar, choose any of the following approach:

Force-stop the app


Find the app causing that icon. 

Usually, it is easy to know just by looking at the icon and matching it with app icons under Settings -> Apps -> All apps. For some exceptional cases, you can use apps like Notification Saver or Notification History or setup adb in PC and use the command:

adb shell dumpsys notification


Single out your notification and look for the package name of the app behind that icon. Read View app&#39;s full package name? to get the label for the app from the package name. 

Assumption: The app causing the issue is "AppX".  
Go to Settings -> Apps -> All apps -> AppX -> Force-stop.


That should remove the icon from the Status bar.

Uncheck Notifications


Find the app causing that icon.
Go to Settings -> Apps -> All apps -> AppX -> uncheck Show notifications -> check Show notifications.


Works well for user installed third-party apps.

There may be apps where  the option Force stop or/and Show notifications would be greyed out. For such apps, only the mighty root can help. Any app having root privileges should be able kill such apps, such as OS Monitor. For example, in Terminal Emulator you can kill an app using its package name and am:

su
am force-stop PACKAGE_NAME_OF_APP


Related readings:


&quot;Show notifications&quot; is greyed out for some apps. What&#39;s causing it and how do I change it?
I&#39;ve rooted my phone.  Now what?  What do I gain from rooting?