When apps are using your microphone or camera, how to tell?
- The green or orange dots on your iPhone signal when an app is using the camera or microphone, respectively.
- These colored dots were introduced in iOS 14, and are meant to help you track how apps are accessing your device.
You might have noticed that occasionally an orange dot and a green dot appear in the top corner of your iPhone screen.
When an app uses the camera or microphone, these dots are called indicator lights. It is part of Apple’s broader effort to protect the privacy of its users.
Your iPhone will display an orange light dot if an app is using your microphone.
An orange dot appears in the top-right corner of your screen, right above your cellular bars, when an app is using your iPhone’s microphone.
When you record a reminder using the Voice Memo app, the orange dot will appear. You will also see the orange dot when making phone calls or using Siri.
When your iPhone shows a green light dot, an app is using your camera or microphone simultaneously.
It’s an indication that an app is using your iPhone’s camera, or both its camera and microphone when the green dot appears in the top-right corner of your screen.
Using Instagram’s Stories feature, for example, will display the green light when the app is using your iPhone’s camera and microphone. You’ll also see it when you make a FaceTime call.
Here’s how to see which apps are using your iPhone’s microphone and camera.
When you want to find out what apps are using the microphone or camera on your iPhone, Apple makes it easy to do so.
To access the Control Center, swipe down from the top-right corner of the screen when a green or orange dot appears. You’ll see the app’s name at the top, along with whether it using your phone’s camera or microphone.
As an example, if you used Instagram, the icon should be either a camera or a microphone and say “Instagram, recently”.
The importance of indicator lights.
The iOS 14 update introduced new tools to help users protect their privacy and to force apps to be more transparent about how they use your phone.
Users are alerted by the indicator lights if third-party apps use their microphones or camera without their permission. You should delete and report any apps that access your microphone or camera without your permission.