LOOK out for green and orange circles on your iPhone – they could be a big warning sign.
It’s an official Apple alert that your microphone or camera have been activated.
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The alert, introduced in an iOS update in 2020, shines whenever your microphone or camera is activated.
That means if any app is surreptitiously recording you, you’ll know about it.
To gain access to the feature, you’ll need to be using a device operating iOS 14 or 15.
A green dot will appear in the upper right corner of the display when the camera’s activated.
And it’s orange if the microphone is activated.
By swiping into your Control Centre, you’ll be able to see details about which app is using the microphone.
If you suspect something is snooping on you when it shouldn’t be, you should check the app’s permissions in Settings.
You can deny specific apps access to your microphone or camera, for instance.
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And if you’re really worried, you could just delete the app altogether.
“Privacy is a fundamental human right and at the core of everything we do,” Apple explained back in 2020.
“That’s why with iOS 14, we’re giving you more control over the data you share and more transparency into how it’s used.
“An indicator appears at the top of your screen whenever an app is using your microphone or camera. And in Control Center, you can see if an app has used them recently.”
Of course, the light will shine whenever ANY app is using the microphone or camera.
That means it will show even when you use the Camera app or record a video on Instagram.
So don’t panic the moment you see that green or orange glow – you only need to be worried if it shines unexpectedly.
You can also easily check to see which apps may be listening in.
To find out, head into Settings > Privacy > Microphone.
This will pull up a huge list of apps that have access to your microphone.
And it will also contain apps that want access to your microphone, but you haven’t enabled them.
You can toggle microphone access on or off for individual apps at any time.
So if you’re worried about a particular app, it’s easy to shut off microphone access in seconds.
If you’re only installing popular and reputable apps, you probably don’t need to worry about microphone snooping.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
