That tiny dot at the top of your iPhone deserves a look: orange means an app is using your microphone; green means an app is using your camera, either on its own or together with the microphone.
Okay, but which app? That’s the useful next question. You can check recent access in Control Center, then decide whether you want that app to keep its permission.
Apple introduced these privacy indicators with iOS 14. They are still part of the iPhone, so you do not need to chase down an old software update to explain them.
Orange dot, green dot, or orange square?
- Orange dot: The microphone is in use without the camera.
- Green dot: The camera is in use. The microphone may be active too.
- Orange square: This has the same microphone meaning as the orange dot. Its shape changes when Differentiate Without Color is enabled under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size.
Those meanings come from Apple’s guide to the orange and green indicators. The color tells you which hardware is active; it does not explain why an app is using it.
How to check which app used your microphone or camera
Open Control Center and look at the message at the top. Apple says it identifies recent camera or microphone use.
The gesture depends on your phone. Following Apple’s Control Center instructions:
- iPhone X and later, excluding Home-button models: Swipe down from the screen’s upper-right corner.
- iPhone SE or iPhone 8 and earlier: Swipe up from the bottom edge.
If you accidentally open your notifications, try again from farther to the right on a phone without a Home button.
How to change an app’s camera or microphone permission
If the app’s access surprises you, check its permissions:
- Open Settings > Privacy & Security.
- Tap Camera or Microphone.
- Find the app in the list and switch its access off if you do not want to allow it.
Apple’s current permission guide uses the Privacy & Security menu. Older instructions may simply call it Privacy.
Want more detail? Check App Privacy Report
On iOS 15.2 or later, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report and turn it on. Its Data & Sensor Access section can show when apps used your camera or microphone during the past seven days.
There is one catch: Apple says the report only begins collecting information after you enable it. A newly enabled report will not reconstruct the week before you switched it on.
If access still seems odd, Apple recommends checking the app’s privacy policy, its App Store privacy information, or asking the developer how it uses that access.
For another useful iPhone trick, here’s how to use your keyboard as a trackpad.
Your microphone. Your camera. Your call.
