New Orange & Green Dots On Your iPhone You Need To Know About!
Do you ever get the feeling your iPhone is watching you? Spoiler alert, as it turns out, it is. YIKES! Even on my cutting edge iPhone 6, I recently noticed a green dot in the upper corner of my iPhone. So, being the curious guy that I am, and always wondering about conspiracy theories, I decided to get to the bottom of this colorful question.
According to an article on Tom's Guide, Apple has added these little buttons as new indicators to iOS 14: green and orange dots that help you understand privacy. A better way to say is that Apple is now being transparent with you to let you know they are listening to your every move.
If you see the orange dot, which by the way looks pretty "yellow" to me, your iPhone's microphone is being used. So, if you're one of those paranoid people like myself wondering if your phone is sending out information on yourself, now you have something to look for. If you want to see what application is using your microphone, you just swipe down from the top right corner. Mostly, I've seen this after I've ended a phone call. Siri, Voice Memos and dictation are other common utilities that may use your mic.
Now how about that little "green" button, which is actually green. This little dot serves a similar function, telling you one of your iPhones cameras are being used. I noticed it right away today, when I place a facetime call to my Mrs. Apparently, the green dot also shows up when your camera is being used alongside your microphone, so don't think the lack of an orange dot means people can't hear you. You may also notice this dot when your on Zoom, Snapchat and Google Meet.
So in case you were curious as to what those dots meant, now you know. Again, nothing has changed in terms of how your phone works or when it's actually listening or watching you. Apple is now just formally letting you know "Somebody's Watching You" and you get no privacy. (Cue Rockwell song!)
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