Apple in its quest to improve user privacy, since iOS 14 has implemented a series of ‘sneaks’ that inform users of the use of the camera and microphone. These are represented by small dots at the top of the interface that may have confused you because you do not know their function. In this article we tell you everything you need to know about it.
What does the green dot mean in iOS 14?
If a green dot appears at the top of the iPhone, it means that the device’s camera is being used. This is quite common when you are using an application such as FaceTime and even Instagram to make some kind of story. Obviously, this point should always be observed so that it is only present when the camera is being actively used.
Privacy is something quite important for Apple and this token serves to inform the user when the camera system is active to prevent any application from using it without your permission. There have been several social networks that have reported this failure and it may be related to improper data collection for the user. On certain occasions it can remain activated when applications are in the background, something that can be solved by closing them completely.
Meaning of the orange dot
In addition to the green dots that we have discussed previously, information about the microphone is also given. There are many controversies about when a microphone is making recordings since we never know in which cases it is active. From iOS 14 onwards, an orange indicator is included in the shape of a point that is located exactly in the upper right corner.
As in the previous case, this point appears above all when using communication services while making calls and even when taking videos. Obviously some applications unfortunately can continue to collect data while you are not using them in the background and in this way you can easily detect it to stop it.
More information in the control center
In the event that you do not know which applications the witness that appears at the top corresponds to, you can always use the control center. This part will clearly show at the beginning, just above, the application that is using both the microphone and the camera. In this way you will have all the necessary information to determine which service may be using the data collection systems improperly. Unfortunately there is no option to close it from the control center directly, since you will have to close the app that is in the background.
It must be taken into account that the collection of other data such as GPS data is not represented by a simple number. This information is found in a much more visible way in the upper left part exactly in the section where the local time appears. In the event that the location is being used at that time by an application, the time will appear enclosed in a blue box where pressing will take you to the application that is using the geolocation services. This is something that can be missed in the discreet points that we have previously commented.