Understanding iPhone’s orange, green, and blue privacy indicator dots
I want to share a discovery I made this week regarding those seemingly insignificant colored dots near the front-facing camera on your iPhone. These dots, known as Apple status bar icons, serve as warning signals for potential privacy invasions. Understanding their meaning can help protect your online safety.
Newer iPhone models have integrated privacy indicators that activate these dots when accessing certain features. There are three main colored dots to be aware of:
Orange Dot: An orange dot signifies that your device’s microphone is actively being used by an app. This can serve as an alert to potentially unauthorized microphone access.
Green Dot: A green dot, similar in size and shape to the orange dot, indicates that your device’s camera is currently in use by an app. It’s crucial to be cautious if this dot appears unexpectedly.
Blue Dot with White Arrow: The blue dot, featuring a white arrow pointing right, appears when an app is attempting to access your location. This dot should raise concern if you’re not expecting an app to use your location.
It’s important to note that a blue dot appearing alongside apps on your home screen indicates that the app has recently been updated and doesn’t relate to privacy concerns.
To identify which apps are using your camera, microphone, or location, you can check the App Privacy Report in Settings, which provides a comprehensive log of apps that have used sensitive permissions and when they accessed them.
Understanding and monitoring these privacy indicator dots can enhance your control over your personal data and safeguard your online privacy.
Originally published at https://ldstephens.me on July 11, 2023.
