A small colored light dot appears in the upper right corner of your smartphone screen? Beware, an app may try to spy on you using your phone’s camera or microphone without your knowledge!
When using your smartphone, whether Android or iPhone, a small bright green dot may sometimes appear in the upper right corner of the screen. There is no indication that the smartphone is turned on or that its battery is sufficiently charged, no. It actually witnesses something completely different and can allow you to ensure that everything is running smoothly on your mobile phone with just one glance. This small point of light, about the size of a pinhead, acts as an indicator: it is there to indicate the activity of the microphone or camera, which are two “sensitive” components of the smartphone. This is a security measure that has been taken by Google in Android, since version 12 of the system, and by Apple in iOS since iOS 14. In fact, when you launch the Camera application, a small camera icon appears in white on a green background. Displayed at the top right of the screen. It then turns into a simple green dot so as not to interfere with readability on the screen.
This green dot also appears once the smartphone’s microphone is turned on. On iPhone, the dot takes on an orange color in the latter case. Its purpose is to notify you that the camera is in use or that the microphone is active.
There is no need to worry if you yourself are behind this action after launching the camera application or for example the Dictaphone application on the mobile phone. On the other hand, be careful if you don’t remember opening an app that should use one or more of these devices. It may have been taken over by a malicious application aiming to monitor you without your knowledge. It is good to note that on some models, the green (or orange) dot remains lit on the screen even if the smartphone is locked if the application continues to use the camera or microphone. A good way to know if someone is spying on you. Simply activate the device to turn on its screen and check for a colored dot in the upper right corner.
How do I know which app is using my camera or microphone?
A green or orange dot at the top right of the screen indicates that the device’s camera or microphone is in use by an app. But both Android and iOS go beyond this simple gesture. It allows you to specify which application uses one of these devices and/or the other. On Android, swipe down the notification panel, then tap the green icon. The active device and the name of the application using it are displayed. Simply click on that name to see the app profile.
On iOS, the process is almost similar. Swipe down from the top right edge of the screen to display iOS Control Center. The list of currently active devices is displayed at the top of the screen.
Tap the device name to see the list of apps using it.
Having this point of light on your smartphone screen ensures a little privacy. It is activated once the microphone or camera is activated. Although malicious applications can access these devices, they cannot modify the behavior of this particular point of light of the system and are particularly secure. Reassured!
