Apple released iOS 14 recently and it offers a long list of feature upgrades and smaller changes to how iPhone operates.
And, amongst these tweaks is one privacy feature that’s used to give people additional info about when and how they’re being monitored and how to stop apps from doing this.
This tool is a small green or orange dot in the right corner when an app is using your microphone or camera.
If you do spot the dot, it means this app is accessing some of these hardware pieces.
And it may be doing this to spy the user of the phone.
New Feature in iOS 14: Is Someone Spying on You through Your Phone?
An orange light means that the microphone is being monitored whereas a green one signals that the camera can be accessed.
If you do see it appear on your phone, swipe down from the corner of the phone to open the control centre and you’ll see which app was doing this.
It will either show you a green or orange dot and a message about which app is doing it.
This message can show Apple apps or any other third-party ones, as well as inform you about legitimate uses vs. improper ones.
Usually, apps request permission about the access that’s being given to them, concerning the microphone and camera, upon installation.
However, until now, you couldn’t know when or how these apps are using those permissions.
Unlike on Macs, which shows a green light when you’re using the camera, both the microphone and camera could’ve come on silently, without any warning.
An app which abuses its permission can be revoked; you can do this by heading into the Settings app and scrolling down to the app’s name and clicking the toggle which will switch off its camera, mic, and other parts of the phone access like photos or location.
Apple’s Attempt to Be more Transparent about Access to Users’ Data
This feature comes after recent changes by Apple in the effort to increase their transparency concerning the access to users’ data.
Moreover, they’ve included occasional reminders about apps accessing location data, as well as an option to share specific photos with any app.
The chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, said that their public commitment on privacy is a human right.
These changes are a part of this pledge and they hope that any app will be dissuaded from doing this through these warnings.
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