Sometimes a green or orange dot appears at the top of the phone, for no obvious reason, and just as unpredictably disappears after a few seconds. This is a function that intrigues many users, above all because it is noticed by chance and no one, as a rule, pays enough attention to understand on which occasions this dot appears and what it intends to communicate.
In reality, knowing how your smartphone works is essential for informed use, especially taking into account the thousands of personal data we enter on it. The curious green or orange dot strictly concerns the privacy protectionso we should all know what it means.
What does the green or orange dot that sometimes appears at the top of your phone mean?
The majority of people who use a smartphone will have noticed, even just once, the appearance of a colored dot at the top of the screen, realizing it in a completely casual way. The dot is colored by orange or green for devices with iOS, such as the iPhone, while it is always green for mobile phones with Android, but its function is the same in both cases.
In particular, this signal indicates that it is the smartphone camera or microphone is in use. For this reason, it happens that we observe it fleetingly, caught up in other activities as one phone callsending a message audio on Whatsapp or the snap of one photography. In fact, you should know that this function is not new at all, having been introduced for the first time with iOS 14 in 2020, followed closely by Android the following year.
For devices iOS the signaling is very precise, when the dot is orange it indicates the use of the microphone, while the green dot refers to the use of the camera or, for some iPhones, both. As already mentioned, however, for smartphones Android the dot is always green, indicating use of the camera, microphone or both.
In fact, given that the green or orange dot appears when other activities that require attention are being carried out, it is easy to notice it only rarely. Despite this, most smartphones in circulation have this indicator, which is easy to observe personally. Just open the camera or record an audio to notice it at the top of the screen, in most cases near the battery level indicator or otherwise top right.
What is the green or orange dot for?
Found that the colored indicator signals the use of the microphone or camera its presence may seem almost useless, considering that the user who is using the smartphone already knows perfectly well what functions it is performing. Many people, however, underestimate the fact that the devices’ camera and microphone can also be activated unconsciously from the user’s actions, via applications that have access to this type of settings.
This is why the green or orange dot is important for the privacy protection, as it alerts the user that the camera or microphone is in use even when they would have no way of knowing. If you notice the light while the functions mentioned should not be active, it is therefore worth carrying out a check, checking the settings of your device which applications have access to the camera and/or microphone (normally access to the first also presupposes the second), removing consent when necessary.
If the green or orange dot is still visible, however, useful time will be saved: to know exactly which application is using the camera or microphone and is signaled by the indicator, users simply have to click on it.
iOS users, and some Android users, can also scroll from top to bottom from the top bar of the screen to read directly which application recently used camera and microphone. Otherwise, you need to check from the privacy settings, but in any case it will not be possible to know exactly the purpose of the activity. It would still be preferable deny consent to the applications, except during their use and when necessary for the same, and thus avoid the violation of your personal data.
Tags: green orange dot appears top phone
