How To Turn Off Orange Dot On Iphone

Apple has introduced a slew of new privacy features in the past few years, including a "recording indicator" that shows when an app has access to your mic or camera.
It's a step toward better app transparency, so users can be more proactive with their permissions.
The green dot means the app you're using can access the camera, while the orange dot means the app can access your microphone.

Back in September 2020, Apple officially released its iOS 14 software update, which included a mysterious new privacy feature: glowing green and orange dots that sometimes pop up in the top right-hand corner of your iPhone screen. Now that the Cupertino, California-based tech giant has unrolled its iOS 15 software update, people are still confused about those colorful little blips.

a yellow arrow points to the green recording indicator light on the author's iphone screen while using the instagram app this means that the app is using the camera

The yellow arrow in this image shows the green recording indicator light on the author's iPhone screen while using the Instagram app. This means that the app is using the camera.

Courtney Linder/PM

But you shouldn't worry: The green and orange indicators don't signal some kind of sketchy malware, nor are they proof that Apple engineers are spying on you. Instead, the dots are simply "recording indicators," as Apple calls them on a support page, and they're meant to show you when an app has access to your device's microphone or camera.

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The dots, displayed in the top right-hand notch near your WiFi and cellular connection symbols, primarily exist to give you more control over your app permissions.

For example, if you're mindlessly flipping through TikTok videos, you're engaging as a passive user. You're not creating content at that time, and perhaps you never will—so there's no reason TikTok should have access to your microphone or camera if you're not using them.

When that green or orange dot pops up, Apple is simply giving you more information about how the app is accessing the sensors on your iPhone. The green dot indicates the camera is in use, and the orange dot indicates that the microphone is in use. From there, it's up to you to decide whether you want to keep those permissions on, or keep the mic and camera to yourself.

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So don't worry if you see these colorful dots. If you're FaceTiming with your grandma, you should expect to see the green and orange indicators, because you're using an app that requires your camera and mic by virtue of its purpose.

When you first use an app on iOS 15, Apple will prompt you to turn on camera access or microphone access, so that's another layer of privacy—these settings usually aren't on by default. If you want to go back and turn off an app's access to your camera, that's pretty simple to do, too:

📲 How to Turn Off Camera and Microphone Permissions

Settings > Scroll down to the bottom of the page where all of your apps are listed > Tap on the app you'd like to alter permissions for > Turn the slider to the off position next to Microphone and/or Camera

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Courtney Linder Senior Editor Before joining Pop Mech, Courtney was the technology reporter at her hometown newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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