If you notice a green or orange dot at the top of your phone screen, it could mean you’re being watched or heard.
Both iPhone and Android phones use dots to let you know when apps are using your microphone or camera, sometimes without you realizing it, according to Fox News’ Kurt “The CyberGuy” Knutsson.
Knowing this feature is a “super important” key to keeping your tech life secure, Knutsson said.
If you notice a green or orange dot at the top of your phone screen, it could mean you’re being watched or heard.
If you’re an iPhone user, you have two dot colors to pay attention to. Both will appear above the “bars” that indicate cell service strength at the top of the screen.
An orange dot means that the microphone is currently being used by an application running on the phone. This will appear at obvious times, such as when you make a phone call, but it can also appear if an app listens when you least expect it.
A green dot, on the other hand, means an app is using the camera.
You can close all apps on your iPhone by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and then swiping up on each individual app. But you can also see which apps are specifically using your microphone or camera and target them.
To do this, open the Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner of the screen. You can press the button at the top of this screen to open a list of apps with the microphone or camera and close them only.
The same principles apply to Android phones, but Android only uses a green dot, according to Knutsson.
The green dot in the upper right corner of an Android phone’s screen indicates when the microphone or camera is being used. To see which apps are responsible, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the green dot.
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