Overview
- The green status dot indicates that the camera or the microphone is currently active, including possible background use by an app.
- You can see which app is accessing these sensors by swiping down to open Quick Settings on Android or Control Center on iPhone.
- The indicator is built into the operating system and cannot be switched off at the system level.
- To remove the indicator, open Settings, find the app, and revoke Camera or Microphone permissions, or use the privacy/permission manager to deny access.
- The feature arrived with Android 12 and iOS 14, and on Apple devices an orange dot denotes microphone-only access; removing permissions may limit app functionality.