Orange and Green Dots on iPhone – What You Need to Know

So all of sudden you started noticing small orange and green dots on iPhone or maybe both on your iPhone’s status bar and you might have questions like:

Are these colorful dots something to worry about?

why is this orange dot appearing while making phone calls?

Am I being monitored?

Is it something dangerous?

If you have similar and more questions right now first let me tell you to relax and breath long as this is nothing to worry about. However, it is something good!

Yes, this is actually a good and new feature that was made public with recent iPhone software iOS 14.

If you have recently updated to iOS 14 on your iPhone or have got one with the latest software version then you’ll see such dots in the status bar of your iPhone.

Now you know you don’t need to worry about, Let me tell you what actually these dots are and what good these are for us.

When do orange and green dots appear on your iPhone?

These two green dots start turning on automatically in the following scenarios:

Orange dot on status bar

Here are some of the scenarios when you might see orange icon your phone:

  • while making a phone call from iPhone
  • making a call, video calls on messaging applications like messenger, Viber, Whatsapp etc.
  • recording voice memos or sending voice messages
  • when accessing Siri or when Siri is listening to you
  • during zoom sessions

A green dot on your iPhone’s status bar

When you see a circular green dot on the top section of your iPhone’s display, some of the possible scenarios might be:


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  • taking a photo or video from a camera
  • doing facetime call or video call with different apps
  • whenever you open the camera from any apps

What actually are these orange and green dots doing?

By now you know when you can see these new display icons on your iPhone or iPad’, let’s talk what actually, in reality, is happening and what these dots mean.

As mentioned earlier, there is nothing to worry about, these dots are for your privacy and safety and add an extra appreciative feature to your phone.

Orange dot will turn on whenever any applications or any services access or open the iPhone’s microphone.

  • This lets us know when our microphone is being used
  • turns on whenever the microphone is on and turns off when the microphone is off
  • common examples are while making a call and while recording voice memos

Similarly, Green dot automatically turns on when any app or services access or open the iPhone’s camera (photo or video).

  • when a green dot is on, we can know our camera has been turned on
  • common examples: taking a photo, recording video, doing facetime and video calls
  • turns on and offs automatically when the camera is opened and closed respectively

What good are these dots doing?

Privacy!

Yes, one of the big effects of these dots is privacy. While talking in a simple manner, when these dots are on it simply means our camera or microphone is in use but on the stronger and better aspect, this notification will allow us to know when actually our camera and microphone are being used.

Sometimes, some websites and applications might try to capture photo or video or record audio without our knowledge or even without asking consent to the user. These scenarios can be prevented to some extent.

How to know which app turned on the orange and green dots on iPhone?

You can easily know which application or services triggered the dots to turn on by swiping down the control centre.

At the top of you control centre, you will see the last opened application which accessed your microphone or camera.

FAQs

Can I turn off the orange and green dots screen display on iPhone?

As of now, it seems not possible to turn off the orange and green dots displayed on the iPhone’s status bar.

What is a green dot on iPhone status bar?

Green dot displayed on iPhone’s status bar means that your phone’s camera is in use.

What does an orange dot on iOS 14 do?

An orange circular dot side of the signal bar on iPhone’ status bar informs the user that iPhone’s microphone is turned on and in use.

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About the Author
Lakshman Basnet
Nepali Digital Media Marketer currently based in Adelaide, South Australia who apart from playing with his cat - Eleven, also enjoys developing web content, publishing blogs and YouTube videos in his free time.

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