Throughout the past few months, Apple has given us many surprises. The iPhone 14 pro has been updated with new features, and the Apple Watch and AirPods pro have been updated with exciting new updates. Moreover, the mysterious appearance of an Orange dot on iPhones has also been a topic of discussion.
Most iPhone users have noticed an orange dot at the top of their device, or within the dynamic island if they have an iPhone 14 pro or iPhone 14 pro max. There’s nothing to worry about. Your iPhone’s battery or connectivity has nothing to do with it. There’s nothing special about it. It’s just a feature of iOS 14.
In this article, we will explain what the orange dot at the top of your iPhone means, why it activates, and how to customize it.
Also read: Tips to Make Your iPhone Battery Last Longer with iOS 16
Table of contents:
- Why is there an orange dot on my iPhone?
- Find out which apps are allowed to access your microphone
- Is it possible to disable the orange dot on the iPhone?
- Conclusion
Why is there an orange dot on my iPhone?
Whenever your iPhone’s microphone is used by an app, the orange dot at the top of its screen will activate. With iOS 14, Apple introduced a few new privacy features, including the orange indicator light.
When using apps that require your microphone to be active, such as voice memos or third-party apps, the new iPhone will display an orange dot. The orange indicator will also appear when making phone calls or dictating text messages to friends and family using voice-to-text.
There is also a possibility that you will see a green dot on your iPhone in the same spot as the orange one. This means you’re using your iPhone’s camera. When you take a photo with your camera app or answer a FaceTime call, the green light will turn on.
It is not possible to have both iPhone orange and green indicator lights on at the same time. A green light will appear if you are recording a video on your iPhone, which has access to both the camera and microphone.
It is simply designed to protect your privacy with both of these iPhone features. As an example, you should be suspicious if the orange light appears but the app has not asked if it can record you.
Orange Dot On Your iPhone
Find out which apps are allowed to access your microphone
This is a quick and easy way to check and modify which apps on your iPhone have permission to spin up your microphone if you see the orange dot when you don’t expect it. The following steps can be followed to check:
- Go to the settings
- The “privacy” should be selected
- You can pick “Microphone”
- As you see fit, flip the switches next to the apps
The app that previously had microphone access will give you a popup when it discovers its access has been revoked when you disable it. Be careful about what you disable, as you will need to go back to settings to re-enable this access. Turning off Zoom’s mic access, for example, may prevent you from jumping on a call without having to go to settings first.
Orange Dot On Your iPhone
Is it possible to disable the orange dot on the iPhone?
It is not possible to disable the orange dot and its green counterpart because they are part of Apple’s push to prioritize user privacy. It is possible to change the shape of the orange dot on the iPhone’s notification bar for those who have difficulty distinguishing between colours.
You can change how the orange dot appears on the iPhone by following the steps below.
- You can find Accessibility by tapping the “Settings” icon on the home screen and scrolling down.
- Select “Accessibility” from the settings list by tapping the word.
- Tap the “Display and Text size” options.
- Toggling the differentiate without colour settings to the right should allow you to see the difference without colour.
Orange Dot On Your iPhone
Using this setting will result in an orange square appearing instead of an iPhone orange dot. There will be no change in the shape or colour of the green dot.
Conclusion
Apple’s iOS 14 update introduced several new privacy-protecting tools and forced apps to be more transparent about how Apple users use their Phones.
As part of that process, the indicator lights notify users if third-party apps are using their microphone or camera without their consent.
If you find that an app is accessing your microphone or camera without your permission, you should delete it and report it. If you know any more details, please let us know in the comments section below.
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