Undoubtedly, smartphones are the device or thing we spend the most time with, as they are no longer just a means of communication, but also our portal to the virtual world as well as our main source of entertainment.
The average person spends almost 6 hours a day using their mobile phone, which accounts for 35% of the time they are awake, according to data from “Electronic Hubs.” Despite spending so much time with these devices, for the vast majority of users, their smartphone is full of functions, tools, and unknown aspects.
There are some functions that serve to create shortcuts and make your experience smoother, others to boost the phone’s performance, and others to enhance the security and privacy of the device. In today’s world, this latter aspect is very important, as threats are constant and diverse, from WhatsApp messages from strangers that result in scams of over 11,000 euros, to simply answering “Yes?” to a call from an unrecognized number.
That’s why phone manufacturers include new security features in their devices, and the green or orange dot that may occasionally appear on your device is one of these measures designed to protect your privacy.
Surely, on more than one occasion, you have suddenly noticed that in your phone a small dot usually lights up, typically green, although depending on the model, it could also be orange, next to your phone’s camera.
This is because it is an alert function to inform the user that the app or activity you are currently using is accessing or using your device’s camera, microphone, or location, so if, for example, you are on WhatsApp and are about to send a photo to your friend, this dot will activate to indicate that you have activated the camera.
What is the purpose of this function
You may now be wondering what the purpose of this tool is, as if you open the camera to take a selfie, you know the camera is active. But one of the reasons why privacy is difficult to maintain nowadays is that apps and services require permission to access all these functions, and often they are not necessary for their proper functioning, but they do so without your knowledge, which could jeopardize your privacy.
Most of the apps that do this don’t have cybercriminal interests, but based on this information like where you live, where you move, what kind of things you talk about, and more, they can create a profile about you and then sell this information to companies so they pay for personalized advertising and try to hook you to make a purchase.
Thus, if an app you just opened is using any of these functions in the background, your phone will alert you. Specifically, if you have an Android phone, the dot that appears is green, and usually accompanied by a symbol of the activated function.
On the other hand, on iPhone, when the green dot appears it means the camera is active, while when the dot is orange it indicates the microphone is active. Remember that the microphone, camera, and location are three critical aspects for your cybersecurity, and with these alerts, you can prevent apps from spying on you without you realizing it.
