You may not have noticed it yet, but colored dots regularly appear in the status or menu bar of your iPhone, iPad or Mac. These can be green, orange, blue, etc. This is to better guarantee the user’s privacy.
The colored dots are a privacy indicator and warn that an app is using your location, camera or microphone, among other things. With this privacy feature, Apple wants to prevent apps from secretly monitoring, eavesdropping or collecting data in the background without you knowing.
Colored dots in status and menu bar
Is privacy-sensitive data collected on your Apple devices? Your device will then inform you of this via a colored dot in the status bar of your iPhone or iPad, the dynamic island or menu bar on a Mac.
Find out apps
Do you want to know which application has requested or used your data? Then open the Control Center on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. At the top of the panel you will find a shortcut, tap or click on the description to open it and see in detail what data used which app.
Meaning colored dots iPhone, iPad and Mac
Orange ball
Every time the orange dot appears, an app is using the microphone of your iPhone or iPad. The dot appears when recording a voice message in the messaging app, or giving a Siri command.
Green ball
Every time the green dot appears, it means that the camera of your iPhone or iPad is actively being used. The dot appears, for example, when you activate the camera to take a selfie, or when you have a video call via FaceTime, for example.
Blue ball
When the blue dot appears, an application has requested and processed your current location. The dot appears when using the Maps app, opening Marktplaats, etc.