ALERT: Be Aware of New Green and Orange Dots on Your iPhone

If you're on Apple's IOS14, you may have noticed a teeny-weeny dot in the top right.  Sometimes it is green.  Sometimes it is orange.  Sometimes it is not there.  It's for your safety and security.  Allow me to explain.

We're always being tracked on our phones.  Right?  Your social media usage is being aggregated.  Your travels are being followed, just look at "Location Services" in your settings.  And, there's times where your APPS are actively using your audio and video.  Most of the time it is clear.  You open the camera and you're capturing photos and videos.  You open the voice memos and you're recording audio notes or messages.  There are other times when an APP may request more access and you may not remember or understand you've authorized it.  Maybe you didn't?

Now, through the power of Apple's latest update, you now have a better idea of if you're sharing audio or video.  This is meant to give you more transparency.  These dots are called recording indicators.  If you see one pop on and you're not trying to record audio or video, take notice.  Here's how they look.

In the pictures below, you see a TEAMS video call and the little green dot in the top right.  That's good.  That's normal.  Below that you see an audio recorder and a little orange dot in the top right.  That's good too.  Again, if you didn't start an APP that should be doing that you should investigate what APP is doing that and why.  Maybe you should consider deleting it.  I wouldn't want something recording audio or video of me without my knowledge or for no apparent reason.