What Is The Green And Orange Dot On My IPhone?

In June of 2020, Apple announced, and later released a new update to their operating system across the board, on all their phones. One of the key features this update came with was based on user privacy. This update introduced a Green and Orange dot on the iPhone’s status bar, whether on the home screen or using an App. So the question is, what is the Green and Orange dot on my iPhone?

Before getting to the Green and Orange dot meaning, we need to understand how the notification bar is configured on iPhones and how notifications work.

Although it is called the notifications bar, you do not necessarily get all your notification at the top of the screen like on Android devices. On iPhones, Notifications usually consist of your network (WiFi or cellular service), the time, your signal strength, and your battery level.

However, Android does this completely differently. On Android devices, you get all your notifications on this top bar, whether it’s a text, call, or notification from an app. Android phones use icons to be able to have multiple indicators on the notification bar.

Aside from the notification bar, both IOS (iPhones) & Android also display notifications on the Lock Screen. Here you get more Notifications with more details. The order in which they are displayed can be different, of course. And the reason being that both OS use different metrics and have different philosophies.

But the principle remains the same, display notifications in a non-cluttered manner that’s organized and easier on the eyes as well. You would want to be able to quickly identify your notifications at a glance without too much effort or confusion.

We can always argue about which one is better (Apple vs Android), but one thing we certainly know from Apple is that they emphasized Clarity, Deference, and Depth. That is to keep their Aesthetic Integrity and Consistency.

To finally answer your question…

What is the Green and Orange Dot on my iPhone?

The Green and orange dot both indicate that your phones’ microphone or camera is being used by an App.

The green dot means that either the camera or the camera and the microphone are being used by an app on your iPhone.
The orange dot means the microphone is being used by an app on your iPhone.

But Why do I have a Green and Orange Dot on my iPhone?

This feature was implemented to double down on the user’s privacy.

As Apple stated:

“Privacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, it’s also one of our core values. Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be up to you. We design Apple products to protect your privacy and give you control over your information. It’s not always easy. But that’s the kind of innovation we believe in.”

You can check the Apple Privacy Page for more details on how Apple handles your data and all its effort to keep your data safe.

Despite the security levels, smartphones are susceptible to hacking today. Not only hacking but the big corporations also try to find ways to access your data as much as they can to ether know you better for marketing purposes or data purposes. Which inevitably becomes a monetary source for them. These practices can go as far as violating user’s privacy. Hence why Apple has made it its goal to hold these privacy concerns to a higher standard to make sure that all their user’s data is safe and protected.

There have been speculations in the past about phone apps controlling devices and randomly activating their microphones or cameras to gather as much data as possible. Although not proven 100%, this is a violation of user’s privacy, it’s an intruse and very aggressive way to gather data from users.

This feature came just in time. Users are now able to recognize when their cameras or microphones are activated. Whether intentionally or unintentionally.

This feature saves you time and alleviates stress as you no longer have to worry when an app unexpectedly tries to use the phone’s microphone or camera. These dots are there for your safety in a way.

We could argue whether or not this feature is effective. We would argue that it is, as long as it works accordingly from a developer standpoint. This feature will also discourage app developers or big corporations from using these malicious practices.

In case you ever feel confused or overwhelmed by all the different icons showing up on your notification bar, here’s a list of notifications icons, and their meaning, from Apple. Click here.

And for more articles like these, click here.