How to tell when your phone is listening to you or watching you

Have you ever wondered whether your phone is listening in to you, or even watching you?

Well, Apple’s latest update for the iPhone means you won’t have to wonder anymore, you’ll actually be able to know for sure if it is.

Apple has added a ‘warning dot’ that will alert you if your microphone or camera is activated, meaning that if an app is recording you, you’ll know.

The change to iPhones comes with the new iOS 14 update, and as part of it an orange dot will appear in the upper right corner of the screen when your microphone or camera is activated.

Apple

You can then head to your Control Centre to find out which app is using the microphone.

If you suspect something’s not right, you can check the app’s permissions in Settings and deny it access to your microphone or camera, or even delete it.

Apple said: “Privacy is a fundamental human right and at the core of everything we do. That’s why with iOS 14, we’re giving you more control over the data you share and more transparency into how it’s used.

“An indicator appears at the top of your screen whenever an app is using your microphone or camera. And in Control Center, you can see if an app has used them recently.”

There’s been rumours that apps like Facebook have been listening in to us for years, with many users saying they’ve spoken about something, only for ads for that product to appear soon after – even though they’ve never searched for it on their phone.

Facebook has denied that it uses the phone’s microphone to snoop on its users.