Are you worried that your iPhone apps are listening using your device’s built-in microphone? In that case, it’s easy to know for sure – and revoke access to the microphone if necessary – by checking a list in Settings. Here’s how to do it.
First, open the “Settings” application.
Under “Settings”, tap “Privacy”.
Under “Privacy”, tap “Microphone”.
On the next screen, you will see a list of installed applications that have requested access to your microphone. Each application has a button next to it. If the switch is “on” (green), the application can access your microphone. If the switch is “off” (or grayed out), the application cannot access your microphone.
If you’d like to remove an app’s access to your microphone, touch the button next to it to turn it off. Likewise, if you want to allow an application to access your microphone, turn on the button.
When finished, exit “Settings” and your changes will take effect immediately.
It is important to note that if you are running iOS 14 and above, you can tell when an app is using your microphone if there is an orange dot in the status bar in the upper right corner of the iPhone’s screen. (If you see a green dot, it means your camera is in use.)
If you think an app is using your microphone when it shouldn’t, just visit Settings> Privacy> Microphone as detailed above and revoke access to the app by placing the button next to it to “off”. Good luck!
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