Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

BotchQue

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 22, 2019
773
1,142
This little orange dot is appearing on my menu bar, in between the Siri icon and the Control Panel icon:

photo.jpg


I'm pretty sure that means some app is using the camera on my Macbook, correct?
Thing is though, I'm not using anything that should require the camera; are the North Koreans spying on me?

And the above picture is taken with my iPhone; if I take a screenshot on my Macbook, the orange dot doesn't show up!

Screenshot.jpg


Any ideas at what's happening here? I will reboot my Macbook and see if the orange dot goes away, and report back...
 
UPDATE: As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating."
I restarted, then when my desktop appeared the orange dot was gone, but then a blue ring appeared in the same spot, it immediately turned into a black arrowhead, and then disappeared before I could click on it. Hmmmm!
 
Click on Control Center and it should show you which apps have most recently used your camera or mic
Control-Center-on-Mac-showing-microphone-access.jpg
 
The orange dot does not mean that the camera is in use...
That dot is the indicator that there is an app on your Mac that is accessing the microphone.
You may see which app is using the microphone by clicking on the control center icon.
 
Thanks guys.
I did figure out that the blue ring followed by the black arrow was my Weather app, and after keeping an eye on it realized it updates every 60 seconds! The mic indicator hasn't returned.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.