What to do if your iPhone uses camera without consent?

Abu Dhabi - The new feature is part of the Apple's new operating system.

Apple rolled out its new operating systems immediately after its keynote last week, and so far, so good.

On iOS 14 for iPhones, some of the most discussed new features include the app-organising App Library, more compact call and Siri interfaces and the new Translate app that can work offline with a dozen languages.

However, keep your eyes peeled and you'll notice something new appearing above signal strength on the upper-right corner: Tiny dots.

Those two dots, green and orange, are signals that the camera and microphone, respectively, are being used. It's part of an enhanced security ecosystem on the iPhone.

And it's actually a crucial feature: Those dots will pop up to indicate - or warn - you that there's an app trying to gain access to your camera and mic, even if you aren't doing or haven't done so.

The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatoy Authority (TRA) took notice of this and indeed confirmed its purpose. And it cautioned users to be vigilant, especially when these lights go on and neither of those functions are being used.

"If this happens, we recommend that you either contact the application developer for clarification," the TRA said.

The regulator also suggests deleting apps that could suspiciously access those functions and reporting them to Apple.

iOS 14 was previewed at Apple's virtual Worldwide Developers Conference in June, and was made available to users on September 15 in an iPhone-less keynote. The new flagship is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.

And since green and orange are already in, maybe we can expect a red one in the future to indicate iOS automatically stopped an app from performing some malicious intent.

alvin@khaleetimes.com