This free download tells you which apps are spying on you
Ever get the sense that someone or something is watching or listening to you on your mobile device when you’re not on a call or Zoom meeting? Your paranoia may be warranted. Tap or click to reveal dozens of malicious apps caught spying.
Most people don’t think twice when they agree to let apps access files and features on their devices. However, when you make your phone’s camera or microphone accessible to a third-party app, it’s a free invitation for that app to use either tool in the background surreptitiously.
Apple users recently received a handy new feature in iOS 14 that shows an indicator dot when an app uses their camera or mic when they shouldn’t. Android users haven’t been as fortunate until now, thanks to a little-known app. Let’s check it out.
Why do I need Access Dots
It’s all about your privacy. Some rogue third-party apps take your permission as a blanket consent to misuse your camera and microphone and spy on you. Because you never know when an app is using either of these tools, it’s difficult to discern which of the apps in your collection is shady.
With Access Dots, for Android devices with Android 7.0 Nougat and up, you won’t have to worry about your personal info, including your location, potentially being targeted this way.
What is Access Dots
Access Dots is a free (ad-supported) app that displays an indicator dot in the top right of your screen whenever a third-party app uses your phone’s camera or microphone. The indicator light remains visible even on your lock screen.
Access Dots has a host of features including:
- An access log shows when the camera/microphone was accessed, which app was in the foreground when access was initiated and how long the access lasted.
- Customize the color of the Access Dots, which by default are green (camera) and orange (microphone).
- On Android 10+, Access Dots, by default, display next to the camera cut-out (if your phone has one).
- Configure the indicator dots location using X/Y coordinates.
- Adjust the size of the Access Dots.
This app is free to download. However, a donation will get you access to a few additional configurations like the size of dots and their location on the screen.
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Is someone listening to everything you say? Look for this clue
Ever get that feeling your phone knows you a bit too well? It’s not your imagination. From location tracking to trackers that follow you around the web, there’s a constant stream of info coming from your device.
Some apps can even use your phone’s microphone or camera when you’re not expecting it. And until recently, there was no way to tell when this was happening. Instagram was caught red-handed doing just that, and we only found out because of a new privacy feature baked into Apple iOS 14. Tap or click here to see how Instagram got caught.
Privacy tip: Use this app to see when your phone's mic and camera are in use
Google released Android 11 at the beginning of September, and after testing it out so far, it looks to be a winner of an update. Unfortunately, Apple’s iOS 14 has it beat in the privacy department.
Why is iOS 14 better for privacy? It’s not that Android 11 is a slouch — but features like iOS 14’s new camera and microphone icons are making it easy to tell that apps are snooping when they shouldn’t. Tap or click here to see how these icons exposed the Instagram app.