Alert, Green Spots On Android Screen You Can Mark Monitoring Potential

The green spot at the top of your Android phone screen, it could be a warning sign that someone may be monitoring, (photo: dock.special)

JAKARTA - If you've seen a green dot at the top of your Android phone screen, it could be a sign of warning that someone may be monitoring, stalking or listening to you.

This point is an indicator that an app uses sensors on your Android phone, whether it's a microphone or a camera.

This can appear for completely harmless reasons, for example if you use a voice recorder app or make a phone call.

However, if you look at the green dot and don't know why it appears, it could be a sign of a "spyware" app on your phone.

DailyMail.com has detailed how similar warning signs sometimes appear on the iPhone. Fortunately, it's easy enough to know which apps use your microphone (the Privacy Indicator point is added to each Android phone in the Android 12 update, and there will be either you using Samsung, Pixel, or any other brand).

"Most of the time, the green spot is nothing to worry about, but if you suspect you are being monitored, you have to act immediately," Jamie Akhtar, CEO and co-founder of CyberSmart told DailyMail.com.

"Usually looking at the green dots on your Android screen is nothing to worry about. In most cases, it just means that an app uses your device's microphone (or camera). This can be caused by third-party apps or the basic function of your device such as voice assistants," he added.

"In general, this will be an application that you have allowed to use these functions, but if you look at the green or orange dots even if you don't use any apps, then it's time to investigate," he said.

"The biggest possible cause is that you have given permission to the application to access your camera or microphone even when not used. Check this in the 'permit' section of your device settings," said Akhtar.

"If this wasn't the case, this could mean your phone had been hacked and used spyware to track what you were doing," he said.

If you suspect that spyware has been installed on your phone, Akhtar recommends running a malware scan (open the Play Store, then tap on your profile, then Play Protect, then Scan).

Akhtar also recommends changing your password (most notably important such as email passwords), but not doing so on affected devices, then rearranging the factory on devices.

If you look at the green dot, it's easy enough to know what app triggers it. Pull down from the top of the screen if you see a green dot, and you'll see which microphone or camera icon, show which sensor is being used. Tap on the icon, and you'll see which app is using it.

From that screen, you can revoke the app's permission to use a microphone or camera (although if an app uses one of them unexpectedly, it's better to delete it altogether).

You can also see which records are clear about which apps have used which sensors, minutes per minute.

From this screen, tap on the app that has used your microphone or camera, and you can see the complete list of sensors that the application has used