People are just realizing what the three little dots on an iPhone mean

You may have noticed small colored dots appearing at the top of your iPhone screen, close to the front-facing camera lens, but few people know what they mean.

Newer iPhone models have built-in warning signs for when your privacy is being violated — and these dots can warn users that their online safety may be at risk.

There are three colored ‘dots’, also known as Apple status bar icons, that appear at the top of the phone’s screen.

The blue dot, which contains a white arrow pointing to the right, is the last thing to look out for. It appears when an app tries to access your location.

The orange ‘dot’, which can also appear yellow, means that your device’s microphone is currently in use.

A green dot, the same size and shape as the orange one, means your camera is currently being used by an app.

That’s not to be confused with a blue dot that can appear next to apps on your phone’s home screen.

It just means that an app has recently been updated and you have nothing to worry about.

There’s only cause for concern with one of these dots appearing if you don’t expect an app to be using your camera, microphone, or location services.

You can check which of your apps are using these features by going to the phone’s Control Center and checking the dots icon at the top.

There are three colored ‘dots’, also known as Apple status bar icons, that appear at the top of the phone’s screen. A green dot, the same size and shape as the orange one, means your camera is currently being used by an app

The orange ‘dot’, which can also appear yellow, means that your device’s microphone is currently in use

This should reveal which apps are using your microphone, camera, or location.

You can also go to Settings and enable the App Privacy Report to see a running log of which apps have used your sensitive “permissions” and when.

It’s also important to check your iPhone’s security features, as DailyMail.com recently reported that facial recognition can leave your data and privacy vulnerable.

Hackers can unlock your phone without your knowledge when you sleep by simply holding the device up to allow the facial recognition software to access it. But they fool your iPhone’s facial recognition and give them unrestricted access to your texts, photos, videos, social media accounts, banking, and more.

Facial recognition systems usually don’t work when your eyes are closed. But this protection can be bypassed if a victim wears glasses.

It is therefore important to check your settings to ensure that the ‘Face ID & Attention’ feature is enabled. That requires your eyes to be open for facial recognition software to work.

Apple also recently rolled out a new update to fix an issue that left devices vulnerable to hacks. Apple has rolled out iOS 16.4.1 to all compatible handsets, including the iPhone 8 and newer models.

The update fixes two vulnerabilities that appeared in the previous software, iOS 16.4, which was released at the end of March.

According to Apple, both vulnerabilities could have allowed hackers to infiltrate the device and “execute arbitrary code.”

This means that they can run any code they want on a targeted device without the owner’s knowledge.

This code allows them to access private data, gain control over the functionality of the device, and install malware.

It could even allow them to take control of other devices connected to the network or internet the original was connected to.