The orange dot on iPhones is no longer reliable.

Spyware can silently activate the camera and microphone on an iPhone without the user noticing any familiar warning signs.

The green and orange dots indicate that the iPhone's camera and microphone are active. Photo: Mac World .

Researchers have issued a new warning about spyware on iPhones, after discovering that Intellexa's Predator can disable camera and microphone indicators on iOS.

Starting with iOS 14, Apple displays an orange and green dot to indicate when apps access the camera or microphone. This important security feature is designed to warn users about the possibility of being tracked.

However, according to research by Hu Ke and Nir Avraham at cybersecurity firm Jamf, commercial spyware can disable the orange and green dots on an iPhone by blocking sensor activity used by the indicator system before it reaches the user interface layer.

This discovery was announced after numerous spyware warnings, including one from Apple, followed by the iOS 26.2 and iOS 18.7.3 updates for older devices. The current iOS version (26.3) also comes with spyware warnings.

Through reverse engineering of Predator, researchers discovered a single blocking point that could simultaneously disable both the camera indicator (green dot) and the microphone indicator (orange dot).

According to the research, Predator selectively disables recording indicators while the device is still functioning normally. In other words, users don't receive any visual alerts that surveillance is taking place, so iPhones can be compromised without their knowledge.

While these findings are concerning, they also provide experts with clues that a device has been compromised, helping them combat sophisticated malware.

"These findings fill in information gaps about the existing threat and demonstrate the sophisticated techniques used by spyware to circumvent iOS privacy protections," the researchers said.

However, for iPhone users, things aren't that simple. The orange or green dot is no longer a reliable indicator that the device has been silently activated.

According to Forbes , users should pay attention to several warning signs of spyware infection, including overheating, slow performance, and the appearance of unfamiliar apps that were never downloaded. Spyware can be disabled by turning the iPhone off and on again, but this is only a temporary solution. If you suspect your device has been compromised, you should stop using it completely.

Source: https://znews.vn/cham-mau-cam-บน-iphone-khong-con-dang-tin-cay-post1629415.html