I had the same issue today (iPhone SE3 on iOS 18.2). It was the green dot from the native Camera app. I fixed it by restarting my phone. Took a while to figure out but that control panel is showing you that Accessibility is using your microphone… which doesn’t really make sense. It’s not even a real app, just some settings. So weird.
Maybe try going into Accessibility and checking out what’s there? I wish I had done that with the Camera app instead of restarting immediately.
‘Turning it off and on again’ is sometimes the only fix, but it can also remove spyware or malware (according to Rowan Farrow). Not sure which one it was though.
@Zev
I just figured it out. It was something in Vocal Shortcuts.
Thanks a lot!
Zen said:
@Zev
I just figured it out. It was something in Vocal Shortcuts.
Thanks a lot!
I’m glad you figured it out!
Go to your battery settings and check what apps are using it. Usually, it will show the apps you’ve actually used. The app that uses the most battery should be on top. Look through all of them and just use common sense to figure out if you’ve used them or not.
@Zen
If you see an app you didn’t use, just delete it and do a hard reset to start fresh. I always check it like this: ‘Yep, I used all these apps, so that makes sense.’
@Piper
That’s a great suggestion. I wish I had known about this when I had that mystery green dot earlier today. I’ll keep this in mind next time.
Is ‘Hey Siri’ turned on?
Cameron said:
Is ‘Hey Siri’ turned on?
What accessibility features do you have enabled?
Mal said:
What accessibility features do you have enabled?
It might not be a solution, but here’s a trick… If you can’t find any other fix, leave your iPhone without charging until the battery runs out completely. By 100%, I mean when the phone won’t turn on anymore. Leave it without power for a few hours, or overnight if possible. Then try turning it on again and see if it’s fixed.
It sounds a bit strange, but maybe the app froze or there’s something worse going on internally. Another thing you can try is to turn on isolation mode and see if that works.
Good luck!
@Finnley
Or just restart the phone…
Sometimes restarting doesn’t work… but you do what feels right. If I had malware running and listening all day, I might do something like drain the battery or start isolation mode… but that’s just me. I would still feel fine walking into a bank with the mic on all day. It’s up to you.
And yes, I know my message doesn’t really solve the problem, but it’s a last-ditch effort, which could be helpful if nothing else works.
A lot of people are complaining about the same issue. It’s probably a bug.
Just restart your phone.
It’s the microphone. Your iPhone shows a yellow dot when something is using the mic, like ‘Hey Siri’ or Sound Hound, or if the camera is on. You can’t turn it off either.
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You might be getting spied on.
Palmer said:
You might be getting spied on.
No, this is probably just a bug. Restarting the phone should fix it.