With all sorts of things your phone can do, it makes sense to give the user some way of knowing things they need to understand but might not be aware of.

That orange dot is supposed to be telling you something, but depending on what you’re doing, it might be an innocent message or something distinctly more untoward.

However, some iPhone users have been worried about seeing the orange dot when they weren’t doing anything that they thought would require the microphone.

Some people might fret about the possibility that their phone is listening to them and if that orange dot is on and you don’t know why then you might have cause for concern.

People have been warned that if they see the dot and aren’t using anything that would need the microphone on then it could be a big problemo.

Some iPhone owners have naturally got a bit freaked out when they noticed the orange dot, despite not having their microphone in use (Getty Stock Image)

While folks learning about this said they were ‘pretty scared’ to see the orange dot, the most common explanation is that they’ve got an app in use which they forgot about.

If you don’t know which one it is then your best course of action is to start shutting down apps until the dot disappears.

If that doesn’t work then switch off the phone, and when you switch it back on again if the orange dot is still there then you can start actually worrying.

Despite some of the concern, you’d rather have some kind of visual indicator of when an app on your phone is using the device’s microphone or camera than not have it, wouldn’t you?

To be clear, an orange dot at the top of your phone screen means that one of the apps currently in use on your iPhone is currently using the microphone, meaning that it’s picking up whatever you say.

No dot at the top means the microphone or camera aren’t on, which is just fine unless you wanted to use those (Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

If there’s a green dot in the same place on the screen, it means that the app is using the phone’s camera instead, and it could also be using the microphone.

So, for example, when I pick up my phone and use the camera my screen gets the green dot, and when I quit the app it goes orange for just a second before turning off altogether.

Basically, that’s my phone telling me that now I’m using it as a camera the lens and microphone are in use, it’s pretty obvious but it’s also something you’d want to know about the various apps you’ve got running.

If you’re worried about the appearance of the dreaded dot then hop into your settings and change the permissions various apps have to access things like your camera and microphone.

Other than the inside of our eyelids or our own face in the mirror, one of the things the majority of us look at every day is, of course, our phones.

And when we get so used to seeing something so often, we often don’t even question it.

But perhaps we should all be paying a little more attention as iPhone users have been ‘warned’ over that little orange dot that appears at the top of the screen.

A TikTok user panicked followers when he shared a video telling people to ‘get help’ if they see it.

And sure, @mrjamienyland’s warning may sound a little dramatic at first, but it’s still worth taking note of if you’ve been ignoring what you Apple device is trying to tell you.

Plus, with a new iPhone launch soon to land (and cripple our bank accounts), you’ll want to know exactly what’s going on with it.

“If you see this orange dot on your phone, you need to get help seriously fast,” he wrote alongside the vid.

The user went on to explain: “If you see an orange dot like this on top of your iPhone, this means someone is listening to you.

“It’s been all over the news, and in fact the orange dot is a warning sign from Apple that someone is using your microphone without your permission.

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“If you have no apps open and this is still there, then someone is spying on your phone and listening to your conversations. So if you see this orange dot, turn your phone off immediately and go and get help.”

One person replied: “I’m getting pretty scared now,” while a second added: “I’m so scared”, and a third wrote: “WHAAAATTTT!?!?”

However, many of his followers – rightly so – pointed out that the dot doesn’t necessarily mean someone is listening in, it just indicates one of the phone’s apps is using the mic. “Just means your mic is live, not that someone is listening in,” replied one.

Another added: “It just means the microphone is in use,” while a third said: “It doesn’t mean someone’s listening to you, it means there’s an app using your microphone or was using it recently.”

The naysayers’ claims seem to be backed up by Apple, which has a segment of its website dedicated to explaining why iPhone users might see an orange dot on their screen occasionally.

The tech giant explained: “An orange indicator means the microphone is being used by an app on your iPhone.”

You might have noticed a little green dot popping up on the top right hand corner of your screen, too.

Apple notes the green dot ‘means either the camera or the camera and the microphone are being used by an app on your iPhone’.