{"id":213184,"date":"2026-01-02T12:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/213184\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T12:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T12:54:08","slug":"hack-of-the-day-stop-apps-from-using-your-phones-camera-or-mic-secretly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/213184\/","title":{"rendered":"Hack of the day: Stop apps from using your phone\u2019s camera or mic secretly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/smartphone-pattern-lock-maharashtra-times.jpg\" alt=\"Hack of the day: Stop apps from using your phone\u2019s camera or mic secretly\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/> The Times of India&#8217; brings you &#8216;Hack of the Day&#8217; \u2014 a new weekday-series of quick, practical solutions to everyday hassles. Each hack is designed to save you time, money or stress, using tools and features within your reach \u2014 from government websites to everyday apps. In simple words it is: Simple fixes for smarter living.Smartphones have become more than just a necessity today. From storing personal photos and videos, to ordering clothes and grocery online, to staying in touch with friends and family via social media, our phones handle almost every part of daily life. With so much important information available on a single device, privacy controls are more important than ever \u2013 especially when it comes to your camera and microphone. Companies now give users simple tools to check when these sensors are being used and to turn them off instantly. These controls help you stay aware of background activity and stop apps from accessing your camera or mic without your knowledge. <\/p>\n<p>How to check and control camera and mic access on Android<\/p>\n<p>1. See when your camera or mic is activeStep 1 &#8211; Look for the green indicator in the top-right corner.Step 2 &#8211; Swipe down and tap the indicator.Step 3 &#8211; Tap once to see which app is using the camera or mic.Step 4 &#8211; Tap again to manage that app\u2019s permissions.<\/p>\n<p>2. Turn the camera or mic off instantly<\/p>\n<p>Step 1 &#8211; Swipe down and tap the camera or mic control to disable access.Step 2 &#8211; If it doesn\u2019t work, make sure the camera or mic isn\u2019t blocked at the hardware level.3. Use Quick Settings for faster controlStep 1 &#8211; Swipe down twice from the top of your screen.Step 2 &#8211; Tap the camera or microphone tile to turn access on or off.Step 3 &#8211; If the tiles aren\u2019t visible, tap Edit or Add, then drag them into Quick Settings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Times of India&#8217; brings you &#8216;Hack of the Day&#8217; \u2014 a new weekday-series of quick, practical solutions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[129212,129215,342,111,139,69,129213,129214,129211,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-213184","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-android-camera-mic-control","9":"tag-control-smartphone-microphone-access","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-privacy-controls-on-smartphone","15":"tag-smartphone-privacy-tips","16":"tag-stop-apps-from-using-camera","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}