I know you wrote about how to turn off Facebook using my microphone, but I’m wondering if there’s a way in iOS 8 for me to see a list of every app that has access to the microphone on my iPhone 6 Plus?
It took years for app developers to recognize that the microphone on a smartphone is a valuable data source, but that day has arrived and sure enough, a number of apps — some of which are hard to figure out — are seeking access to the mic connected to your smartphone, whether it’s an iPhone 6 Plus (congrats on the new and shiny) or whether it’s an older device that has the same basic capabilities.
Fortunately Apple is savvy to the privacy implications so the last few versions of iOS make it fairly easy to identify which apps have requested and been granted microphone access. Oh, and don’t forget that if your kids launch an app that asks for permissions, they’re quite likely to grant them without even reading what they’re doing. A “yes” button just invites a finger tap!
To find out which apps have access, go into “Settings” and swipe down just a bit:
You’d think that it might be “Sounds” but that’s not it. Instead, you want “Privacy”.
Tap on the “Privacy” option.
There’s the option you want, near the bottom: “Microphone”.
Tap on “Microphone” and you’ll see a list of apps that have requested access to your iPhone’s mic:
As you can see, the full list of apps that have requested access to the microphone on my iPhone 5s are UP, Instagram, Facebook, Google maps, Shazam and USA TODAY. I have allowed it for all but Facebook and USA TODAY.
Want to turn access off for an app? Tap on the slider to get rid of the green “on” display.
Done. Now you know who’s listening!