'Your iPhone is recording' warns Apple about the true meaning of the four colors of the clock

HAVE you ever noticed that your iPhone's clock changes color? You have to pay attention to it.

The time icon that sits in the status bar at the top of your iPhone is actually extremely important.

It can signal when it is important functions are active on your iPhoneand some should not be ignored.

However, not everyone knows what this change means: one Reddit thread asked: “Why is the clock in the top left corner constantly in a blue oval?”

It turns out that the clock can actually turn into one of four colors, each with their own unique meaning.

Apple notes: “On iPhone X and later, the color appears as a bubble behind the time.

“On iPhone 8 or older, the color extends all the way to the status bar.”

The four colors are blue, green, red and purple.

If you see Blue, it means your iPhone is using Screen Mirroring, which should not be ignored.

Alternatively, it could also mean that an app is actively using your location.

You can tap the clock when it turns blue and you can find out what's going on.

When the clock turns green, it means two things.

First, it could mean that you are on the phone, and the second meaning is that your iPhone offers a personal hotspot.

This is also important: a Personal Hotspot means someone else might be wiping your data, so make sure you know who's connected.

If you see a red oval 24 hours a day, your iPhone is recording.

This could be recording sound or capturing your screen.

Either way, make sure you know what's causing this. Recordings you are not aware of could be a sign that you have installed a dangerous app.

Finally, there's purple: this means you're using SharePlay to share content.

If you are confused, you should investigate and disable it, otherwise you may unknowingly share content with someone else.

THAT'S NOT ALL

There are some other important indicators that you may see on the status bar of your iPhone.

Occasionally you may see an orange or green dot appear.

If you see the orange dot, it means your microphone has been activated by an app.

And a green dot indicates the same thing, but for your camera.

You can swipe over to the Control Center to see exactly which app is using this.

And if you're not happy with an app having access to your microphone or camera, you can disable its permissions with just a few taps by going to Settings.

This way you can prevent rogue apps from inappropriately accessing these important sensors.