Phones today show in the status bar if the camera/microphone is active.
If you can’t trust the software, why would you trust the software? Am I supposed to rely on the hope that an attacker can take over some part of the OS, but not the one rendering a tiny blob in the status bar?
Apple has moved these indicators into their “exclaves” removing any control or influence from the OS / software running.
Source? AFAIK they only have hardware indicators for webcams on cams, and it's not used for microphones.
Different person here, but Apple has tried it multiple times in different ways.
They started in ios14, iOS 17 got new Secure Exclave path that (A18, M4).
Search for “Secure Indicator Light”.
Also searching for “Secure Exclave” will reveal some fun reads.
I think Snowden worked with someone to create a bulky, apparatus that you could put your iphone into and it would measure if any signals at all were coming from it.
Does that mean the phone will not react to „Hey, Siri“ without a mic icon showing up in the status bar?