How to know which programs and applications are using your computer's microphone
Any application or program installed on your computer can listen to your conversations with loved ones and meetings at work through the microphone, whether external or already built into the laptop .
But unlike a webcam, there is no sign or indication when the microphone is on, which means that some programs could be recording audio in the background without the user knowing about it. Certainly something like this is alarming and scary for anyone concerned about protecting their privacy on the Internet.
Let me tell you, such outright violations are very likely to happen these days, as harvesting users’ personal data has become the ultimate goal of companies and developers now, allowing this information to be used either to display personalized ads or just for the purpose of spying and blackmail.
The good news is that you can avoid falling victim to these scammers by keeping a close eye on app activity thanks to the privacy settings that Microsoft added in Windows 10. If you want to know which programs and apps are using your microphone, read on to learn how to stay safe.
In Windows 10, users can control app and program permissions to ensure better privacy protection, and by that I mean that they can control the means by which apps provide personal data related to users' privacy.
For example: microphone, webcam, geolocation. Now if you download a new app and want to block microphone access, you can easily do so via settings.
Users can also, after the Windows 10 May 2019 Update, see which apps are currently listening to the microphone and when you last used the microphone without your knowledge.
So, if your computer is running the latest version of Windows 10, you will see a microphone icon in the notification area [as shown in the image above] whenever an app is using the microphone. This icon may appear in white or black depending on the theme you are using in Windows.
When this icon appears, hover your mouse over it and Windows will tell you the name of the program or application that is currently using your microphone.
But if there's more than one app, Windows will show you just how many apps are using your microphone — without naming them.
This microphone icon only appears when an app is currently using or listening to your microphone. So if you don't see the icon, it means that no apps or programs are using your microphone right now.
If there are multiple apps or programs currently using your microphone and you want to know the names of those apps, double-click on the microphone icon. Alternatively, open the Settings app (from the Start menu or by pressing Win + i together), then go to the Privacy section and then to the Microphone page from the sidebar.
Next, scroll through the list and look for apps with the red text “Currently in use.” But note that there are two lists on this page — one for apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store and one for regular Windows programs (“desktop apps.”) So be sure to look at each list.
You may also be interested in: Find out if there is a program that uses the camera to spy on you in Windows?
Even if no apps or programs are using the microphone right now and the microphone icon doesn't appear in the notification area, you can check which apps were using the microphone in the past. To do this, head to the Settings app, then to the Privacy section, then tap the Microphone page in the sidebar to open the microphone settings.
Scroll through the list of apps and look at the bottom of each one until you see the text “Last accessed” which indicates the last time that app used the microphone. Windows will tell you the time and date that the microphone was accessed by the app, as shown in the attached image.
Note that there is a similar setting for the webcam as well, if you go to the Camera page in the Privacy section a notification will appear under each app that was previously using the camera, containing the date and time the webcam was last turned on.
However, there's no camera icon in the notification area - likely because Microsoft realized that most modern laptops have an LED that lights up when the camera is on.
It should be noted that there may be a few programs that can directly use the microphone and bypass Windows 10’s privacy and monitoring controls. In other words, a program may access the microphone but not appear in the list and the microphone icon may not even appear in the taskbar. However, Windows should detect the vast majority of programs that use the microphone.