Instagram bug shows ‘camera on’ for iOS 14 devices even when users weren’t taking photos

In an instance of the iOS 14 beta mode warning people about unexpected app behaviour, some Instagram users reported that they have been seeing the green ‘camera on’ indicator while they were just scrolling through their feed. They were not taking photos or videos and yet the ‘camera on’ sign was present.

An Instagram spokesperson told The Verge that this was a bug and was being fixed.

Speculations suggest that since Instagram’s create mode is accessible from the app’s camera that might have set off the indicator and also, swiping into the Instagram camera directly from the Feed might have also tripped the indicator to go on.

The Instagram spokesperson said that the app only accesses the camera when made to, like when a user swipes right to start the camera from the Feed adding that they were fixing a bug in iOS 14 Beta that mistakenly indicates that the camera is being used when it actually isn’t. The spokesperson also said that in the case of these iOS 14 devices, or other devices, no content is recorded or being shot in these instances.

This indicator comes courtesy of iOS 14’s new user notifications that alert users to app behaviours like clipboard copying etc. Earlier, several iOS apps like TikTok, LinkedIn and Reddit have been spotted accessing the users’ clipboard content and users were alerted by a notification whenever a third-party app accessed the clipboard of the device on iOS 14.

While Bytedance, TikTok’s parent company said that they “planned to stop” accessing a device’s clipboard, they told The Verge last month that they had submitted an update to the App Store to remove the feature. According to ByteDance this feature was never introduced for Android devices.

LinkedIn has said that they have stopped their clipboard-copying practices and Reddit has said that they are fixing the code that causes this particular behaviour.