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  "path": "/t/android-camera-spying-from-apps-green-dot/34354#post_3",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-06T06:55:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://forum.f-droid.org",
  "textContent": "as far as i know, casual smartphones (like mine) cannot allow more than one app to use the camera. if one app uses the camera already, another opened later cannot access it, either crashes down or has error handling, giving something like “failed to access camera”. i wonder what would happen if there is a different way to access the camera, an app utilizes it in the background like the one you mentioned, and there is an app opened later, trying to use it the normal way, would it fail the same way?\n\n(edit)\n\nat least my phone has a very loud camera by design, if i used that app you mentioned, i could tell if the camera is active. maybe a similar sign, like seeing the camera trying to focus (if it has physical focus) can indicate that different camera access method being active and is in use.\n\n(another edit xd)\n\nlower end smartphones also more likely to have a short diration between the app opening its camera activity, and the physical camera actually being utilized, this time (in my cases) the app shows a black screen as camera image, if the camera was active already by some backgound way, the camera activity of the app you open would either fail as i mentioned or probably access the camera instantly, as the camera is already on(?)",
  "title": "Android camera spying from apps - green dot"
}