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On a Galaxy phone, open Settings and go to Security and privacy > Privacy > Permission manager. Select a permission such as Camera, Microphone, Location, Contacts, or Photos and videos to see every app that has that access and change the grant. If your menus differ, search Settings for Permission manager.

Use Privacy Dashboard (or Permissions used in last 24 hours) when you need to know which apps used a permission recently, not merely which apps are allowed to use it. The green dot in the status area identifies current camera or microphone use.

What each privacy screen answers

Galaxy and Android provide several related controls, but they answer different questions. Start with the question you are trying to answer rather than assuming one screen is a complete activity log.

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View Best for What it does not tell you
Permission manager, organized by permission type Finding every app with a particular grant, such as camera or location, and changing those grants It shows permission state, not necessarily when an app actually used the permission
Privacy Dashboard or permission-use history Seeing which apps used sensitive permissions recently and approximately when The history is limited; the time window depends on Android and One UI versions
Individual app > Permissions Reviewing one app’s allowed and denied permissions in detail You must open apps one at a time
Device-wide camera or microphone controls Temporarily stopping every app from using a sensor A broad block can interrupt apps that need that sensor

For a complete check, use Permission manager to review standing grants, Privacy Dashboard to inspect recent activity, and the green indicator or a global switch when you need an immediate answer about a sensor.

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Before you begin: labels vary by Galaxy model

Samsung changes menu names and placement between Android releases, One UI versions, models, carriers, and regions. Samsung’s current US guidance places Permission manager under Settings > Security and privacy > Privacy, while some regional and older instructions place it in the Apps menu. The safest fallback is to open Settings, tap the search icon, and type Permission manager, Privacy Dashboard, Camera access, or Microphone access.

The examples below use the current Security and privacy structure. A slightly different label does not mean the feature is missing; it may simply be grouped elsewhere in your software build.

Check which apps have a sensitive permission

Open Permission manager

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Security and privacy.
  3. Choose Privacy.
  4. Tap Permission manager. On a build that does not show this route, search Settings for that exact term. Some Galaxy versions instead use Settings > Apps > More options (the three-dot menu) > Permission manager.

Samsung describes this area in its Galaxy security and privacy guide. A regional Samsung guide also documents the Apps-menu route at this support page.

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Choose the permission category

Permission manager lists access by type rather than by app. Tap the category that matches your concern:

  • Camera shows apps that can open the camera.
  • Microphone shows apps that can record audio.
  • Location shows apps that can receive location information.
  • Contacts shows apps that can read or modify contacts, where those choices are available.
  • Photos and videos shows apps that can access your visual media; the exact wording can differ by Android version.

Other categories, such as Phone, SMS, or nearby devices, may appear on your phone. Select a category to see the apps grouped by their current state, such as allowed, allowed only while in use, or not allowed.

Open an app and change its access

Tap an app in the category list to see the choices supported for that permission. Depending on the category and Android version, you may see:

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  • Allow all the time, mainly for location access that must continue in the background.
  • Allow only while using the app, which limits access to periods when the app is in use.
  • Ask every time, where Android prompts before granting access for that use.
  • Don’t allow, which blocks the permission until you grant it again.

Not every permission offers every option. For example, location commonly has more timing choices than a permission such as Contacts. Read the description on the screen, select the least access that still supports the app’s purpose, and confirm the change.

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Blocking a permission can disable a feature. A navigation app without location, a video-chat app without the camera, or a voice recorder without the microphone may not work as intended. You can return to the same screen and restore access if a necessary feature stops working.

Review one app from its App info page

If you already know which app you want to investigate, an individual app screen is quicker than scanning several permission categories.

  1. Open Settings and tap Apps.
  2. Choose the app’s name. Use the search field if the list is long.
  3. Tap Permissions.
  4. Review the Allowed and Not allowed sections, then tap a permission to change it.

This view is useful for a focused review—for example, checking whether a social or shopping app still has access to Contacts—but it does not show every other app with the same permission. Use Permission manager when your question is “which apps have permission to use my camera?”

See which apps used permissions recently

Open Privacy Dashboard or permission-use history

Permission manager tells you what an app is permitted to do. To see recent use, open Settings and search for Privacy Dashboard. Depending on the Galaxy software, the feature may instead be labeled Permissions used in last 24 hours or appear inside the Privacy section. Tap a permission category in the dashboard, then select an app or time entry for more detail.

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Google’s Privacy Dashboard instructions document different history windows by Android release:

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  • Android 13: the dashboard can show up to seven days of permission activity.
  • Android 12: the documented window is 24 hours.

Your Galaxy may expose a shorter or differently named view because Samsung’s One UI layer and later Android updates can change the interface. Treat the dashboard as a recent-activity view, not an unlimited forensic log. An app can have permission without appearing in the current history window, and an old event can disappear when the window expires.

Interpret a grant versus a use event

Suppose a messaging app appears under Camera > Allowed in Permission manager but has no camera event in the dashboard. That means the app is authorized, not that it necessarily opened the camera during the displayed period. Conversely, a recent dashboard event confirms use during the available history window, even if you later changed the grant. Check both screens when you need to distinguish capability from recent activity.

Use the green indicator for live camera or microphone access

Samsung places a green dot in the status area when an application is accessing the camera or microphone. The indicator is a real-time signal, not a history report. Samsung explains the behavior in its green-dot support guide.

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  1. Watch the top-right area of the screen for the green dot while an app is open.
  2. Swipe down to open the notification panel or quick settings.
  3. Tap the indicator or the sensor-use notice. Galaxy software should identify the app currently using the camera or microphone.
  4. If the app should not be using that sensor, close it and review its permission in Permission manager or its App info page.

The dot can appear for legitimate reasons, such as a camera preview, a video call, voice input, or an audio recording. It tells you which app is using a sensor now; it does not prove what the app does with the resulting data after access.

Temporarily block camera or microphone for every app

For an immediate, device-wide stop, use the separate camera and microphone access switches available on supported Galaxy and Android versions. Open Settings, search for Camera access or Microphone access, and turn the relevant switch off. On some versions these controls are under Security and privacy > Privacy; they may also be exposed as quick-settings tiles.

These switches are different from individual app permissions. Turning off camera access blocks all apps, including ones that were individually allowed. Turning it back on restores the previous per-app grants; it does not permanently rewrite every app’s permission list. A broad block can prevent camera scanning, video calls, biometric features, or voice commands until you re-enable the sensor.

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Understand what a permission does—and what it does not prove

A permission screen describes an app’s ability to request a class of device data. It does not establish whether the app has transmitted, retained, sold, or shared information, nor does it reveal every data source an app might use. Network data, information supplied by your account, and data collected through an app’s own services can be governed by separate policies.

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Google’s guidance on location sharing explains that a developer data-safety disclosure may be available only when the app store and device support those labels. Developers are responsible for keeping their stated practices accurate and updated. You can read the limits of those disclosures in Google’s location-data sharing guidance; do not treat a permission grant or a store label as an independent audit of an app’s complete data handling.

A practical audit workflow

Use this sequence when you want a repeatable review rather than a one-time glance:

  1. List the sensitive categories. Start with Camera, Microphone, Location, Contacts, and Photos and videos. Add Phone, SMS, or nearby-device access if those categories are relevant to how you use the phone.
  2. Review each category in Permission manager. Open every allowed app and ask whether the access is necessary for the feature you use.
  3. Reduce grants that exceed the need. Prefer “while using” or “ask every time” over continuous access when the app supports those choices.
  4. Check individual App info pages. Use this step for apps you do not recognize, no longer use, or installed for a single task.
  5. Open Privacy Dashboard. Compare recent use with your expectations, remembering that the available history is limited by Android version.
  6. Watch for the green dot. If it appears unexpectedly, identify the current app from the notification panel before changing settings.
  7. Use a global switch only for an urgent temporary block. Re-enable the sensor when you need camera or microphone features again.

Keeping a short note of intentional exceptions can help later. For example, you might allow a navigation app to use location while in use but deny location to a game that has no location-based feature. The important distinction is to make each grant a conscious choice, not to maximize or minimize every permission indiscriminately.

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Troubleshoot common problems

“Permission manager” is not where the guide says

Use Settings search for Permission manager. If search finds nothing, open Settings > Apps and tap the three-dot menu; some Samsung builds place the manager there. Menu wording can also change after a major Android or One UI update.

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An app is missing from a permission list

An app may not request that permission, may have been removed, or may be listed under a different category name such as Photos and videos. Open the app’s Settings > Apps > [app] > Permissions page to see its complete per-app list. A permission manager normally lists apps according to the permission state they currently support, not every app installed on the phone.

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The app stopped working after access was denied

Return to the app’s Permissions screen and grant the minimum option required by the feature. If Android offers “Ask every time” or “Allow only while using the app,” try that before granting broader background access. Test the specific feature, then leave unrelated permissions denied.

The dashboard shows no history

Confirm that you opened Privacy Dashboard or the permission-use history rather than Permission manager. The dashboard only retains the period supported by your Android version—Google documents seven days for Android 13 and 24 hours for Android 12. A permission that was granted but not used during that window will not appear as a recent event.

The green dot appears and disappears quickly

A brief camera or microphone operation can trigger the indicator only while the sensor is active. Open the notification panel immediately and tap the indicator to identify the current app. If you cannot catch it, review the dashboard for a recent event and inspect likely apps under the Camera or Microphone categories.

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A global camera or microphone switch seems to override app settings

That is expected. Device-wide controls sit above individual grants. Turn the global switch back on, then use Permission manager to decide which apps retain access. Leaving the global switch off will make camera- or microphone-dependent features fail even when their per-app permissions still say “Allowed.”

What to check after an Android or One UI update

After a major software update, revisit the privacy area instead of relying on an old path. Confirm the location of Permission manager, note whether the dashboard is called Privacy Dashboard or Permissions used in last 24 hours, and check that global camera and microphone controls are still available where you expect them. Samsung’s current support material and regional instructions demonstrate why the same Galaxy family can show different menu routes.

Also recheck apps that you have not opened for a long time. Android can present different permission-management choices for unused apps depending on version and device policy. If an app’s access no longer matches your intention, use its App info page to set it explicitly.

Key takeaways

  • Permission manager is the fastest way to find which apps have a particular sensitive permission and change the grant.
  • Privacy Dashboard answers a different question: which apps used permissions recently, within a limited Android-version-dependent window.
  • The green dot identifies current camera or microphone use; tap it from the notification panel to identify the app.
  • Camera access and Microphone access switches can block a sensor across the entire device when supported.
  • Permission state does not prove how an app transmits, retains, or shares data. Use the app’s disclosures and privacy policy for that separate question.
  • If labels differ, search Settings first; Galaxy menus vary by model, region, carrier, Android release, and One UI version.

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