A Green Dot Remains on the Top Right of Mac!

General
1

After installing macOS Sonoma, a persistent green dot appears on the menu bar, vanishing only after a restart.
The camera seems to be malfunctioning; it appears to activate when I launch Zoom but never disappears.
The green dot can appear anywhere on the menu bar, sometimes in the center and other times on the far right.
How to fix this issue?

2

Click the Control Center icon to access frequently used features like AirDrop, Stage Manager, Screen Mirroring, and Focus. Privacy indicators, represented by dots or arrows, appear to the right of the Control Center.

An orange dot means the microphone is active, a green dot indicates the camera is in use, a purple dot signifies that system audio is being recorded, and an arrow shows that your location is being accessed.

Only one indicator will display at a time; for instance, if both the microphone and camera are active, you’ll see just the green dot.

At the top of the Control Center window, you may find a section listing the apps using your microphone, location, camera, or system audio.

So how about clicking this section to open the Privacy window for more details?

3

Hello, same problem as you. I just used the Photo Booth to fix it, you can:

Click Spotlight Search and type Photo Booth then press the Enter key. Please go fullscreen and then exit it. The green dot will disappear.

4

To fix a constant green dot on Mac’s menu bar, try these solutions:

  1. Restart the Camera: Close any applications that may be using the camera (like Zoom), then reopen them or restart your Mac.

  2. Check Privacy Settings: Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera, and ensure that only necessary apps have permission.

  3. Update Software: Ensure your macOS and any relevant applications (like Zoom) are updated to the latest versions.

  4. Reset SMC/NVRAM: Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) and Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (NVRAM) to resolve hardware-related issues.

  5. Check Activity Monitor: Open Activity Monitor to see if any processes are using the camera unexpectedly and force quit them.

If the issue persists, consider contacting Apple Support for further assistance.

5

There may be a bug related to the control center’s camera or microphone indicator in macOS itself if a green dot is on the top right. Is the camera currently active? Does the icon change position when the camera or microphone is in use?

Also, try updating macOS to the latest version and booting in Safe Mode to see if that resolves the issue.

You can open the Zoom app and navigate to Settings > Video to test the video camera. After that, you can close the settings window, and the green dot should disappear. You might need to explore your installed applications, likely using a process of elimination.

Good luck.