The Privacy Indicator App is a powerful open‑source Android utility that brings the much‑needed camera and microphone usage alert features—similar to iOS 14 and Android 12—to any device running Android 7.0+. Designed with privacy‑conscious users in mind, this solution puts the control back in your hands by notifying you instantly whenever a third‑party app accesses your device’s camera or microphone, ensuring transparency and boosting trust.
Developed primarily in Kotlin with clean MVVM architecture, the app leverages Android Jetpack components, including Coroutines, ViewModel, Room, Paging3, ViewBinding, Navigation, and SavedStateHandle, along with Hilt‑Dagger dependency injection and Material Design UI components, to deliver a smooth and responsive experience. Users can customize the color, size, opacity, position, and haptic feedback of visual indicators that appear whenever the camera or mic is in use, and they can even view a comprehensive log of indicator triggers over time.
Maintained under an MIT license, the source code is fully open‑source and free to use, modify, or distribute, provided that proper attribution is given. Users should note, however, that while the codebase is provided “as‐is” without warranty of any kind, it remains a legal requirement to retain the MIT license file and attribution in derivative works—per open‑source license terms.
Since its launch, the app has become a community favorite on GitHub (over 300 stars and multiple forks), with active contributions, timely bug fixes, and feature upgrades—such as log viewing, UI enhancements, and crash‑handling revisions—thanks to both community input and the developer’s ongoing commitment. Privacy Indicator App has also received recognition in open‑source events like FOSS Hacks 2020, where it earned top honors for innovation.
With growing concerns about unauthorized camera or microphone access and the rise of privacy‑driven solutions, this app addresses a trending need for tools that alert users in real time. Whether you’re researching “android privacy indicator app”, “camera mic usage alert”, or “open source privacy tools,” this project should be on your radar as a mature and actively maintained option.
As you deploy the app on your Android device, you’ll appreciate how its accessibility‑service‑based mechanism runs in the background or after a reboot without needing unnecessary permissions like internet or hardware access, ensuring full transparency and offline operation. This makes it an ideal privacy enhancer for everyday users, developers, and privacy advocates alike.
- Author: Nitish Gadangi
- Programming Language: Kotlin (plus some Java)
- License: MIT License
- License Limitations / Usage Restrictions:
- Fully open‑source, royalty‑free, and modifiable
- Must retain license and attribution in all copies or derived works
- Provided “as‑is” without warranty; any redistribution must include the original MIT license and copyright notice