People are just realizing why iPhone bars turns red, blue, green and purple – it’s so important to spot it

IF you've had an iPhone for a while, you might have noticed strange colors appearing in your status bar.

That's the bar that runs along the top of your device.

It's normally where you find the time, your WiFi and mobile signal, and the battery readout.

But sometimes, the space around the time turns a different color.

You may notice it switching to a blue, green, red or purple background.

Each one has a different meaning that you need to pay attention to.

"On iPhone X and later, the color shows as a bubble behind the time," Apple explains.

"On iPhone 8 or earlier, the color goes all the way across the status bar."

iPhone status bar color meanings

So what do they all mean?

If the bar turns blue, it means one of two things.

The first is that your iPhone is using Screen Mirroring, so you're sharing content to another device in real-time.

And the second is that an app is actively using your location.

You need to watch out for this to ensure that apps are using your location data properly – and not accessing it when they shouldn't.

If the bar turns green, that may mean that you're on a phone call.

But it can also mean that your iPhone is providing a Personal Hotspot for another device to piggyback on your internet connection.

If the bar turns red, that means your device is doing one of two things.

It's either recording sound (like in the Voice Memos app), or it's recording your screen.

Finally, if the bar turns purple, it means that your iPhone is using SharePlay to share content.

Make sure to keep an eye on these status indicators as they can reveal what your iPhone is getting up to in the background – and whether your apps are working as they should.