I wish there was a hardwired led indicator, one for mic and one for camera.
When not in use neither the mic nor the camera would get power and the leds tied to the same power connection. If they're on, you know they're on.
Yeah for "ok google" or whatever service it would be on all the time, but you'd know.
A physical switch to cut power would be nice too.
I know there are likely some software complications such as checking 'hey does the camera work / is it there' but maybe that's more of a symptom of a problem.
On Android you have the pop-up phones of course! Sadly they are super heavy... I was checking the Poco F2 last weekend and it's > 200 grams which is really a lot. Great for privacy though (and I really don't care about the front cam much anyway).
A microphone is a passive component, it doesn't need power. If you plug it into your headphones jack, it turns into a speaker. The indicator you want would be controlled by firmware or operating system, or by a physical switch, not by a common path to the microphone.
When not in use neither the mic nor the camera would get power and the leds tied to the same power connection. If they're on, you know they're on.
Yeah for "ok google" or whatever service it would be on all the time, but you'd know.
A physical switch to cut power would be nice too.
I know there are likely some software complications such as checking 'hey does the camera work / is it there' but maybe that's more of a symptom of a problem.