Third-party microphone access (Gboard)

[miknos]

I've been using the latest version of Gboard (Google keyboard) and it's great.

I use it without full access for obvious reasons and it works just fine. Same with Swype btw.

Something that Gboard stands out is the dictation option. Everything is transmitted to google servers when you're dictating.

My question is:
Gboard needs microphone access for dictation to work. How do we know Google is not listening when not using Dictation?

I ask that because Facebook app was caught listening in the background. It was a privacy problem and drained your battery.

I'm going to disable dictation for now but I would love to hear from somebody knowledgeable on the subject (of iOS 10 third-party keyboard limitations).

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Great question! Same curiosity here, as I'm using dictation in many apps these days more-and-more too!

Cheers

 

[gaanee]

One indirect method is by checking Background Activity and which apps show up in the Battery Usage. It would be nice to know but most likely you need to look-up that in Google GBoard's code itself.

 

[m4v3r1ck]

Thanks, does Apple handle very strick coding requirements and rules for the way an app has access to the mic and/or camera?

Cheers

 

[cswifx]

If the microphone is active in the background (e.g. App is recording but the app is in the background), a red banner will show on top of your status bar indicating microphone use. This is the same for location and casting.