Soon, you'll see which apps use microphone on Windows 10
Microsoft is bringing a new security-focused feature into Windows 10 - the ability to check which apps are using your machine's microphone. The feature, which is being rolled out with the latest Insider build (v18290) for Fast Ring testers, would be a major improvement, especially for those worried about unauthorized eavesdropping. However, it is not available publicly, at least not at the moment.
This is how the feature will work
With the latest feature, Windows 10 users will see a microphone-shaped icon on the system tray of their desktop. In the previous build, this icon used to indicate that the microphone is being used, but now, hovering over it will show which particular app is actively accessing it. And, if there's more than one app using your microphone, you'll see the entire list.
Double-clicking will open privacy settings
After seeing which apps are using the microphone, you'd able to double-click on the same to open privacy setting for microphone access. From there, you will be able to turn off microphone access entirely or for individual apps like for Facebook or Skype. Notably, turning off microphone access for apps won't block Windows from using it.
When this feature will be available
As we mentioned, microphone access feature is only being rolled out with the latest Insider preview of Windows 10 for Fast Ring users. It is basically for testing purposes at the moment, but we might see it on Windows 10 April 2019 update, the next feature upgrade for the OS. Also, note that this won't be the only new feature in the final release.
Other changes on the way
Apart from microphone access, Microsoft is also testing new icons for power off and restart in the start menu, a light theme, and an option to manually sync clock with the time server.
