alt Hacker NewsCameras in phones are pretty much locked up today, assuming you have an updated version of the OS from a respectable manufacturer. Apps will not be able to access the camera feed (or the microphone) without explicit consent and a visual warning.
The manufacturer might access it, Apple states they don't, Google and Samsung I'm not sure. A bad actor with 0days might too.
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You know what's stronger than a manufacturer's promise? 2cm of double-ply electrical tape.
For reference, Samsung screenshots everything shown on their televisions at regular intervals and sends these to their South Korean data centres for advertisers to use. It's called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), which any sane country should be outright banning under international espionage laws.
Funny enough it's the OS and manufacturer I don't trust with my phone, with my PC I trust them a lot more as they're much more open and I can choose the OS.