Our smartphone offers tons of hidden and pretty cool options. Among other things, there is the possibility to set your flashlight in the iPhone so that it serves as a notification LED. How the whole thing works and whether it really makes sense, I will explain to you in this guide.
Happens to me more often: I listen to the soothing sounds of bands like “Bloodywood” and forget everything around me. Meanwhile, my contacts tap their fingers sorely to reach you – but no chance. To the “man, one really never reaches you!” out of the way, Apple’s iOS offer a cool trick. You can use your flashlight as a notification LED.
iPhone: How to use the flashlight as a notification LED
Basically, you’re using a feature designed for people with hearing impairments. All you have to do is adjust one option:
- First you open the “Settings” of your iPhone
- Navigate to the sub-item “Accessibility”.
- Here you will find “Audio / Visual”.
- The last thing you have to do is activate “LED flash for hints”. Done – your flashlight now serves as a notification LED.
With these steps you can easily repurpose your flashlight! / © NextPit
From now on, your lamp will flash for calls, notifications, emergency notifications and wake-up calls. If this bothers you, you can follow the steps above to disable the feature again. Because unfortunately there is a point of criticism with this function. The flashlight flashes at the same rhythm for all notification types. So if you don’t want to see the strobe light after a few days, don’t worry. You can easily switch it off again.
However, it would be really useful if the brightness could be adjusted in different levels. Over coffee this morning, Ben told me that he was woken up quite rudely the other day because the iPhone 13 mini he’s testing decided at 6 a.m. to turn his bedroom into a disco without further ado. More customization options would be really desirable here.
In addition, it may well be that you are suspected of being a stalker with the function activated. In buses and trains, it can be very inconvenient if your cell phone suddenly flashes. So you should be a little careful here.
Why should you set up the flashlight as a notification LED?
To be honest, there are several reasons for this. On the one hand, with the brightly shining light, you will not miss a single notification. Really not a single one as long as the iPhone is in sight. On the other hand, there are situations in which the smartphone has to be quiet. Be it during the online meeting or when you are sitting at the family dinner. However, if you are waiting for an important message and must not miss it under any circumstances, then such a notification light would not be wrong, would it?
What do you think of this function? Would you set your flashlight so you never miss a notification again? Let me know in the comments!