The flashlight feature is pretty standard across the board, but accessing them might be different from phone to phone, so hopefully, this guide will show you a more universal way to turn on your flashlight for your Android smartphone.
Android Quick Toggle
When Google launched Android 5.0 Lollipop, they introduced the flashlight to Android’s quick settings/toggle. This means that accessing the flashlight feature is a pretty simple and straightforward process.
- Swipe down from the top of the screen to pull down the notification bar
- Look for the flashlight toggle
- Tap on it to turn it on, tap on it again to turn it off
Google Assistant
With Google Assistant being able to tell you the weather, set reminders, and send messages, it makes sense that it would also be able to turn on the flashlight on your phone. In some instances, this might be useful if you can’t see where your phone is and using Google Assistant’s wake word allows you to use your voice to command it.
- Launch Google Assistant by holding down on the home button or by saying “OK Google”
- Once Google Assistant is ready and awaiting your command, say “Turn on the flashlight”
- When you’re done, you can tell Google Assistant to “Turn off the flashlight”
Power Button Flashlight
One of useful features of the Power Button Flashlight app is that it does not require root access. It also helps to unify the toggle across multiple brands of Android handsets, where you won’t need to use a phone of a particular brand in order to use the feature. Once installed, all you need to do is press on the power button of your smartphone three times to turn the flashlight on.
- Download and install the Power Button Flashlight app
- Press on your phone’s power button three times to turn the flashlight on
- Repeat the process above to turn it off
Torchie
For those who’d rather not wear out their power button (we know this can be quite annoying) too fast, Torchie is another app worth considering. This is because the app uses your phone’s volume rockers to enable the flashlight instead of the power button.
- Download and install the Torchie app
- The app will request for permission to use Accessibility services, grant it.
- Once installed, all you need to do is press the volume rocker keys at the same time to turn the flashlight on or off
If you’re a bit uncomfortable granting it accessibility permissions, Torchie’s developer claims that accessibility permissions are required for the app to intercept hardware button presses, and that it does not do anything else. The app is also open-source so you can take a look at its code if you want to dig a little deeper.
Shake Flashlight
If you’d rather not wear out your hardware buttons at all, then this third option might be worth your consideration. Dubbed Shake Flashlight, this is as its name suggests where all you need to do is shake your smartphone to turn the flashlight on or off.
- Download and install the Shake Flashlight app
- Once installed, all you need to do is shake your smartphone and it will turn the flashlight on
- Repeat the process again if you’d like to turn it off
- You can also adjust the sensitivity of the shake to prevent it from turning on at the slightest movement
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