How do you turn on flashlight on iphone 12

The camera LED flash on the iPhone doubles as a flashlight and may come in handy in your everyday life. You can use the flashlight or torch on your iPhone to illuminate a dark area or a room with low lighting. Whatever the use case may be, the flashlight on iPhone is bright enough to help you in most situations. Perhaps, if you have just got a new iPhone then do check this guide to use the flashlight on iPhone 12.

• How to turn off Flashlight on iPhone 12
  • Using the Control Center
  • From Lock Screen
  • Using Siri
  • Add Flashlight to Home Screen on iPhone
  • How to add Flashlight widget to iPhone on iOS 14
  • Using Back Tap in iOS 14 (Double or Triple Tap)

There are different ways to turn the flashlight on or off on the iPhone 12, 12 Mini, or 12 Pro. Besides iPhone 12 series, you can use the below methods on iPhones with Face ID support including iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone X, or an iPad Pro. Let’s get started.

Using the Control Center

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your iPhone to open the Control Center.
2. Tap the Flashlight button to turn on the flashlight. The torch icon turns blue when the flashlight is enabled.
   Control Center on iPhone
3. Tap the Flashlight icon again to turn off the flashlight.

TIP: You can also adjust the brightness of the flashlight if needed. To do so, press and hold the Flashlight button in Control Center and drag the brightness slider up or down.

From Lock Screen

A relatively easier way is to access the flashlight from the lock screen itself. This way you can directly turn on the flashlight on iPhone 12 without the need to unlock the device either using Face ID or Passcode.

To turn on the flashlight from the Lock Screen on iPhone 12, follow the steps below.

1. Use ‘Raise to Wake’ or ‘Tap to Wake’ features to wake up your iPhone screen. Or press the Side button (on the right side) to access the Lock Screen.
2. Press and hold the Flashlight button in the bottom-left corner of the screen. You will feel a slight vibration and the round button will turn white, indicating the flashlight is on.

To turn off the flashlight, simply tap and hold the flashlight button in the same manner.

TIP: If you have allowed access to Control Center on the iPhone Lock Screen, then you can open the Control Center to change the flashlight brightness.

Unfortunately, even in iOS 14, there is no option to remove the flashlight from lock screen. I personally wish for this setting as at times the flashlight turns on by itself when the iPhone is in the pocket or by mistake.

Using Siri

Rather than navigating across your iPhone, you can simply ask Siri to toggle the flashlight on or off.

To get this working, first launch Siri either by saying “Hey Siri” or press the Side or Home button on your iPhone. Then use one of the below voice commands to get the task done with ease.

• Switch on my flashlight.
• Turn the flashlight off.
• Turn on the torch.
• Switch off my torch.

ALSO READ: How to turn off double tap on back in iOS 14 on iPhone

Add Flashlight to Home Screen on iPhone

iOS has a built-in Flashlight app, however, this is no way to control the flashlight directly from the home screen. Thankfully, you can put the flashlight on your iPhone Home Screen using the Shortcuts app in iOS 14 and without using a third-party app.

Here’s how you can add a Flashlight shortcut on iPhone running iOS 14.

1. Go to Shortcuts and tap the “My Shortcuts” tab.
2. Tap the + button at the top-right corner.
3. Tap “Add Action”.
4. Type “Torch” in the search bar at the top and select “Set Torch”.
5. Tap the word “Turn” and select “Toggle” from the Operation menu.
6. Optional: Tap the “Show More” drop-down and set the default brightness intensity for the flashlight. This is to ensure you get the exact same brightness every time you use the flashlight via Shortcut. You can change the brightness level afterward too).
7. Tap the 3-dot button at the top-right. Give your shortcut a name such as “Flashlight”.
8. Tap “Add to Home Screen”, select a home screen name and icon for the flashlight shortcut.

9. Tap “Add” at the upper-right corner and hit Done.
10. That’s it. A flashlight icon will now appear on your iPhone home screen.
    LED Flashlight icon on iPhone home screen

To shut on or off the flashlight, just tap the Flashlight shortcut icon from the Home Screen.

How to add Flashlight widget to iPhone on iOS 14

If you like using widgets in iOS 14, then you may add a torch widget on iPhone. The main advantage of using a widget over the home screen icon is that the widget won’t show a banner notification at the top whenever you run the shortcut.

1. Important – It is necessary to create a Flashlight shortcut first.
2. Long-press an empty area on the home screen to enter into jiggle mode.
3. Tap the + button at the top-left corner.
4. Search for “Shortcuts” in the “Search Widgets” bar and select Shortcuts.
5. Tap the “Add Widget” button.

Voila! Now tap the Flashlight widget to quickly toggle the LED flash on or off without opening the Control Center.

TIP: You can drag-and-drop the widget and add it to an existing or a Smart Stack widget.

Using Back Tap in iOS 14 (Double or Triple Tap)

The “Back Tap” functionality (an accessibility feature) is an interesting and useful addition seen in iOS 14. With the Back Tap shortcut, you can take a screenshot, lock the screen, open the Control Center, bring up Siri, open a Shortcut, and more.

Let’s see how you can turn on the flashlight by tapping the back of your iPhone.

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch.
2. Scroll down to the bottom and select “Back Tap”.
3. Tap on ‘Double Tap’ and select Torch under the System category. You can also assign the Shortcut to the triple-tap gesture.

4. Double-tap (or triple-tap) firmly on the back of the iPhone to turn on or off the flashlight.

NOTE: The Back Tap feature only works when the device is in an unlocked state.

Do let us know your favorite method to use the flashlight in the comments section.

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