If you’d like to shed some light on things, using your iPhone’s built-in flashlight is a great place to start. Here’s how to locate and turn on your flashlight in just a few taps.
How to Turn On the Flashlight in Control Center
Every Apple iPhone model made in recent years includes a flashlight feature which uses the LED camera flash on the back side of the phone to illuminate the space around you. The easiest way to control this flashlight on all models of iPhone is by using Control Center, which is a special shortcut screen that lets you quickly toggle or adjust settings. How you access Control Center varies by iPhone model, however.
To open Control Center on an iPhone SE (or an iPhone 8 and below), swipe upward from the bottom edge of the screen with one finger. To open Control Center on iPhones with Face ID (iPhone X and later), swipe downward with one finger from the upper-right corner of the screen.
When Control Center appears, locate the flashlight icon near the bottom of the screen. Tap it once to turn on the flashlight.
Tip: If you don’t see the flashlight icon in Control Center, you can navigate to Settings > Control Center, then tap “Flashlight” in the list to add it.
To turn off the flashlight, tap the same icon in Control Center again. Additionally, you can control the brightness of the flashlight by tapping and holding the flashlight icon until a slider appears.
RELATED: How to Control the Brightness of Your iPhone's Flashlight
How to Turn On Flashlight on the iPhone Lock Screen
For iPhones with Face ID—meaning iPhone X, XR, XS, 11, 12, 13, and up—you can use a special icon on your lock screen to toggle your flashlight. To do so, press and hold the flashlight icon until the light turns on.
To turn it off, long-press the flashlight icon on the lock screen again. When the light turns on or off, you’ll feel haptic feedback momentarily to let you know.
There are also more creative ways to turn on your flashlight, such as by using the Back Tap feature to switch it on and off with a few taps. No matter how you control the flashlight, it’s good to know you can find your way around in the darkness quickly whenever you need it. Good luck, and stay safe out there!
Readers like you help support MUO. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Read More.Though you might not use the flashlight on your phone every day, it's indispensable when you need it. But how do you turn on the flashlight on your smartphone?
We're here to help. We'll show you how to turn on and off your flashlight using several methods. Android users have more ways to do this, but we'll cover iPhone flashlight instructions too.
1. Turn on Flashlight Using Quick Settings on Android
Android didn't have a universal flashlight toggle until Android 5.0 Lollipop launched in 2014. Before then, some phone manufacturers included a built-in way to open the flashlight, while others didn't. Thankfully, all modern Android phones include flashlight functionality out of the box.
To turn on the flashlight, simply pull down from the top of the screen twice (or pull once using two fingers) to open the Quick Settings menu. You should see a Flashlight entry. Tap that to instantly turn on the LED flash.
Depending on what icons appear first, you may also be able to access the Flashlight icon from your notification shade (after pulling down once).
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When you're done, just tap it again to turn the flashlight off. You can lock your screen or open other apps, and the flashlight will stay on.
If you don't see the Flashlight button, you may need to swipe left or right to access more icons. This menu will differ based on your hardware manufacturer. The above shots show stock Android, but if you have a Samsung, LG, or other device, yours will be different.
2. "OK Google, Turn On the Flashlight"
The Quick Settings toggle is convenient, but what if you can't always use it? You might have other shortcuts in Quick Settings that make it tough to access. Or you might need to turn on the flashlight while your hands are occupied or dirty.
For those times, you can rely on Google Assistant. One of the most useful Google Assistant commands is "OK Google, turn on my flashlight."
As expected, the Assistant will toggle your flashlight on as soon as you say this. To turn it off, you can tap the toggle that appears in the chat window or say "OK Google, turn off the flashlight."
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What makes this shortcut handy is how many ways you have to access Google Assistant, depending on your phone. The Google widget has a Google Assistant button for easy access. If your device still uses a Home button, you can press and hold it to open the Assistant. With Android 10's new gestures, swipe towards the middle from either of the bottom corners instead.
Those with a Pixel 2 or newer can squeeze the sides of the phone to summon Google Assistant. For a totally hands-free approach, you can also set up Google Assistant to respond anytime you say "OK Google," even when the screen is off.
For more on this, check out our introduction to using Google Assistant.
3. Use a Flashlight App, If You Must
If you don't like either of the above methods for some reason, or have an old Android phone where neither one is an option, you can resort to using a flashlight app. There are hundreds of them on the Google Play Store, but you must take care when selecting one.
Turning on the flashlight is a simple task. However, the majority of flashlight apps require a ton of unnecessary permissions, such as your location, contacts, and similar. There's no good reason to grant these potentially dangerous permissions to apps that will likely abuse them.
One of the most popular Android flashlight apps, Brightest Flashlight Free, is infamous for harvesting its users' contacts and location data. Many of these apps also display obnoxious full-screen video ads.
Some offer additional features like turning the screen brightness all the way up and displaying colors, but these are largely unnecessary and not worth the privacy risk.
All of this considered, we recommend avoiding flashlight apps unless you absolutely need one. If you do, try Icon Torch. This app lets you open the flashlight with a simple toggle, and has no ads or in-app purchases. It requires only the absolute minimum permissions, so it's a safe bet.
4. Try Gestures to Enable the Flashlight
Certain Android phones, including some Motorola devices, have built-in gestures that let you turn on the flashlight at any time. These include shaking and doing a "double chop" motion. On a Pixel device, you can double-tap the Power button to open the camera at any time.
Feel free to give these a try and see if they work with your device. Many apps on Google Play offer to add this shortcut functionality to other phones. However, a lot of these apps are full of ads, are unreliable, or haven't seen updates in years.
We recommend you avoid them and stick to the built-in flashlight toggles.
5. How to Turn On Your iPhone's Flashlight
As you'd expect, iOS offers easy access to the iPhone's flashlight.
The quickest way is to use the Control Center shortcut. On an iPhone X or later, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open it. Those on an iPhone 8 or earlier should swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.
Once you open Control Center (you can even do this when your phone is locked), just tap the Flashlight icon to enable it. Tap the same icon again to turn off the flashlight.
On iOS 11 or later, you can even adjust the flashlight's brightness. To do so, Haptic Touch (press deeply) on the Flashlight icon. You'll see a slider you can adjust to several levels.
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If you don't see the icon, you may have hidden it when customizing Control Center. Head to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls to add it back.
If you prefer, you can also ask Siri to open the flashlight. Just summon Siri by saying "Hey Siri," or hold the Home button (iPhone 8 and earlier) or Side button (iPhone X and later) to call her up. Then say "Turn on the flashlight."
Don't bother with flashlight apps for your iPhone. The built-in options are sufficient.
All Your Phone Flashlight Options, Covered
Now you know how to turn the flashlight on your Android phone or iPhone on and off. It's a simple task, but knowing where these shortcuts are means you won't get stuck in the dark for long.
While you likely won't damage your phone by using the flashlight for long periods of time, we recommend not leaving it on any longer than needed. The bright light will drain your battery, and leaving it on continuously may heat your phone up and cause further battery drain.
By the way, a flashlight isn't the only tool your phone can replace. Check out the best digital toolbox apps for Android and tool apps for iPhone to discover many more.