Anyone who is old enough to remember BlackBerry in its heyday has probably owned at least one BlackBerry smartphone in his or her lifetime. There was plenty to love about BlackBerry phones back then, but there was one feature in particular that people hated to love: the flashing LED notification light that would start blinking every 20 seconds to let you know a new email had arrived and you had work to do.
A number of popular Android phones still have the feature baked in, but iPhone users don’t have the option of a blinking notification light… or do they?
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The Accessibility section in Apple’s Settings app contains features designed to make people’s lives easier. The intention with functions in this section is often to the address the needs of users with certain disabilities, but there are many features that are useful to a wider range of iPhone owners. A perfect example of this is the option to use your iPhone’s camera flash as a visual alert for new notifications.
How many times have you left your phone on the other side of the room and missed the subtle vibrations that accompanied an incoming call or text? Anyone with an Apple Watch doesn’t have to worry about this anymore, of course, but most users need to carry their phone on their person in order to be notified of new alerts while in silent mode.
Try this:
- Open the Settings app
- Tap on General
- Tap on Accessibility
- Scroll down to the Hearing section and toggle LED Flash for Alerts to on
That’s it. Now, each time a new notification hits your iPhone, your camera LED will flash to alert you.
