One of the things that I like about Android smartphones is the LED notification light. iPhones don’t support it for some reason, but they can be very useful. In fact, some major smartphone manufacturers like Samsung (in their Galaxy S10 series) and OnePlus 6t, also lacks this feature. The LED light is a subtle way to know you have received a notification, without making a single sound. Useful for when you are in a meeting or someplace where it is required to keep the phone on silent mode.
What’s more? Using the right LED light notification apps, you can customize it to your liking. You can assign different colors to different apps. That way, you will know whether you have received a missed call, a text message, WhatsApp, or something else. You don’t even have to touch your phone or wake it up. Just glance at the light and you know whether you should go for it or not.
Too bad, Android smartphones don’t come with a built-in app to work with LED light. But as always, there is an app for that. Here are the best-LED Notifications apps for Android and even if your phone doesn’t have a LED light, we still have a couple of workarounds for that. Let’s being.
Also Read:Â How to Customize Notification for Every Contact on WhatsApp
1. Light Manager 2
Light Manager 2 is another LED light notifications controller but with limited features. On the plus side, the app is free to download and use but ad-supported. However, since most of the time the app is running in the background, ads won’t bother you too much. You can choose contacts, groups in WhatsApp, and various apps to customize the LED notifications. There is support for network, battery, and WiFi notifications too.
Some advanced features like the ability to choose or control vibrations, blink rate, and silent mode are missing. Well, for the last part, you can simply keep your smartphone upside down to avoid the LED flashing in your eyes in the dead of night. Simple.
Ads can be removed with an in-app purchase.
Pros:
- Set app, contact wise
- Google Now
- Free
Cons:
- No vibration
- No smartwatch
- No blink rate support
Get Light Manager 2
2. Light Flow Pro
One of the best-LED light notification apps for the Android platform, Light Flow Pro comes with endless ways to customize your user experience. You can not only choose sound but also set them to repeat. Similarly, you can set custom colors for individual apps, and control how they repeat and when. There are a number of vibration patterns to choose from.
There is a sleep timer for when you want to take a nap. What happens when you have multiple notifications pending in queue? That’s where Light Flow Pro shines. All notifications will cycle periodically, so you will see different LED colors after x seconds. I find that feature a life saver. Never miss another important notification again. The app will cost you $2.49 but is on sale at the time of writing this post.
Pros:
- Smartwatch support
- Google Now support
- Control vibration
- Control LED light
- Control blink rate
- Set app, contact wise
- Silent mode
- Rotate pending notifications
Cons:
- None
Get Light Flow Pro
3. Front Flash
What about smartphones that don’t support or come with an LED notification light? There are plenty of low-end smartphones that do away with this small feature to reduce cost. Instead of using the LED light, you can use the camera flash instead. Front Flash is an app that will use your camera flash or LED light every time you receive a notification. You can customize it to your liking.
Note that the camera flash can’t change colors which means there is only one color, white, to work with. However, by using different blink rates, delays, and frequency to customize it, you can get decent results. While it is not as useful and versatile as LED notifications, you can use it for a limited number of apps, the most important ones, to get by.
Pros:
- Supports phones without LED
- Uses camera flash
- Customize delay
- Control blink rates
- Can be suspended
- Free
Cons:
- Ideal for a few apps
Get Front Flash
4. LED Flashlight Alerts
LED Flashlight Alerts takes a similar approach where you can customize the incoming notifications to work with LED light. But there is another feature. You can also use the camera LED flashlight to get notified about incoming calls and messages. That means there are two ways to get notified.
While the name suggests that it will only work with calls and SMS, it works for all other third-party apps too. The app is free to download and use but ads-supported. The ads are annoying a bit and instead of showing banner ads, the developer is showing fullscreen pop-ups. Still, it is a good app and once set up, you won’t have to open the app again.
Pros:
- Customize both LED and camera flash
- Assign apps, contacts
- Free
- Blink rate
- Different sounds
Cons:
- Can’t control vibration
- Can’t control frequency or delay
5. Always on Edge (Samsung Galaxy S10 Series)
This app was specifically developed for Samsung S10 series users. The LED light was removed to make room for the Infinity-O display. This app promises to make life simpler by notifying you of new notifications using two ways. One is the Edge Lighting where a thin line around the corners of the phone will light up.
The second way is the camera edge. Similar to the phone screen edge, a round icon will appear around the front camera cut-out, the hole punch, to alert you of new notifications. That will create a circular LED light with the camera hole in the middle. A cool way to know of notifications without disturbing everyone around you. In-app pricing begins at $0.99. If you’re just interested in the Edge Lighting effect, here are few apps you can try.
Get Always on Edge
6. Notify Buddy
Originally designed to work on OnePlus phones, Notify Buddy also works well on other Android phones. It’s extremely easy to set up and unlike other apps where you have to manually go to settings and figure out permissions yourself, this one shows you right on the first screen when you run the app.
There is also a burn-in screen protection setting that shifts the light position from time to time
The app lets you choose both third-party and system apps for the notification light. The UI comes in handy as it groups third-party apps, system apps, and active notification apps separately. Lastly, you can change the LED animation time, blink interval, LED shape and size, position, miss call notification, etc in settings.
The app comes with banner ads at the bottom (not intrusive). You can also upgrade to the premium version by watching an ad (temporary) or for $1.5. This removes ads and gives you the option to show app icons as LED.
Get Notify Buddy
LED Light Notifications Apps
There are a limited number of apps that offer this very useful feature and even within this small selection, I would recommend just two. If your smartphone comes with a front LED light, go for Light Flow Pro. It is the most feature-rich app and will give you complete control over every aspect of the LED light notification.
If your phone doesn’t have a front LED light, you can use the back camera flashlight instead. For that, I would recommend you to use Front Flash because again, it supports more ways to customize the notifications than the other app we mentioned after it.
