We often use a flashlight on our smartphones to take pictures in low light. But, the use of flashlight goes beyond that. Many of us, use it as an actual torch. However, turning on Flashlight is not that easy on many smartphones. First, you need to unlock your phone, pull down the notification tray and then press the flashlight shortcut.  So, let’s see how to quickly turn on Flashlight by voice command, shaking your phone or even pressing the physical button
But, what if you want to launch the flashlight with just one click of a button or even better, by shaking your smartphone? Well, guess what, it’s possible and are 5 ways to use the flashlight on Android smartphone.
Quickly Turn ON Flashlight
#1 The Usual Way
If you are running Android Lollipop or higher, you can quickly turn on flashlight by going to the quick setting. This method is simple and should work for most of you. However, it’s not the quickest method.
For instances, first, you have to unlock the device > swipe down the screen to launch quick settings > then tap on flashlight icon. Overall, it takes three steps. And older smartphones, do not even have this option. So let’s take a look at some better alternative.Â
#2 Â Turn on Flashlight with OK Google
Android has a built-in voice assistant, called Google now. And after a recent update, it has also started supporting Flashlight automation. Simply, swipe up from the home button and say, ‘OK Google turn on flashlight’. And it will turn ON the torch.
If you own a Nexus device, then you can also turn on ‘OK Google’ hot word detection. This will enable you, to use this command (along with many others) even when the screen is OFF. And yes, with tasker, you can even reduce this to a single command.
In a nutshell, this method is quick, easy, and works all the time. You do not need an internet connection. However, sometimes it may feel a little awkward to say a voice command in public. So let’s see what other option do we have.
#3 Turn on Flashlight with a gesture
You can turn ON flashlight (even when the screen is OFF) by simply shaking your device and then to turn it off shake it once again. Sounds more practical, Right?
To do this, install the flashlight LED genius app from Play Store. It’s free and works well. Now, there are some annoying ads within the app, but since you will not have to open the app much, this won’t matter. And it also has android wear support, which is nice.
However, if you already have tasker, then you don’t need this app. Moreover, you can customize everything. Like — activate flashlight with the gesture, but only when the device is the connection to specify wifi or at the specific time.
Start by downloading the Tesla Led Plugin from Google Play,  Then go to Profile > Event > Sensor > Shake > set your preference. Now create a New task > click on the + icon > Third party > TeslaLed > make desired changes.
#4 Turn on flashlight from Lock Screen
From Android 5.0 onwards, Android lost its ability to put widgets on the lock screen. Now there are few workarounds, but they are so complex that it’s hardly worth the time.
Instead, what you can do is, launch the camera app from the lock screen (it comes default in most Android) and then go to video mode and turn on Flashlight. This work as well, but it also keeps the camera app open. No need to record a video, though.
I agree, this not the quickest method, but it’s useful when others want to use your phone as a flashlight and you don’t want them to access your device content.
#5 Turn on Flashlight from the Power/ Volume Button
This is the quickest and more practical way to turn on the flashlight. When you press a button, it feels like you are actually turning ON a torchlight.
There are two apps that can do that. Both having their own pros and cons.
5.1 QuickLight is a free app, that lets you turn on flashlight with a power button. If you press the power button twice, it will turn ON flashlight and again pressing the power button twice will turn it OFF. Simple and practical.
However, you can keep the flashlight ON, only for 1 minute. To get more time, you will have to buy the premium version. But that’s not really a dealbreaker, though because you can press the power button again, once the lights are OFF.
Now, the only problem I faced was, accidentally turning ON flashlight, when I only press the power button to unlock my phone. So yeah, you will have to spend some time, before you get used to it.
5.3 QuickClick sound similar to the previous one, but trust me it takes a very different approach. Instead of using power buttons to toggle flashlight you can use the different combination of your volume button.
Like to turn on the flashlight, you can set a combination like a vol up, up, down and repeat the same sequence to turn it off. Also, you can specify the time limit, you want to keep the flashlight ON.
Now, turning ON flashlight is just one feature. You can also make a phone call, taking pictures, etc by directly pressing the volume button etc. But my favorite features is tasker integration, thought this don’t work very well.
So, these were some of the quickest ways to turn ON the flashlight app on your Android smartphone.
Which one are you going to use? Let’s know in the comments.
