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Customize Your Android Phone's Colored LED Notification Light

by Fox Van Allen on July 14, 2016

If you own an Android smartphone or tablet, you’re likely familiar with your device’s LED notification light. It’s a way for Android to communicate information to you even when your screen is off. A blinking blue light may mean you have a Facebook notification waiting, while a blinking red light may mean your battery is low.

Helpful though these Android notifications can be, their usefulness is hampered if two different apps are using the same color or if you simply don’t know what each blink means. Thankfully, the color and meaning of these notifications are fully customizable. Here are some of Techlicious’s favorite apps that let you choose how and why your LED blinks.

Light Manager appLight Manager

The free Light Manager app lets you configure the LED color and flash frequency for different types of notifications and apps, along with vibrations and sounds. You can set notifications by contact, so you can have your phone flash one color if you get a text from the kids, and another color if you get a text from work. There’s even a Sleeping Time mode, where you can disable flashing during the hours you’re normally asleep.

Light Manager is available as a free download from Google Play.

Light Flow

Few apps give you more control over your LED pulse notification light than Light Flow. Available in both free and premium versions, the app allows you set your choice of hundreds of different colors for each notification type and app. You control the flash rate, the duration of the notification, and whether notifications colors cycle (or if just the highest priority one is displayed).

The free version of the app takes about 20 seconds for flashes to change color; the paid version waits just 2.5 seconds. The paid version also lets you customize notification sounds and vibration patterns, giving you even more control. It has a sleep mode too, so those flashes don’t become a nuisance at 4AM.

Light Flow Lite (free) and the premium Light Flow ($2.49) are both available for download via Google Play.

LED Blinker Notifications

Not all Android phones have notification lights. If yours doesn’t, check out the paid LED Blinker Notifications app. It gives you the same control over notification colors and blink timing as the other apps, putting the colored dot directly on your screen. You can customize notification vibrations and sounds through the app, too. Notifications automatically turn off when you'd like so you won't be distracted from getting a good night's sleep.

You can download LED Blinker Notifications ($2.35) via Google Play.

Updated on 7/14/2016


Topics

Tips & How-Tos, Phones and Mobile, Mobile Apps, Android Apps


Discussion loading

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From kosi on January 07, 2016 :: 5:38 am


I want one

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From Neo Anderson on December 09, 2016 :: 3:59 pm


Can anybody tell me, does my LED indicator light can suffer damage if it changes from color to color really fast for a period of 5 mins. like intermitently?

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From sadaecho on December 16, 2016 :: 4:02 pm


NO of course not .. leds are supposed to work at high frequency and they are not regular light bulbs

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From HangG on November 18, 2017 :: 7:23 am


what if you want the light to never show?  to turn it off and to disable it completely forever?
my Android 6.0 doesn’t have any options in the settings to control the light

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From Josh Kirschner on November 20, 2017 :: 2:20 pm


The LED can be turned off, but the settings will vary by phone manufacturer. On stock Android, you should should see it under “Notifications,” and you can choose to “Turn Blink light on or off.” On Smasung Galaxy devices, the setting is under “Display” - you’ll see a toggle for “LED indicator”.

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From dave on August 16, 2019 :: 5:06 pm


Is there a way to have the notification light stay on instead of flashing

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From Joni on September 20, 2019 :: 12:01 am


I have been looking for a phone that has the ability to change colors for like 6 years! I seen it on an LG my friend had. Every time I get a phone it only has a red LED. Can anyone tell me what I should look for in the features to make sure I get a phone that can do this? My friend could have a different color for everyone in her contacts! She has no clue what kind of phone it even was. It was just given to her.

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From Josh Kirschner on September 20, 2019 :: 9:33 am


That type of feature would be handled by third-party apps or other software installed by the phone manufacturer/carrier. The new version of Light Manager, Light Manager 2, has the ability to provide missed call notifications by contact. I haven’t tested it, so can’t say how well it works. Also, features may be limited based on your device or Android version (Android has increasingly limited app access to device features for security reasons).

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From John Tucky on January 05, 2020 :: 6:24 pm


In my case, it was caused by my receiving a message/notification from my LetGo app.

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From Dustie D on June 01, 2020 :: 9:43 am


How do I know if my LG K40 has blinking lights? I think it would be really to do that. Thanks Dustie.

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From Suzanne Kantra on June 01, 2020 :: 1:39 pm


According to the owner’s manual, the LG K40 does have an LED notification light. You’ll find the capability of turning this on under Settings> General> Accessibility> Hearing. Or, search for “Blink LED.”

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From judy on April 06, 2022 :: 12:41 pm


YEARS AGO , PROBABLY IN 90S I HAD A PHONE THAT SOMEONE BOUGHT ME A ROIBBON TYPE THING THAT WOULD FLASH IN COLORS INSTEAD OF RING SO IN CHURCH IT DIDN’T RING OR ANYWHERE ELSE IT WOULD JUST FLASH COLORS ON THIS RIBBON.  I NEED ONE NOW ANYONE HAVE IDEA.

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