No-app-required Flashlight

[Mr. Lucky]

Did you know that the S4 is capable of placing a flashlight widget or app shortcut on your homescreen without having to access an app to activate it each time? And I'm not referring to the built-in 2x1 "Assitive light" widget either. This is a 1x1 widget or normal app shortcut that once configured, can be deleted and will use the volume up & volume down to turn on/off. Read on.

For the widget (there's no advantage to doing it this way

 

[Petrah]

Or, you can install Power Toggles and have it sitting on your dropdown notification panel (along with some other ones that the default one does not add).

Nice and clean, and not cluttering up the home screens.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Yes, but Power Toggles (or Widgetsoid) only avoids having the screen clutter. You still have to unlock your screen and swipe down the notication bar to activate the light. The solution I describer lets you activate it by simply long pressing your vol-up button. You don't have to access the screen at all… the only requirement is that the phone be powered on.

 

[Petrah]

That works from the lockscreen?

 

[Mr. Lucky]

No. You don't have to mess with the screen at all, and once you've gone thru the 1-time setup I described, you simply long-press the volume-up button on the left side of the phone to turn on the light. To turn it off, just tap the volume-down (or let it time-out to whatever you set it to when configuring). Once you go thru the 1-time setup, you don't need to wake up the phone at all… just press the button like a real flashlight.

 

[Petrah]

That wouldn't be good in a purse or backpack. Don't think Id stick it in my pocket either. If that button gets pushed on, there goes the battery.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

But you have to push and hold to turn it on, and you can always set a short timeout. I'm not twisting arms trying to persuade anyone… just putting the info out there FWIW. Works for me.

It's never come on in my backpack BTW, and I ride a motorcycle to work most days with one.

 

[Petrah]

Aye.. and that's ok.

Just so long as everyone has all of the facts, so that they can make their own informed decision.

 

[GrouchoM]

Is there a way to delete the torch shortcut? I don't like it and I'd like to get rid of it (not just set it to not toggle but completely remove it).

 

[beowulf7]

Or, you can install Power Toggles and have it sitting on your dropdown notification panel (along with some other ones that the default one does not add).

Nice and clean, and not cluttering up the home screens.

Thanks for the Power Toggles recommendation. I just installed it and will figure out how to modify the swipe-down list of toggles. I was disappointed that Wi-Fi wasn't included by default (at least not in the VZW MDK version). I guess this will allow me to include it?

 

[speedlever]

That's a great find Mr. Lucky! Works great on my non-rooted but Nova Primed GS4!

Thanks.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Is there a way to delete the torch shortcut? I don't like it and I'd like to get rid of it (not just set it to not toggle but completely remove it).

Sure, just long-press and drag the icon to Remove at the top of the screen. It's no different than any other app shortcut or widget.

 

[lotus49]

When I saw tbis I thought it would be very useful for exactly the reasons Mr. Lucky sets out. Sadly it didn't work.

I set the shortcut up and the turn torchlight on using long press is ticked but when I long press volume up, nothing happens.

Any ideas?

 

[GrouchoM]

For me, it worked 1 to 2 times and then never worked again until I re-edited the shortcut. This cycle happened several times. So, I deleted it.

 

[lotus49]

That's strange as the shortcut is just a way of accessing the system setting.

I tried deleting it and trying again but no joy.

This would be a really useful feature as I use the torch a lot and it would save me time just being able to press the volume key. What a shame.

 

[beowulf7]

I added the Torch light shortcut and enabled it and set the 15-sec. timeout. But I can't activate the flashlight. I'm pressing the volume up key while the screen is off and held it for 7 sec. Do I need to hold it longer?

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Yes, it's a system shortcut, but one that's not accessible any other way. It took me awhile to figure out why it wasn't working for some, but I think I found the problem. It looks like the "turn phone over to mute/pause" function is mutually exclusive with the torch function working reliably. When I enabled it, long-pressing the vol-up only turned on the flashlight about 50% of the time. When I disabled it, it worked 100% of the time.

For those that are interested and have this problem, try following the instructions here to set the mute/pause function OFF. Once you reboot your phone, it should work fine (mine did anyway). I originally thought the mute function silenced your phone if it was face down. I figured it would be easier than unlocking the phone, swiping the notification bar, and then setting it on silent or vibrate every time I went into a meeting. But it doesn't work that way; it only silences (or pauses the music player) if you place the phone face-down while the sound is playing. That renders the feature useless to me, since it doesn't help when I go into meetings, and when I'm at the gym excercising I often place the phone face down to hear the music clearly from the rear speaker

 

[speedlever]

I also found that it won't work if you shut off the display (press the power button) with the dialer up. But as long as the dialer is not open, my shortcut works 100%.

(i337 on AT&T)

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I also found that it won't work if you shut off the display (press the power button) with the dialer up. But as long as the dialer is not open, my shortcut works 100%.

Good catch - confirmed!
Actually, it works if you toggle vol-up immediately after going into sleep mode with the power switch. After a few seconds though, nada. I can't think of a situation where I would actually do this though (except by accident).

 

[GrouchoM]

OK...I reinstalled it. On my phone, I have to do a short press followed by a long press to activate the light. After it is turned off, I have to wait at least 15 seconds or so before reusing it. Aside from that, it's great. Thanks!

 

[speedlever]

It also doesn't appear to work if I have a notification I have not reviewed yet (blinking alert LED).

I also confirm the 15 second wait between uses. I wonder if that's tied to the on time selected? (I used 15 seconds).

 

[beowulf7]

Does anyone who is running VZW w/ MDK firmware have this torchlight feature work? Mine won't. Eh, no biggie, I have a Flashlight app and the Power Toggles method that Petrah described. Granted, for either of my flashlight methods, the phone screen needs to be on and unlocked.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

The 15sec thing seems odd, but not really a problem. I mean, the typical use for this is finding a keyhole in the dark, not sending semaphore. :willy:

 

[speedlever]

I agree it's not a problem. But we are just reporting anomalies with the app as they are discovered.

I really like having this feature enabled, regardless of the idiosyncrasies.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I guess we know now why Samsung didn't document it. They probably realized it would interact with other installed apps and enabled features.

And I agree… it's a keeper, regardless!