I was asked over the weekend to jailbreak a friend's iPhone so they could use the camera flash for alerts. There was a time when hacking your iPhone was the only way to use the camera flash for visual alerts, but times have changed. Now that's just another system setting.
Here's how to use your iPhone's camera flash to signal alerts:
- Tap Settings
- Tap General
- Tap Accessibility
- Now scroll down to LED Flash for Alert, and set it to ON
Your iPhone's LED flash can signal alerts as well as brighten photos
That's it. Now your camera flash will strobe when you get new alerts -- no need for hacks.
The Accessibility settings also include other handy settings, such as the ability to change default text sizes, auto-speaking text, and on-screen zooming. You don't need a hearing or vision impairment to put these settings to use for you; they can be handy for anyone that wants to make their iPhone do more of their work.