Google Is Finally Adding This Must-Have Flashlight Feature
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Summary
- Pixel phones may soon get the ability to adjust flashlight strength.
- Other phone brands have had this feature for a while.
- Code that controls the flashlight strength has been found in the latest Android 16 beta, but the feature is not yet implemented.
Android 16 has brought Pixel fans many new features, but we’re already looking ahead to the new betas to see what we’ll be getting when those go live. Nestled in the newly released Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 is a fan favorite feature that many contend should have been added to Pixel phones a long time ago.
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It may not be the most exciting addition to Android 16, but a control for the flashlight that allows you to change its strength is long overdue, and it may be set to land on Pixels soon.
Pixels are one of the last major phone brands to get it
Google must have felt dim for forgetting it
Flashlight intensity as a feature has a long past. Samsung has included it in its software for a long time now, and in recent years, so have OnePlus and Xiaomi — and of course, across the great operating system sea, Apple famously includes the option to change an iPhone flashlight’s strength. So it’s a little bit odd that Google hasn’t added it at some previous point. Did they forget? It seems unlikely, as the ability to change the strength of a flashlight’s beam has been part of Android at a base level since 2022. Indeed, you’ve been able to use the feature on Android since then, as long as you went through a different app to get at it. The Magnifier app, for instance, includes the option to change the intensity of your flashlight.
With that in mind, it’s a bit strange that Google waited so long to include it. But it’s finally on the way, if this sleuthing is to be believed. The reveal came from some poking around in the Android 16 beta’s code, which revealed a piece of code controlling flashlight strength.
Telegram tipster Nail Sadykov managed to get this working, and created the following screenshots of the feature (via Android Authority).
While this is unlikely to be the final look of the feature in practice, if Google is aiming for something similar to this, then it’s likely to be a rather standard implementation, similar to the other options on the market. Fingers crossed it will be coming soon, as Pixels default to 50% brightness on the flashlight, and I’m hungry for retina-searing light.
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