It is almost impossible to conceive of a smartphone today without a flashlight function. Even the so-called feature phones, or simple phones, take advantage of the flash of their cameras for this purpose. Mobile lanterns were the grave of lighters at concerts, although they can also fail at the least opportune moment. So let’s take a look at the most common flashlight problems , as well as their best solutions.
We have already seen on our site that the flashlight of our mobile can be turned on in different ways. But the problem lies when precisely we cannot do it, or even when the flashlight turns on by itself , since it can drain the entire battery without even realizing it.
The flashlight does not turn on
There are several causes why the flashlight does not turn on, but we are going to review the most common ones, to solve the problem step by step.
Enough battery?
This is one of the most common causes, which, far from being a problem in itself, is a limitation in many terminals. Many manufacturers do not allow the flashlight to be turned on when the battery is below a certain percentage , usually 15% or less. Not being able to manage until the last milliamp of our battery is frustrating, since if we want the battery to drain with the flashlight, because we need to use it in a certain situation, it should be our decision and not the system’s. In this case, we will have to charge the battery above 15% and re-enter it.
Possible overheating
If before turning on the flashlight, we have been playing for a long time, or the mobile has been charging, it may have overheated . As a safety measure, many terminals prevent the flashlight from turning on in these cases. We will have to wait for the device to cool down and try again.
Applications in use of the flashlight
There are many applications that can make use of the mobile flash, including the camera app itself, disabling the flashlight function. To see if it is a blockage due to an app, we will have to open the menu of recent apps and close all those that are running, and test again if the flashlight turns on correctly.
Try different ways to light
As we discussed above, there are many different ways to turn on the flashlight . The most common is to tap on the shortcut within the taskbar, but we can always turn on the flashlight through gestures, a shortcut on the desktop or even ask the Google Assistant. Trying alternative methods is a good way to know if we are facing a specific problem or something more serious.
Other solutions
- Turn on the mobile in safe mode: within this mode the flashlight is turned on, it is likely that a third-party app is causing the problem. In this case we will have to delete the suspicious apps and try again.
- Restart the mobile: a simple restart can be more useful than other more complicated methods. We can turn off or restart the mobile to see if the problem is resolved after rebooting the system.
- Third-party app: there are dozens of flashlight apps on Google Play. The idea is to download one of the most popular and test if the flashlight works. If so, the system app may have corrupted your file system. In this case, it could be done with a simple system update, although if everything fails, we may have to return the terminal to factory settings.
The flashlight lights up by itself
In this case, the flashlight turns on, and it does so more than we would like, which is also a problem. This can cause the mobile battery to run out prematurely , due to the high energy required for the flash to be connected.
Buttons tight
It is possible that the flashlight of our mobile is turned on with some combination of buttons or gestures. For example, leaving the volume button pressed or shaking the mobile. If we have these activation methods, we may find ourselves with the flashlight on on more than one occasion.
Case or shell
It is one of the most common causes for which we find the flashlight on. Many third-party cases can inadvertently press buttons and access the flashlight function. We must therefore check that none of the buttons is tight with this type of case or shell.
Third party app
As we have seen previously, an app can access the flashlight to perform certain functions. In this case, if we do not find the flashlight on without finding any explanation, we will have to go into the settings, and check which apps have permissions to use the flash and revoke it if necessary.