A smartphone without a flashlight function is hard to imagine today. You usually would hardly find any phone not having this function available. If you need your flashlight on your Android phone in a certain situation and it refuses to work, don´t panic. The problem may be solved pretty quickly, and fortunately, in most cases, it isn’t a complicated hardware issue that causes problems with your Android flashlight.
Usually, you probably have a software issue or other reasons that can be fixed without much effort in a short moment. Learn in this article what may have caused the problems with your flashlight and how you can solve these often occurring obstacles.
Why isn’t my Android flashlight working?
To find out why your flashlight is not working on your phone, find out why the issue is. There are many causes of this flashlight problem, often seemingly appearing randomly. As mentioned before, this problem is mainly caused by software bugs.
Other reasons could be battery problems, issues with the cache, other software interfering with the flashlight or affecting your phone, hardware problems, or physical damage to your phone.
1. The Battery is too low
Among all the reasons why your Android flashlight might not be working, this is probably the most likely one and the first thing you should check.
This isn’t even a malfunction, but most phone manufacturers purposely build the phone in such a way that if the Battery reaches a certain percentage, some functions wouldn’t be available anymore. This happens because your phone stays on as long as possible, and you will have enough Battery for the more important functions.
You certainly would not want to be in a situation where you have to make an emergency call, and your phone shuts down because you accidentally activated your flashlight – which usually eats away a lot of Battery. Usually, after your Battery hits 15%, functions like the flashlight wouldn’t be available anymore.
You would get a notification on your display that the function isn’t available due to low Battery. Some older phones, however, might not necessarily give you this hint, but if your Android flashlight isn#t working, first check your Battery and try to charge it somewhere if possible.
2. Cache Is Full & Too Much Junk Data Is on the Phone
Another common problem that can affect a lot of apps on your phone, including the flashlight, is a full cache or too much junk data accumulated on your phone.
Often it is the camera app specifically that causes the trouble, so you should check this one specifically. Try to clean your cache according to function and also check if you can clear your apps, especially the camera app, of junk data.
Then either try the flashlight again or quickly reboot your phone. If the flashlight works again, you know that the reason it didn´t work was, in fact, the cache or too ample storage of junk data.
Before you experience any problems with apps or functions of your phone, you do yourself a favor if you keep an eye on your cache and data storage and clear both on a regular base.
3. Overheating of your Phone
Using your phone for a long time, especially on intense apps like games or movie players, can quickly happen when your device gets too hot. Other reasons for overheating could be long calls, especially video calls on Whatsapp or messenger, or having the phone on the charger for too long (always unplug your phone from the charger if the battery is full).
For safety reasons and to avoid your phone being damaged from too much heat, many devices will try automatically to cool down the phone by shutting down some functions, and the flashlight application is primarily one of them.
Check if your phone is very heated, especially after having used it for an extended period, and wait until it cools down. Also, a reboot might be necessary in some cases.
4. Applications blocking the flashlight
While running, some applications might block your flashlight from being used. This can have various reasons, either because the application consumes too much energy itself or is linked to the flashlight and therefore makes it impossible to use while running the specific app in question. Check if your phone is operating an app that might prevent your flashlight from being used properly.
If necessary, save whatever you have on this app, being a piece of work or your progress in a game. After saving, deactivate the app and check again if your flashlight is working now or not.
An alternative might be that you try the Android Safe mode. If a third-party app is blocking your flashlight, there is a chance that it might work once you activate your safe mode in the settings.
5. App preferences prevent the flashlight from working
You can set the preferences for how your apps are used yourself, and it could be that, unknowingly, you set them in a way that your Android flashlight isn´t ready for use anymore.
Or you did so willingly long before you needed the flashlight and then forgot to reset it. Some apps require your permission to access a variety of functions on your phone and some of them also want access to your flashlight.
You may put your settings so that your flashlight cannot be used anymore. You can access the Applications menu from your settings, and there you can either check and reset the selected settings manually or reset all the preferences to default mode.
This may affect some of your other applications, and they may ask you for the necessary permissions again the next time you use them.
6. Try a third-party app
If none of the above points help you to use your flashlight again, it might be that the custom flashlight application indeed may have a malfunction or isn´t working right.
To find out if this is the case, try downloading a third-party flashlight application of your choice and see if it typically works on your phone.
If this is the case, you know that, unfortunately, your custom flashlight might have an unknown issue, but you may still be able to use the flashlight of another app.
Conclusion
In case of your flashlight on your Android device is not working properly anymore, you have several possible reasons and solutions. Some of the most common and most easy to detect ones have been shown to you in this article.
Also, the solutions to the mentioned issues don’t take much time and effort. If your phone suffers from more severe problems like hardware or device defects, you might have to let your phone be checked by a professional.
This would, of course, be rather expensive, and it would be up to you if your phone flashlight would be worth the investment from your side.
Sometimes the display is set to the brightest possible mode, and a white or very bright page on display may also provide enough light for you in a situation where you need it.
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Hina is a tech-geek and passionate writer. She works as a Content Strategist at ThoughtsGate. She has always had an edge with books, information, articles- mainly relating to tech and innovation.