A better flashlight shortcut is needed

[Moo Cow]

I came over from the Motorola Droid Turbo 2. I understand this is a different company that provided different options for how to use its phones, but if you held your Turbo 1 or Turbo 2 phone, and did the "Karate Chop" motion, the flashlight would turn on. Do it again, and it turned off. No need to navigate a menu, turn it on, and navigate again to turn it off. It was really easy to use and I really made a big use of it.

Sadly, I don't see that option with the new Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL. I wish it existed somehow. If you press the power button twice, the camera turns on, and I had that shortcut on the Turbo 2 as well. But no flashlight shortcut.

 

[Mike Dee]

I came over from the Motorola Droid Turbo 2. I understand this is a different company that provided different options for how to use its phones, but if you held your Turbo 1 or Turbo 2 phone, and did the "Karate Chop" motion, the flashlight would turn on. Do it again, and it turned off. No need to navigate a menu, turn it on, and navigate again to turn it off. It was really easy to use and I really made a big use of it.

Sadly, I don't see that option with the new Pixel 2/Pixel 2 XL. I wish it existed somehow. If you press the power button twice, the camera turns on, and I had that shortcut on the Turbo 2 as well. But no flashlight shortcut.

Swipe down once from the notification menu, press flashlight icon....not very difficult.

 

[osubeavs728]

"ok Google, lumos"

 

[Moo Cow]

Swipe down once from the notification menu, press flashlight icon....not very difficult.

I think you misunderstood the entire point.

 

[osubeavs728]

Swipe down once from the notification menu, press flashlight icon....not very difficult.

Apparently you've never used a recent Motorola device. Yes, swiping down and hitting the button is easy, as is the voice command. But dang, the Motorola gesture commands were amazing and super convenient.

I was hoping that when Google kept all those Moto patents they'd being some of that stuff to the pixels. One big thing I miss from my Moto Xs and force.

 

[hal1]

Nova Launcher. Then use a simple swipe of your screen

 

[Mike Dee]

Apparently you've never used a recent Motorola device. Yes, swiping down and hitting the button is easy, as is the voice command. But dang, the Motorola gesture commands were amazing and super convenient.

I was hoping that when Google kept all those Moto patents they'd being some of that stuff to the pixels. One big thing I miss from my Moto Xs and force.

Sorry not true and not a fair assumption based on my post....I've owned many Motorola devices. In fact except for the last few phones which I've changed very often in the last year and a half I previously only had Motorola devices and I'm well aware of their shortcuts. I would probably still be with Motorola if they were still Motorola or if Google still owned them.

 

[chanchan05]

On some devices you could put a flashlight shortcut on your lockscreen.

 

[Mike Dee]

I think you misunderstood the entire point.

No I didn't misunderstand... I was merely pointing that it's not that difficult to turn on the flashlight in case you were somehow doing it differently and for the benefit of others who read these posts.
Sadly for you, the type of features you are used to do not exist on Google phones. That is not their focus.

 

[e30ernest]

I use an app called Flashlight LED Genius to get that shake to turn on Flashlight gesture. It's free and ad supported, but only displays ads while you are configuring how hard you want to shake the phone to activate your Flashlight. Once you have that set, it no longer displays ads not use any data.

 

[Mrdouglas]

"ok Google, lumos"

This is awesome. Many thanks. I too am suffering from the lack of actions inherent to Moto devices. While not 100% ideal, its still cool and useful at times over the swipe and select method. Another option, in the least.

 

[anon(10092459)]

"ok Google, lumos"

"Lumos" and "Nox" are what I use, too .. matter of fact, only way I've ever turned flashlight on/off.

 

[anon(10274434)]

"Lumos" and "Nox" are what I use, too .. matter of fact, only way I've ever turned flashlight on/off.

I never knew this - very cool - thanks.

 

[Dutch R]

It could be that a gesture activated launch of the flashlight will be possible in the future. The squeeze functionality provides an opportunity to launch the flashlight, as demonstrated on the HTC U 11. I used the squeeze extensively for this purpose when I owned the HTC - it was convenient. Maybe this feature will be activated in the future....

 

[mmcclure0453]

As mentioned by another user, I use Flashlight LED Genius also. Has been on my last few Android phones and works great. I just push the lock button, shake the phone, and on comes the flashlight. A quick shake of the phone again will turn it off. Works great. I can also see where OK Google or squeezing the phone would be just as handy. But, I'm used to the shaking motion to turn the light on with my Pixel 2.

 

[sixty_four]

As mentioned by another user, I use Flashlight LED Genius also. Has been on my last few Android phones and works great. I just push the lock button, shake the phone, and on comes the flashlight. A quick shake of the phone again will turn it off. Works great. I can also see where OK Google or squeezing the phone would be just as handy. But, I'm used to the shaking motion to turn the light on with my Pixel 2.

Over 11MB download size for a flashlight app. No thanks.

 

[A Myers]

I've got a shortcut on my home screen, works pretty well

 

[Hypnotoadd]

"Lumos" and "Nox" are what I use, too .. matter of fact, only way I've ever turned flashlight on/off.

What are "lumos" and "nox"? I say "flashlight on" and "flashlight off" to turn mine on & off.

 

[anon(10274434)]

What are "lumos" and "nox"? I say "flashlight on" and "flashlight off" to turn mine on & off.

I didn't know this either - thanks - works for me too -

 

[Wiley_11]

What are "lumos" and "nox"? I say "flashlight on" and "flashlight off" to turn mine on & off.

It's a Harry Potter thing.

"If you want to try being a wizard, try casting spells on your Android phone: Just say “Ok Google” followed by “Lumos” or “Nox” to turn your flashlight on and off. Try “Silencio” to silence the ringer and notifications."