This App Gives Your Android an Old Notification LED
Every smartphone has a built-in flashlight, but at one time many Android phones had another hardware light: an LED that came on whenever you received a new notification or warning – a slight nudge you needed to check your phone, but Several steps removed from the entire screen lights up. Few phones will have the hardware for this feature in 2021, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.
Since we cannot integrate an LED into a smartphone without some serious engineering, the best way to do the same is through software. The app that returns the notification LED is called aodNotify . Samsung Galaxy S21, S20 and S10 users as well as OnePlus owners may recognize this name as developer Jawomo first created an app to add notification indicators to these devices. Now Jawomo has also developed a version for the Pixel line.
aodNotify lets you add a notification ring around the camera notch on your Pixel. While this ring looks amazing on its own, you can also add a light around the edge of the screen or light in the status bar at the top of the display, the latter of which reproduces the LED experience well on older Android phones.
Jawomo claims the app uses minimal battery life for this; LED functionality is the most complex, consuming 3% battery per hour, while other modes require less, from 0.05% per hour to 1.5% per hour.
The app uses the Pixel’s Always On Display feature for this feature to work; The OLED panel on your Pixel 6 or 6 Pro allows aodNotify to display the notification indicator only at the location you choose, without illuminating other areas of the screen. This, along with the Tensor Pixel 6 chip, allows this feature to claim such low battery consumption.
After you set it up, you can customize the light. You can assign specific colors to specific contacts and apps so you know who is sending you messages, which app is trying to grab your attention by looking at the color of the LED. And, of course, you can choose where exactly on the display the light will shine.
This app has been tested and is compatible with Pixel 6, 6 Pro, Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a devices. However, you can also install it on older Pixel devices. Performance may vary and you may run into compatibility issues; Javomo says other Pixel devices are currently undergoing testing, so we hope to see an expanded list of supported devices over time.
That being said, the app itself is still in Early Access on Pixel, so it’s not officially finalized. Even on tested devices, you may run into problems. Keep this in mind as you try to relive the glorious days of LED notifications. (If you have a OnePlus or Galaxy phone, however, you shouldn’t have these issues as this version of the app has been around for over a year.)
Follow the links below to try aodNotify on your compatible phone:
[ XDA Developers ]