The iPhone camera comes with a LED flash that also doubles as a flashlight or a torch. However, iOS doesn’t offer a shortcut or an app to toggle the flashlight on or off from the home screen. Users rather have to turn on the flashlight either from the Control Center, Lock Screen, via Siri or using Back Tap functionality (in iOS 14 or later). Though all these ways work fine, they don’t offer a quick and one-tap approach to use the flashlight on iPhone.
Can I put the flashlight on my iPhone Home Screen?
While iOS has a built-in Flashlight app, there is no option to access the flashlight from the home screen. Thankfully, you can add a shortcut to turn the flashlight on or off directly from your home screen. The workaround involves using the Shortcuts app, thereby also avoiding the need for a third-party app.
Now let’s see how to add the flashlight to Home Screen on iPhone. To create a flashlight shortcut on your iPhone running iOS 14 or later, follow the steps below.
How to add Flashlight icon to Home Screen on iPhone
- Open the Shortcuts app and tap the “My Shortcuts” tab. If you can’t find the Shortcuts app then install it first.
- Tap the + button at the top-right corner.
- Tap on “Add Action”.
- In the search bar at the top, search for “torch” and select “Set Torch“.
- Tap the word “Turn” and select “Toggle” from the Operation menu.
- Optional: Tap the “forward arrow icon” and set the default brightness for the flashlight. This is to ensure you get the exact same brightness whenever you use the flashlight via shortcut. You can modify the brightness level afterward too.
- Tap the Preferences button at the top-right.
- Select “Add to Home Screen”. Then enter a home screen name and choose an icon for the flashlight shortcut.
- Tap “Add” at the upper-right corner and hit Done.
- That’s it. A flashlight icon will now appear on your home screen.
Torch shortcut on iPhone home screen
To switch on or off the flashlight, simply tap the Flashlight shortcut icon from the Home Screen.
TIP: Add Flashlight widget in iOS 14 on iPhone
Those who like using widgets can add a torch widget to their iPhone running iOS 14 or later. The main benefit of using a widget (over the home screen icon) is that the widget doesn’t show a shortcut notification at the top, whenever you run the shortcut.
- Important – Create a Flashlight shortcut first using the above-stated procedure.
- Long-press an empty area on your home screen.
- Tap the + button at the top-left corner.
- In the “Search Widgets” bar, search for “Shortcuts” and select Shortcuts.
- Tap the “Add Widget” button.
Voila! Now tap the Flashlight widget to quickly toggle the LED flash on or off.
TIP: You can edit the home screen and move the widget to an existing or a Smart Stack widget.
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This was just what I was looking for. Thank you.
Thank you so much!!! Have been battling with this for years and your instructions are so clear, I got it done quickly. I live in South Africa where we have 8+ hours of power outages a day, so this shortcut is a must!