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Remove the flashlight button from the lock screen
- Thread starter philpalmiero
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It certainly doesn't have 3D Touch, but I was thinking there's a possibility they could've used the touchscreen to detect how hard you're pressing based on the impact of your finger. I don't have a 12 Pro to test it but it's purely a long press thing on my phone, it works even if you just touch very lightly.
I don't understand how people are accidentally activating it. You swipe up from the bottom to unlock, so how the hell are people pressing on either the flashlight or camera buttons as they swipe? I've just tried on my 12 swiping up from left bottom, center bottom, and right bottom over and over again and never once do the flashlight or camera activate. You have to deliberately press those buttons to activate them - a light press won't even work.
I think you are right about being time-based. But there is definitely a haptic feel and sound when it is pressed on my 12P. I just tried it a few times and definitely not pressure sensitive.
As in detecting the area covered by your finger? Maybe! It seems like it would be too variable among different sized fingers.
HUH? Swipe UP to UNLOCK the screen? You don't have to unlock the phone to turn on the flashlight or the camera. That was the whole purpose of that "feature" that can't be disabled. You just have to TOUCH the screen even when it is locked and the screen lights up then less than a 1/2 second on the flashlight button and it's on heating up my pocket.
How the heck are you pressing on the flashlight button if you're putting the phone in your pocket? And do you not lock the phone before putting it in your pocket (in which case the screen wouldn't even be on)? Even if you didn't lock the phone before putting it in your pocket, you'd have to be gripping the screen at the bottom left. I've always just gripped the phone by the sides when I put it in my pocket or a holster as that gives much more stability and control.
A light tap won't activate it, but it doesn't take much more than that to activate it. I'd say it's a half second or less.
Kindly read the post directly above your reply to me (post #32) it answered your question but to make it simple I'll repeat it again. One can simply touch the turned off and locked screen ANYWHERE ON THE SCREEN and it IMMEDIATELY comes on (still locked) then another 1/4-1/2 second on the flashlight or the camera even if NOT unlocked. Sorry, sometimes I don't always manage to "just grip it on the sides" and sometimes my hand touches the screen then sometimes "leans" on the flashlight icon all in a matter of seconds. Besides, all this BS has absolutely nothing to do with the point that it would be so simple to PERMIT one to not have a flashlight (or camera) on the lock screen if one does not want it there. Simple? Eh ?? If I can add and/or remove dozens of other things why not the pocket warmer? All the "you SHOULD do this" or "you should NOT do that" is totally not on the topic. Oh, and I never said "in my pocket" .. it can happen anywhere, pocket or in hand.
And sorry, I don't wear "holsters" for my phone. I live in Florida where open carry allows REAL use of a holster for what they were actually made for! 😁😁😁😁😁🙃🙃🙃🙃
That's the post I was replying to, so obviously I read it. I'm not understanding how you're managing to both tap the screen AND tap (and briefly hold and release) the flashlight button unintentionally as you simply put the phone in your pocket (note I said pocket OR a holster - didn't claim you used a holster). I've been using iPhones for a long time and never once had such a thing happen either in a pocket or a holster (I prefer a holster to keep sweat and lint off the phone). Btw, if you just press the flashlight button, it won't come on unless you lift your finger off it. If you continue to hold it or slide your thumb/finger off it, it won't activate. As others have mentioned, there's also a haptic tap that you feel if you've pressed it. Maybe that will help you "cancel" it if you feel that haptic as you're putting your phone in your pocket.
I think changing your habits in this area IS on topic, seeing as there is currently no option to remove the flashlight button from the lock screen. So you can change or continue to warm your pocket until Apple (maybe) decides to make this an option. Ball's in your court! And I'm all for Apple giving people the option to remove this if it's a widespread problem. I've simply never heard of this being an issue before.
Google is your friend:
ð remove flashlight from iphone home screen - Google Search
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In Light Of The iPhone…
Accidentally turning on the iPhone flashlight has become a common complaint.
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In Light Of The iPhone…
Accidentally turning on the iPhone flashlight has become a common complaint.
Kristopher Saber
Aug 5, 2019·4 min read
You are walking down a city sidewalk, using Google Maps to find a friend’s new favorite spot. You’ve finally found the place, and you see your friend, looking at you weirdly. You realize as you twist your phone that the flashlight is on.
Something like this might have really happened to you if you have the iPhone, because it has to many other iPhone users.
With the newer iPhones (iPhone X and beyond), the lock screen has two quick actions that you can activate: Turning on the flashlight and camera. Apple determined that these two functions were important enough to put on the lock-screen. To activate either one of these buttons, you can long press their respective icons. However, users have been reporting that they accidentally long press the flashlight icon with their palm, or even when they put their phone in their pocket, because the contact with their leg causes the flashlight to turn on.
Source: An iPhone X with the flashlight, and camera feature on the bottom left and right respectively
What about removing the button?
The most straight forward and easiest answer would be to just remove the flashlight from the screen and simple have them on the control center. Users have been suggesting that. Despite this, so far, there’s been no action to make the flashlight button removable from the lock-screen. There are certain steps to alleviate the burden of turning it on, but nothing that really solves the problem.Removing the flashlight button would be easy for Apple to implement, however, it’d surface a hindered user flow which they were trying to tackle in the first place. Apple’s designers put the camera and flashlight on the lock screen to reduce the amount of effort necessary to activate them, presumably since those two functions are used very commonly and in the “spur of the moment.” You might need to access your phone to snap a moment that could instantaneously disappear if you are not fast enough. Likewise, the flashlight might need to be brought up quickly to find something you dropped in the dark. Both of these buttons need to be accessed quickly in certain use cases. To simply remove the buttons from the screen would throw the baby out with the bath water; the button’s location solve an important use case, minimizing the importance of the problem their looking to solve would be a bad design decision.
Source: The flashlight is easy to access for right handed iPhone users, while the camera for left. But in reality, both are in one of the more accessible parts of the iPhone’s user interface.
What about adding a new interaction?
Prolonged contact with a user’s palm, or other body part, engages the long press. What if there was a different interaction that could minimize this kind of error, give feedback so the action is clear, while preserving the location of the icon?This is where, depending on your view, different interaction models could be put in place. You could brainstorm ideas on Skeuomorphism, trying to transform a real world flashlight’s interaction onto the screen. Flipping a flashlight button up is common, but that would make it easy for the user to accidentally open their phone instead of the flashlight.
One other approach is to look at the problem and change the interaction as little as possible so it’s not dexterously costly; long pressing a button is easy. The iPhone added the idea of a triple home button interaction shortcut under accessibility mode. They added it because a triple press is accessible, or easy to do, especially for disabled users. It exists so that you can tie some functions to it (e.g. you can assign the triple press to “Zoom” to make the iPhone zoom in on specific parts of the interface). If they added haptic feedback to a new triple press flashlight icon, it would be almost as accessible as a triple press on the old iPhone home button, or currently, the side buttons, since they removed the home button in newer model. One idea could be to add a triple press to activate the flashlight. This would make it harder to activate with a palm, and if given the correct feedback to users, it be could an intuitive pattern.
Whatever the interaction pattern is, adding a new one that reduces the number of errors, while preserving the location for quick access, could be attempted.
What can people do right now to minimize this?
There are solutions to quickly turn off the flashlight when it’s activated, but nothing to stop the light from being accidentally turned on in the first place. There are ways to remove the camera from the lock screen, but not the flashlight.Suggestions like using Siri voice commands are suggested, as well as half swiping to the left, almost going into camera view, to turn off the flashlight. The solutions are good for fixing the symptoms, but not the underlying cause.
At least two viable paths
Two options exist for the flashlight feature: either remove the flashlight from the lock screen itself, or add a new interaction that’s less error prone than the long press. Removing the flashlight button from the lock-screen might be overkill, while figuring out an intuitive, but error-reducing, interaction model might take some brainstorming. Either way, the path forward for Apple should be to somehow reduce the amount of errors, in light of the complaints.
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So a blogger states that a whopping 488 iPhone users have reported this as a problem. That's about 0.000067% of world-wide iPhone users, based on the 2017 figure my "friend" Google just gave me . . . hardly a widespread issue. Additionally, I just tried over and over again to get the flashlight to turn on with my palm and leg - simply doesn't happen. You have to more accurately press it due to the palm-rejection tech built into the touchscreen.
So again, I'm simply at a loss as to how you or anyone else is frequently doing this.
Geez man, whatever. That was from 2+ years ago when it all first started, maybe there are 496 now. There are dozens of other threads across the web, that article was just one example that summed up the issue. Simply do a Google search. Just because you don't have a problem (or an inconvenience) doesn't mean a problem for some others does not exist. It was a simple suggestion/wish I and others had as did the original starter of this thread because of an inconvenience some of us folks have been having. Maybe my arthritis is the problem? If it's good for you, great. Have a nice day and just don't bother replying to these posts if they bother you so much. Been a pleasure "conversing" with you. Buh bye.
Wow, touchyyy. I never said your posts bothered me. I'm simply trying to understand how this is happening, as I can't seem to replicate the issue even when I try.
On my 11 Pro Max I have the camera and flashlight on lockscreen. On my 6S+ I have not. Both on 14.6.
It certainly is a pain at times but I feel that the only time I accidentally activate it is when my phone is in my pocket. Unfortunately, I often times don't feel the haptic response in the pocket so I don't know it is on right away. Never activated it accidentally with phone in hand though.
With that said, I assume this was stated earlier but from my knowledge there is no way to remove the button from the lock screen.
With that said, I assume this was stated earlier but from my knowledge there is no way to remove the button from the lock screen.
Yep agreed. I just thought that there was a setting on my Pro Max I couldn’t find.
These flows are most likely edge cases not "used very commonly". Quite likely less than 5% of use time. The way Apple's solution is implemented is flawed and problematic.
I've read this whole thread and agree there s/b an option to REMOVE the flashlight app from the lock screen.
It's easy to turn the flashlight on by mistake, I've done it several times reaching up to grab my XR off a bureau when wishing to turn off an audiobook prior to expiry of a timer setting.
Having that g^dblasted thing flood a pitch-dark bedroom with light when one is half-asleep is not only alarming but annoying at a level of about 99 on a scale of 1 to 10... and it doesn't matter to me in the least that it's "simple enough" to shut the thing off again. I'm a little surprised Apple still doesn't get this.
Yep it should be an option. I’ve accidentally turned it on a few times putting it in my pocket. It’s pretty rare that it happens but it has happened.
Agree it needs to be an option for both flashlight and camera. Make sure you keep sending requests to
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Hi all. I also have this annoying issue and as usual its the Apple way or the highway.
The only way i have found to stop this happening is....settings>display &brightness>Raise to wake (turn it off)
Then settings>accessability>Touch to wake (turn off)
There is a trade off of course.... now you have to click the power button to see the time etc, but, as long as you remember to click the power button to turn off the display before you put it in your pocket or carry it in your hand, your fingers , leg, pocket won't activate the torch or camera.
I hope this helps 😊