If you’re one of the brand new owners of the Nexus 6, chances are, you probably have been experimenting with its various features and apps. One such kind of user discovered a “secret” hidden feature, which is a 3-color LED light (red, blue, green) located at the back of the speakers. But why is it hidden and not made a default feature for the smartphone? And why can’t you use it to separate your notifications by colors?

Well, there really is no official answer from Google, except that in the latest major update for Android, which is of course the 5.0 Lollipop, they are seemingly moving away from using LED notifications. We’ve seen this before with last year’s Nexus 5 and Moto X, and now again with the new flagship, the Nexus 6. This time around, the LED lights are not part of the device capabilities listed and it has also been disabled by default, which begs the question why put it there in the first place.

But if you still prefer colorful LED notifications, you can still rely on third-party apps who have found a way to use this functionally. One app is Light Flow LED&Notifications which allows you to control over 600 applications and system events to choose what LED color will be used for notifications. Some of the things whose notifications you can control are missed calls, SMS, Gmail, low battery, some social networks like Facebook and Twitter. However, to be able to use this, you need to root your device.

While we somehow understand the need to move away from LED notifications in terms of conserving your device’s battery, it is still fairly useful, especially if you need silent notifications. It is also a good way for those with hearing disabilities to be alerted to their notifications, if they don’t want vibrating alerts.

VIA: SlashGear

1 COMMENT

  1. So if its a “3 colored” LED, does this mean I can’t get a proper yellow, white etc LED light for my notifications? Or will it be just like the Nexus 5 led lights where i can practically have any color?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.