iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus have dual LEDs. Here’s how to turn them both on for a brighter flashlight.
Newer iPhones have two LEDs, one with an amber tint for a warmer color temperature and the other a regular white LED. One of these LEDs is used when taking pictures and the camera decides which one to use based on the color temperature of the room. If there is a warmer light, the camera uses the yellow LED to better match the color.
This is pretty ingenious to say the least, and you can even use the strobe LED as a flashlight to see in the dark, it’s easily accessible from the Control Center.
The flashlight is pretty bright and in a pitch dark room, that single LED can light everything up really well, but what if you need more light?
While there is no easy way to turn both LEDs on at the same time (or at least Apple doesn’t give you an easy way to do this), there is a quick trick to turn both LEDs on at the same time, giving you more light and brighter gives a flashlight.
Here’s how to make your iPhone flashlight brighter.
You can quickly enable your iPhone’s flashlight by swiping up from the bottom of the screen to bring up the Control Center and then tapping the flashlight icon to turn it on.
This will give you an LED’s worth of light that’s really bright in pitch dark, providing enough light to see where you’re going. It’s definitely not a 1,500-watt work light, but it can get the job done.
However, if you need brighter light, there is a quick trick (via reddit) this you can use to turn on both LEDs on iPhone, including the amber colored one.
To do this, simply turn on the flashlight from the Control Center. While still in Control Center, open the camera by tapping the camera icon in Control Center. This will turn off the flashlight, but don’t worry.
From there, press the home button to exit the camera app and the flashlight will turn on again, but this time both LEDs will light up.
To go back to a single LED, simply force quit the camera app by going to the app switcher and swiping to close the camera app completely.
Another way to make your iPhone’s flashlight brighter is to turn it into a flashlight. It is important to know that there is a difference between a flashlight and a lantern. Lanterns provide a beam of light in one direction, while lanterns provide light in all directions. You can do this so that your iPhone’s flashlight provides light in all/most directions, but how do you do that?
The materials you need are mostly lined up around the house. All you have to do is grab a standard 16.9-ounce bottle of water (make sure it’s full) and then rubber band your iPhone to it so the LED glows inside the bottle. The water will act like a ton of little mirrors, reflecting light in different directions and amplifying the iPhone’s light, not only providing more light but also shining that light in different directions.
Something like this is great when the power is out and you need plenty of light, and it can also be a great light source if you’re camping or need some light shining on your desk while typing in the dark.
