If you find yourself in a situation where you need some extra light, the flash on your iPhone’s camera works great as a flashlight. There are more features to this than you might expect, so here’s how to use it.
Turn on the Flashlight Directly from the Lock Screen
If you need to access the flashlight in a pinch, you can do it right from the lock screen on iPhone X models. In the lower left corner, there’s a small icon that, unsurprisingly, looks like a flashlight.
Just tapping the icon won’t do anything—you need to hard-press it on the X/XS/XS Max or press it for about half a second on the XR (it turns on when you let go). This keeps the flashlight from accidentally turning on in your pocket or if you accidentally hit the icon while trying to do something else.
Left: Off; Right; On
Just repeat the same action to turn it off.
Turn on the Flashlight from the Control Center
If you want more granular control of the flashlight, you’ll want to fire it up from the Control Center. The process is the same regardless of whether you’re using an iPhone X model or an older handset with a home button.
First, bring up the Control Center—swipe up from the bottom of the screen on iPhones with a home button or down from the clock on X models.
