Though you might not use the flashlight on your phone every day, it's indispensable when you need it. If you don't know all the ways to toggle the flashlight on your smartphone, we're here to help.

We'll show you how to turn your flashlight on and off, both on Android and iPhone.

How to Turn Your Android Phone's Flashlight On and Off

As you might expect, Android users have more ways to toggle the flashlight on their device, so let's cover this platform first.

Turn On Your Android Flashlight Using Quick Settings

In the old days, Android didn't have a universal built-in flashlight toggle. Thankfully, all modern Android phones include flashlight functionality out of the box.

To turn on the flashlight on Android, simply pull down from the top of the screen twice (or pull once using two fingers) to open the Quick Settings menu. You should see a Flashlight entry. Tap that to turn on the LED flash. Depending on what icons appear first, you may also be able to access the Flashlight icon from your notification shade (after pulling it down once).

You can lock your screen or open other apps, and the flashlight will stay on. When you're done, just tap the same icon again to turn the flashlight off.

If you don't see the Flashlight toggle, you may need to swipe left or right to access more icons. If you'd like to put the flashlight toggle in a more prominent position, tap the Edit (pencil) icon and you can drag the title to a more convenient spot.

This menu will differ based on your hardware manufacturer and version of Android; the above shots show stock Android. It might look slightly different for Samsung or other devices.

"OK Google, Turn On the Flashlight"

The Quick Settings toggle is convenient, but it's not always the best option. You may have other shortcuts in Quick Settings that make it clumsy to access, or you might need to turn on the flashlight while your hands are dirty or otherwise occupied.

For those times, you can rely on Google Assistant. One of the most useful Google Assistant commands is "OK Google, turn on my flashlight."

As expected, the Assistant will toggle your flashlight on as soon as you say this. To turn it off, you can tap the toggle that appears in the chat window or say "OK Google, turn off the flashlight."

What makes this shortcut handy is how many ways there are to access Google Assistant, depending on your phone. The Google widget has a Google Assistant button for easy access. If your device still uses a Home button, press and hold it to open the Assistant. With Android gesture navigation, swipe toward the middle of the screen from either of the bottom corners instead.

With the Pixel 2 through Pixel 4, you can squeeze the bottom sides of your phone to summon Google Assistant. For a totally hands-free approach, you can also set up Google Assistant to respond anytime you say "OK Google," even when the screen is off.

For more on this, check out our introduction to setting up Google Assistant.

Use a Flashlight App, If You Must

If you don't like either of the above methods for some reason, or have an ancient Android phone where neither is an option, you can resort to using a flashlight app on Android. There are hundreds of them on the Google Play Store, but you must take care when selecting one.

Turning on the flashlight is a simple task. However, the majority of flashlight apps require a ton of unnecessary permissions, such as your location, contacts, and similar. There's no good reason to grant these potentially dangerous phone permissions to apps that will likely abuse them.

One of the most popular Android flashlight apps, Brightest Flashlight, is infamous for harvesting its users' contacts and location data. Many of these apps also display obnoxious full-screen video ads.

Brightest Flashlight App Permissions

Some offer additional features like turning the screen brightness all the way up and displaying colors, but these are largely unnecessary and not worth the privacy risk.

All of this considered, we recommend avoiding flashlight apps unless you absolutely need one. If you do, try Icon Torch. It's one of the fastest ways to launch your phone's flashlight as it lets you open the flashlight with a simple toggle. There are no ads or in-app purchases, and it requires only the absolute minimum permissions, so it's a safe bet.

Try Other Gestures to Enable the Flashlight

Certain Android phones, including some Motorola devices, have built-in gestures that let you turn on the flashlight at any time. These include shaking and doing a "double chop" motion. Your phone may have an option in its Settings to enable these gestures, so it's worth taking a look. As an alternative, you can try Android's Quick Tap feature, which lets you tap the back of your phone to perform a given action.

Many apps on Google Play offer to add this shortcut functionality to other phones. However, a lot of these apps are full of ads, are unreliable, or haven't seen updates in years. We recommend you avoid them and stick to the built-in flashlight toggles.

How to Turn Your iPhone's Flashlight On and Off

As you'd expect, iOS offers easy access to the iPhone's flashlight. When your phone is locked, you'll find a flashlight icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen. Press and hold this for a moment to enable the flashlight, then do the same when you're ready to turn it off. Note that it won't trigger from just a tap, likely to prevent accidental activation.

If your phone is already unlocked, you can open Notification Center by swiping down from the top-center or top-left of your screen (not the top-right corner, as this will show Control Center). This shows the same flashlight shortcut icon.

If you prefer, you can also use a Control Center shortcut to toggle your iPhone's flashlight. On an iPhone without a Home button, swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen to open it. If your iPhone has a Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen instead.

Once you open Control Center, tap the Flashlight icon to enable it. Tap the same icon again to turn off the flashlight. If you press and hold on the icon for a moment, you'll see a slider you can use to adjust the light's brightness.

If you don't see the icon, you may have hidden it when customizing Control Center. Head to Settings > Control Center to add it back and tweak its position, if desired.

If you prefer, you can also ask Siri to open the flashlight. Just summon Siri by saying "Hey Siri," or by holding the Home button (if your iPhone has one) or Side button (for models without a Home button) to call her up. Then say "Turn on the flashlight."

Don't bother with flashlight apps for your iPhone; the built-in options are sufficient. We've also shown how to fix an iPhone flashlight that's not working.

All Your Phone Flashlight Options, Covered

Now you know how to use the flashlight on your Android phone or iPhone. It's a simple task, but knowing where these shortcuts are means you won't get stuck in the dark for long.

While you won't damage your phone by using the flashlight for long periods of time, we recommend not leaving it enabled for longer than needed. The bright light will drain your battery, and leaving it on continuously may heat your phone up and cause further battery drain.