Notification LED ... working properly? - Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Example: I set in Whatsapp configuration that notifications should use the LED (in particular, I also set the green color for these notifications).
Sometimes Whatsapp messages leads to a blinking led (when the screen is dark, so, in standby). This is what I expected to see everytime there's an unread Whatsapp message.
But... it happens sometimes that a received, unread whatsapp message doesn't trigger any LED activity.
Just 20 mins ago, I heard from my Nexus 5 a notification sound (an incoming Whatsapp message)... but no led activity at all.
Few mins ago I received another Whatsapp message, and this time I heard the sound and can see the green led blinking.
So... It's possible I didn't understand the correct behaviour of these LED notifications... or maybe it's a known bug and others have noticed the same issue.
Does anyone found a similar behaviour ? It seems to me it's a matter of software, because *when* the LED blinks, it blinks without any defect.
Thanks

I'm having the opposite issue from you. Sometimes the Notification LED gets stuck blinking, even after all notifications on my phone have been cleared.
This is happening on my phone, as well as the two others I purchased.

Mine seems fine so far

No issues here either. I have Handscent controlling the LED for SMS/MMS. And I let Android decide what to do for Gmail and Exchange LEDs. If you want full control you can probably download one of the LED apps and let that control all your LED settings for each app.

I'm having the same issue. Sometimes the notification light decides not to blink... I have no idea why this happens though. Just wanted to chime in that you're not alone.

Get light flow, the LED is a lot more useful with that app.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm rooted and using light flow and after I've turned it on, read the notification and then switched it off I also sometimes get the light blink continuously until I open up light flow and it's again obtained root access. On the N4 it just requested root at startup and then never had to again but doesn't seem to till I've opened the app on the N5. Maybe it's a 4.4 bug.

No LED earlier when i received a Tapatalk notification. I don't know if that's the phone or the app at fault? Otherwise i seem to get LED notification in most cases.

Okie, so it seems that notification issues are quite common... I'm tempted to buy light flow just to verify it's not an hardware fault which requires RMA.... (I'm actually for the software fault ...which isn't tracked yet)

KaylordTheuZ said:
Okie, so it seems that notification issues are quite common... I'm tempted to buy light flow just to verify it's not an hardware fault which requires RMA.... (I'm actually for the software fault ...which isn't tracked yet)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lightflow works perfectly for me.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

I can confirm ^. Just got the paid version of Light Flow, works like a charm so far. Lets you change LED colours. Really awesome app. SO far i tested it for missed call(red blink)/hangout MMS(purple)/gmail e-mail and hotmail e-mail (green). Its been working flawlessly so far. The stock LED function did work for my hangout text messages, however it would not work my my e-mail. With light flow everything is working perfectly now + the extra functionality that it comes with.

LightFlow is definitely a worthwhile investment. The developer is quite active on XDA as well, and is quick to reply to any feedback. The app works as advertised (had it for my N4 and now N5) and provides great functionality. For me, the LED notification was a key selling feature. I hated having to turn the screen on my previous phones to see if I even had any notifications, but now I can glance at my phone and know if I have a text, e-mail, missed call, etc. So having absolute control over the LED is awesome.
For my N5 I have had some occasions when the LED would act a bit on its own, whether it would pulse white for a second or two randomly, or not turn on when it was supposed to. It's rare when it happens and is really a non-issue. Where I haven't had much success, though, is testing the LED when I'm setting up notifications in LightFlow. Doing LED tests in LightFlow doesn't seem to work for some reason. Not sure if I'm the only one experiencing this or not.

Is there any specific configuration setting for lightflow on Nexus5 or it should work out of the box?

KaylordTheuZ said:
Is there any specific configuration setting for lightflow on Nexus5 or it should work out of the box?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should work straight out of the box Although it may involve some playing around, and also make sure notifications in the apps themselves are turned off or you'll essentially have two going off at once (one for the app, one for LightFlow).
The dev just posted a helpful link that I used to get testing the LED to work, and also would help configure LightFlow for your N5 too:
http://www.folioflow.com/ff/page/website/lightflow/pageId/2349

I'm not rooted but I remembered using an app called missed call with the og droid and it works perfectly on the nexus 5. Free too!

KaylordTheuZ said:
Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?

same

Notification Light in Sleep Mode
KaylordTheuZ said:
Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?

Actually I use the Light Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koo.lightmanager this app have sleep (night) mode, use only 15-20MB.
Sent from my Nexus 7 with Tapatalk

Notification Light in Sleep Mode
BillyL said:
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed LightFlow and tried to stop the blinking light in sleep mode. I enabled LightFlow and enabled sleep settings and checked the box for Stop the notification light when sleeping. The notification light still blinks when the NFC tag is triggered or when the phone times out for sleep. Please advise.

Related

Notification light goes out after certain amount of time, normal?

So I've noticed that the notification light only stays lit for a certain amount of time. It was like that when I was stock and is the same now for running das bamf. Is there anyway to change this. It seems it will blink for ~10 min for a text or what not and then it goes out. This is annoying because it makes me have to turn the screen on more often then I would like just to check to see if I have a text message. Is there anyway to change this amount of time?
Yeah, thats how it is. Most people always have their phone on them. So if you haven't been around you phone for more than 10 mins, the first thing most people do when they "get back" to their phone is turn the screen on.
Is it really that much of an annoyance? 1 button press?
No, its not but I've come accustomed to my OG droid notifciation light and if you know about that phones notification light, its superb and with a quick look at that phone from a distance you can see if you have a notification or not. I've been fine with it so far but it would be nice if it was longer.
The notification light can save battery throughout a day if you don't have to turn the screen on all the time just to check for a notification.
The notification light on the TB is so insignificant, I forget it even has one most of the time. It isnt normal for a phone to have such a small notification light or only have 2 colors (look at other phones like blackberries or even other android phones). However, you get used to it and check your phone without it.
tu3218 said:
No, its not but I've come accustomed to my OG droid notifciation light and if you know about that phones notification light, its superb and with a quick look at that phone from a distance you can see if you have a notification or not. I've been fine with it so far but it would be nice if it was longer.
The notification light can save battery throughout a day if you don't have to turn the screen on all the time just to check for a notification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was the same way with my Nexus One. It's the one thing I miss and hate about the Tbolt. You cannot count on being able to check the notification light to see if you have messages. You HAVE to turn it on to be sure. I really wish HTC would start using a standardized, well engineered notification light on all devices. Then let users turn it off if they don't like it.
I actually came up with a small fix for myself when I'm at home. I mounted one of my Nexus Ones under my plasma(just so that the trackball is showing) then I muted all sounds. At least now if I am at home I generally am alerted visually if I have messages waiting.
Arrow Notification light goes out after certain amount of time, normal?Arrow
I too need a notification light as I do not like turning the phone on and off to see if I missed something. So I found NoLed which has been a lifesaver. It turns on your screen if you missed a call, sms, email, etc. I thought it would kill the battery, but no it really doesn't. You can even schedule when the app will go on and off. Big, Big fan.
marcusblade said:
I too need a notification light as I do not like turning the phone on and off to see if I missed something. So I found NoLed which has been a lifesaver. It turns on your screen if you missed a call, sms, email, etc. I thought it would kill the battery, but no it really doesn't. You can even schedule when the app will go on and off. Big, Big fan.
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Click to collapse
just installed this. This looks awesome!! As long it doesn't drain the battery like you said, this will be an incredible app. thanks for the heads up.

Change LED notification color?

I know its possible with apps but was wondering if its possible with the stock software?? If not, what ap are you guys using for this function? TIA
I use Lightflow.
I use lightFlow as well and its not possible in the stock software AFAIK.
CMNDR
Do we have all these color options in lightflow or only a few? If so which ones do yall use?
matt2k12 said:
Do we have all these color options in lightflow or only a few? If so which ones do yall use?
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Click to collapse
The LED in the phone supports RGB so you should be able to get a moderately wide color spread. Each different notification in my phone has a different color and blink rate specified by lightflow so I cant really go into detail there. The only thing I have yet to figure out with it is how to dim the LED as its really bright, and while I want a charging indicator, at night its hard to sleep with the bright orange on my phone.
CMNDR
Now it seems my notification LED is going off for no reason; there are no notifications currently showing besides juice defender and smart actions neither of which have an LED function tied to them; does this ever happen to you guys?
matt2k12 said:
Now it seems my notification LED is going off for no reason; there are no notifications currently showing besides juice defender and smart actions neither of which have an LED function tied to them; does this ever happen to you guys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, I've had phantom notification issues before. Before I got the settings right for my 3rd party SMS app (Handcent) I had a few issues where the notifications weren't clearing. The other thing you might check is that gmail will try and notify even if your using something else to mark the message as read, (ie: using gmail on a different computer and reading the message will make it disappear from the status bar on your phone cause to the mailing client the message has been read, but the lightflow notification requires you to open the app that's triggering the notification to clear the lightflow notification.) Other than that I'd try changing the color of different apps and seeing if the LED changes with it and try to pin down the app that is causing the random light.
Let me know if that helps,
CMNDR
Hi:
The best feature of lightflow is the ability to turn all the notification lights off at night, from any hour yo choose to any hour in the morning.
Tom
Those of you using light flow, what settings are you using? And are you rooted? What build are you on. I had never even noticed the pho had a notification light until I had had it for a while and I saw the low battery light one day, until then I had never noticed it lit.. I'm currently rooted only, have not unlocked the boot loader. On build 125-asa-10.
I first thought light flow was not working but have come to notice it is, its just extremely dim to the point you almost can't see it even in a dark room. Anyone else have this issue or know what I'm doing wrong?
iamchocho said:
Those of you using light flow, what settings are you using? And are you rooted? What build are you on. I had never even noticed the pho had a notification light until I had had it for a while and I saw the low battery light one day, until then I had never noticed it lit.. I'm currently rooted only, have not unlocked the boot loader. On build 125-asa-10.
I first thought light flow was not working but have come to notice it is, its just extremely dim to the point you almost can't see it even in a dark room. Anyone else have this issue or know what I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never noticed it being excessively dim per se, but when I first installed the ap at the office under flourescent lighting the lights seemed weak and not to match the colors I had selected. Once I decided to choose only a few notifications and with stick main standard colors (red, yellow, green, blue, orange, cyan) I noticed it was doing a good job of notifying me and the colors were unique and visible in all light conditions. For emails I have a long delay, for texts I have a medium delay, for missed calls I have a short delay, for missed calls messages or mms or voicemail from wife I have an extra short delay.
The only gripe I would say I have with lightflow is that it seems to stop notifying if not used for a while. Sort of like it's being dumped out of memory and needs to be restarted.
CMNDR
Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2
I'm trying to figure out if I have a hardware issue but im starting to doubt that too. I really don't want to do a factory reset but it may come to that. when the battery is low ~5% the led will blink bright red when unplugging, and bright blue when plugging in so it seems like its capable of going bright. driving me nuts that its not bright enough to see during normal operation.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

Notification LED doesn't work after CF-root

Hey guys,
First off: I used the N5 "as is" for few days. I've set up all the notifications with light flow, and as expected: screen off, event happens (E.g. a received mail), led starts flashing with the expected color. All good.
Then today I unlocked and rooted the N5 with chainfire's auto root.
Now the led won't flash as expected.
I set light flow up and when I use light flow's test option, everything works just fine, but when the screen is off, notifications don't trigger the led... Email comes no led....
I don't know what to do....
momsi said:
I don't know what to do....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Contact the developer of lightflow (from the play store) - very responsive guy
Same here, rooted with CF-Auto-Root and notification LED seems to fail color and it blinks in a weird way.
After rooting (I did it right away so can't really say it worked right before) but lightflow didn't run any of the colors during the test, and even before I tried setting up lightflow, I think I've only seen the led 3 times (only in white)
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Light Flow just pushed a new update with N5 and 4.4 compatibility. Check it out.
Well after a little messing around it seems to work now. I've uninstalled LF, reinstalled, checked every option in the settings and so on, but I think the update did the trick.
Only glitch I have left is: I've set LF to cycle all notifications, if many notifications are active at once (or when I'm in test all mode) it happens often, that color_1 lights up and dimms down, (normally color_2 should now light up and dimm down but:=> ) color_1 lights up and swaps instantly to color_2. And so on. Any solution for that?

[Q] LED Notification Light inconsistent

I've just got this device 3 days ago~ And i noticed that my led notification light hasnt been consistent or light up at all unless i use Light Flow but even with Light Flow its still inconsistent. I'm on stock KitKat 4.4.4 never rooted etc. Pulse notification led is on.
Without lightflow it just doesn't light up at all for applications like whatsapp,wechat,games(Does the led light up for games too?). Whenever i receive a phone calls however it lights up white for a split second and then it turn itself off.. If i don't pick it up, it doesn't light up to show me that i have a missed call either, but when i turn the screen on, it lights up for a split second and then turn itself off again.
Using lightflow , i haven't get to try it with whatsapp yet but for charging and phone calls it works great but for wechat it only works if i have the screen on. If the screen is off nothing lights up and when i turn on the screen by pressing the power button and then put it to sleep again it works. I have the run in foreground on,Reduce wake on(not sure if i need that), and Nexus 5 force LED Reset.
Also since i'm already here, how long does it takes for google to fix the lollipop if at all? Should i update it to see if the led works on lollipop? Does OTA update introduce problems and bugs? Sorry if my questions are too long and my english is bad.

What is everyone doing for notifications?

Hey all,
I just picked up a 7 Pro and it's my first phone without a notification light. What are you all doing to make sure you don't miss important notifications?
On my OnePlus 5 I used to use Light Manager to show me a static (not blinking) light of a different color depending on the notification, so I could glance at my phone and know what notifications were waiting for me. (Especially helpful was a unique color for when my wife texted me. Little quality-of-life stuff like this goes a long way, ya know?)
Now that I don't have a notification light I've tried:
- Ambient Display: This seems too easy to miss a notification after it has passed. Always picking up or tapping on the phone to see notifications is a hassle.
- Always On AMOLED: I've tried two apps by the same name and they both drain my battery horribly, even if I have it set to show only a black screen unless a notification comes in.
- NotifyBuddy: This is close, but the blinking light drives me nuts and I've heard the battery drain is bad here too.
Has anyone found something that works for them and doesn't destroy battery life?
I just pickup my phone and it shows notifications. At first i missed the LED light but not anymore.
I am using this currently and it works really well. What it does is make the built in Horizon light continue to repeat itself according to your chosen settings...much like it should by default but OnePlus dropped the ball!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vaf.vishal.plusbeat&hl=en_US
What is the sense of having that "horizon light" if it doesn't actually DO anything? I don't get it... why include it....
jaseman said:
I am using this currently and it works really well. What it does is make the built in Horizon light continue to repeat itself according to your chosen settings...much like it should by default but OnePlus dropped the ball!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vaf.vishal.plusbeat&hl=en_US
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodbyeSky said:
Hey all,
I just picked up a 7 Pro and it's my first phone without a notification light. What are you all doing to make sure you don't miss important notifications?
On my OnePlus 5 I used to use Light Manager to show me a static (not blinking) light of a different color depending on the notification, so I could glance at my phone and know what notifications were waiting for me. (Especially helpful was a unique color for when my wife texted me. Little quality-of-life stuff like this goes a long way, ya know?)
Now that I don't have a notification light I've tried:
- Ambient Display: This seems too easy to miss a notification after it has passed. Always picking up or tapping on the phone to see notifications is a hassle.
- Always On AMOLED: I've tried two apps by the same name and they both drain my battery horribly, even if I have it set to show only a black screen unless a notification comes in.
- NotifyBuddy: This is close, but the blinking light drives me nuts and I've heard the battery drain is bad here too.
Has anyone found something that works for them and doesn't destroy battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using pulse beat and it works great especially with horizon light

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