The deployment of Android 13 is getting closer and as that date on the calendar arrives, we learn more about the new update of the operating system. A few months ago it came to light that with this version the user could adjust the brightness intensity of the flashlight and now this is a reality, although not for everyone…
Many people take advantage of the functionality of this feature, whether it is to walk around their house with the lights off or look for an object that has fallen on the floor. With this setting included in the Android patch, you can control this parameter as you please so as not to consume so much battery or not dazzle other people with such a sudden flash.
Android 13 does magic with the flashlight
Today the LED flash is a property that absolutely all smartphones or the vast majority boast. This is mainly used when taking photos at night, but it can also be used as a flashlight. Now with Android 13 you can modify the brightness of it at will.
This was discovered by Mishal Rahman , a popular industry insider, who found an API that added this feature to the flashlight. In short, an API is a connection between two software that authorizes a specific action. This one in particular introduces concepts like getTorchStrengthLevel and turnOnTorchWithStrengthLevel to the CameraManager class.
The first incorporates the brightness level of the LED flash and the second establishes a minimum and maximum level for its intensity , which is determined by the mobile’s hardware. The problem is that not all devices with Android 13 are compatible with this feature and this is something that Google itself establishes with “CameraCharacteristics.FLASH_INFO_STRENGTH_MAXIMUM_LEVEL”, where a terminal with a maximum level of “1” could only turn the camera on and off. Lantern. You can find more information about this section on the Android developer platform.
Among the smartphones chosen to enjoy this option are the entire Google Pixel 6 family , from the compact model to the Pro variant and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra . In contrast, the OnePlus 10 Pro with the OxygenOS 13 beta cannot take advantage of the functionality.
How to test this function
It is important to note again that no matter how much your phone is a participant in the Android 13 beta program, it does not have to be eligible to enjoy the brightness adjustment of the flashlight. However, you have nothing to lose by trying.
A few months back, I posted about an API in Android 13 that lets apps adjust the flashlight brightness on supported devices. There’s now an app you can download that uses this feature!
Download on GitHub: https://t.co/4U6PcswMok
Video credits: @Nail_Sadykov pic.twitter.com/RSuDaqXh40
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) August 11, 2022
Mishal Rahman has shared in a Twitter post a post where he provides a link to GitHub where you can download an APK to use this flash feature. Once inside, all you have to do is look for the Flashlight 1.0 file in the “Releases” section and download the corresponding app.
It is a fact that not all mobiles will have the pleasure of modifying the intensity of the luminosity, since it is an essential requirement to support version 3.8 of ICameraDevice and updating this aspect is not something that Google seems to have in mind. In fact, neither the Google Pixel 5 nor the Pixel 4 are compatible with it. Of course, nothing should be given up for lost, because perhaps in the future the company decides to renew this section to support the function.