How do I enable my smartphone’s LED?
QI upgraded my first-generation Moto G phone to a Moto G4. I’m not technically minded and when I couldn’t find where to turn on the notification pulse light, I rang Tesco Mobile for help. Incredibly, the phone doesn’t have one. I have never heard of or experienced this before. Tesco’s advice was to look for an app. What do think? If that’s what I need to do, please recommend a simple one that doesn’t demand endless permissions or contains dreaded adverts. Paul Johnson
AThe Moto G4 does actually have a built-in LED, but it’s not documented in the product’s specifications. It sits just to the right side of the home button and lights up momentarily when a micro-USB plug is inserted into the phone’s socket. But, sadly, that’s literally all it does. It also happens so quickly you probably don’t notice it.
Unless Moto maker Lenovo updates the phone’s firmware to enable greater use of the LED, then the only option would be to root the phone. This would allow you to make use of apps that can control the light — such as the free LED Control ( www.snipca.com/23600, see screenshot above). But rooting is difficult and depends on your phone model and software version. If this is what you want to do, visit a specialist site like Moto G5 ( https://motog5.net) for the instructions.
We should also mention Moto Display (see screenshot above), which is Motorola’s free app that uses the display for some notifications traditionally handled by the LED. It should be already installed on your phone but you can always grab the latest version free from Google’s Play store, at www.snipca.com/23601.