History repeating… FP2 started with the same bug 
and they fixed it.
Hope that it will be the same for FP3.
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Today I saw a short conversation that sounded as if it becoming normal that smartphone don’t indicate notifications with a blinking LED (German only, sorry).
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Got a response from official FP Support today:
[…] LED notification for Fairphone 3 is only dedicated to charging statuses. It is unfortunately not a feature to assign LED colors to notifications or other statuses. […]
This is so frustrating.
Could anyone who is concerned about this issue please make sure to let FP know?
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I just noticed the problem too and it’s pretty annoying. Got my phone just a few days ago and miss this feature a lot.
And honestly I wonder what kind of business decision lead to this. All previous Fairphones had that feature and if user don’t want it it’s easy to build in the option to disable it. But why do that for all users? So I really hope the next update brings us this feature.
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Maybe simple install a app with root, and all is ok? But FP doesnt want it. Void the warranty.
Using the LED only for charging is broken by desgin. If you want to support Fairphone, it is not good to talk all failures to good decisions.
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Another +1 here. My old Sony Z3c had this feature, my girlfriend’s FP2 has it but the FP3 doesn’t. Oh well…
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Yes root will allow you to turn this “charging LED” into a proper notification LED. Note that all the FlashLED service test is doing is this:
adb shell echo 255 > /sys/class/leds/green/brightness
The only thing stopping you from doing this yourself (or letting another app do that for you) are missing permissions (which root will give you).
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I suppose I can’t just write an app with root permission, can I? Sounds too simple 
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I find it silly that manufacuters don’t at least optionally allow rooting. It so limiting for everyone who wants to improve their own device or who has not yet given up on privacy.
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Also, why the hell does making a LED blink need root access?!
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Indeed. And I can’t believe the LED for notifications is missing on purpose. That would be insane. The LEDs are important for people who can’t hear, or don’t like, or don’t want to make sounds.
My Android email client (K-9) knows this. 
So in its preferences I’ve activated LED notifications. I even changed the color from blue to red, as you can see on the 2 screenshots on Flickr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/harriebaken/albums/72157711858924227/with/49094589237/
Hopefully my FP3 will show the LEDs soon!
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My guess is that they simply did not have the resources to develop that feature (yet). You don’t need root if it’s implemented correctly. We just need it if we want to develop our own solution until Fairphone gets it done.
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I’m not missing LED notifications, personally, but I’m always in favour of having options rather than simply not having something without a choice.
That being said, you just can not take this feature for granted anymore with Android, it seems …
“There are a number of Android phone owners who are upset because their device does not have an LED notification light.”
“I am writing this article because a lot people are asking me which are the Samsung Galaxy Smartphones with LED notification and the ones with out it.”
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Versus-For-and-against-LED-notification-lights-in-phones_id114862
“It’s true - one of the seemingly signature features of Android devices is dying a slow death. The LED notification light that was once briskly blinking on most Android devices will likely soon go the way of removable batteries and 3.5mm audio jacks.”
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Not to mention FM radio 
At least we got another radio in return: NFC
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Too bad that there is no source code to help Fairphone. 
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Yeah, that’s what I thought. Guess I am not getting into Android development then 
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I just noticed that it at least shows a low battery warning by slowly blinking red. I’ve seen that for the first time today because of the great battery life. But the usual color when charging should be steady red and not white.
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fair phone fist edition owner since nearby 6 years.
Time for FP3.
Most importent for me before selling it: is the problem with the notification light solvable?
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Welcome to the community forum.
This is not yet known.
From a layman’s point of view it should be solvable, because obviously the LED works for the currently defined purpose (battery status while charging) and there’s a Service test deep in the Android settings which can control and show the different colours, so it should be usable by Android.
It seems “just” the implementation is missing so that the Android notification system can use the LED, but there’s no official info yet on how complicated this might be, and how much time this might take … or whether it will be done at all.
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Got his reply from support after I mentioned this thread:
The LED notification for Fairphone 3 is only dedicated to charging statuses. It is unfortunately not a feature to assign LED colors to notifications or other statuses. We will report your feedback to our developers for possible future implementations.
So, nothing new on that side.
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