Do you want to simulate it using the flashlight? I have no experience with any such app, but I found this one on F-Droid: Flash Alert - Call and Message. Alternatively you can script it yourself using an app such as Automate or Tasker.
I actually solved this by purchasing the dumbest smartwatch I could find (Amazfit Neo), so when a notification comes, an icon is blinking on my wrist. And as a bonus, I don’t have to reach for my phone when I just want to know the time. (Chill guys, that was irony. I wanted a watch mainly for the time. The notifications are the bonus.)
I have also a watch for about 30 years now, and I never had to reach my phone to get the time.
I never saw this as a bonus
I think that’s the job of a watch.
At least for old schoolers
This kind of proves that the solutions people resort to now are anti sustainability. I get why you do it of course. But Fairphone should’ve provided either a notification LED or an always on capable screen.
Flash Alerte could be what I’m looking for. Does the camera flash light just flash once per received message or does it frequently flash? But the color couldn’t be changed, right?
That was, of course, irony. I wanted a watch anyway. So this one, which supports notifications but otherwise works like a “casio”, actually solved all of my problems.
I have to slightly disagree in my particular case. Sure, if you buy a smartwatch only for this, it’s definitely a waste that would be solved with a notification LED. (I will probably make the irony in my previous post more obvious. I wanted a watch anyway.) And sure, lots of smartwatches are designed to be difficult to repair or even unusable after some time. But I intend to use this particular watch as long as possible. The battery usually lasts almost 4 weeks. And when the battery eventually dies (which I believe won’t be anytime soon), I can just unscrew 4 screws and replace it. (This still requires soldering, but it isn’t that hard.) Also if you don’t like Zepp, you can use Gadgetbridge.
I don’t know, you can try it out. FP4 actually has dual-tone flash, but I’m not sure if the individual LEDs can be accessed by 3rd party apps. The only time I’ve seen them turned on separately was during a hardware test.
If you want a long lasting smartwatch, then check the Gshock models. Some even have solar panels Some are a bit more expensive. But even the ones without a solar panel can last 2 years on one battery.
Well, I actually looked at some G-Shocks when I was choosing the watch, but IMO the prices are just insane for what they offer. Like way more than Fairphone-level insane. Don’t get me wrong, if you fancy things like 2 years of battery life, good for you. But other than that, they don’t have as many features. I could get PineTime (open-source smartwatch by PINE64) or Open-SmartWatch (another great open-source project) for a fraction of the price.
I tried to install it and it seems it flashes only once. Maybe it behaves differently for app notifications, as I only tried SMS, but I doubt it. So if you want a persistent notification indicator, you will probably have to use something else. There are many similar (but closed source apps) on Google Play. However, it should be relatively easy to do in Automate. The app itself isn’t open source, but all the scripts are. (For example this one or this one).
Thus, I reached out to fairphone support and asked them wheter this mention is true or false.
And actually, it’s true. the core module has a built-in LED:
Dear XYZ,
The core module houses an LED inside. But it is not in any way connected to the user experience. It is simply a part of the build of the core module and the motherboard which it contains.
If you have any further questions please let me know. I am happy to help!
Best regards
If the statement of the support is confirmed, there might be still a chance for other OSes to include this functionality - assuming, of course, that the LED is in the right position
This is interesting. But as you said, it will heavily depend on where the LED is actually located. I doubt it is visible through the screen/bezel. There are only cutouts for the selfie camera, the proximity sensor and the light sensor.
Well, I’m not so sure about this. The right one is definitely the light sensor. But it seems to me that both the left and middle ones are used for the proximity sensor.
Update: I tried hovering a needle over the left and middle cutouts. It seems to me that the proximity sensor reacts only to the middle one being covered. So it might be possible that the left one is actually a regular LED.
(Chill guys, that was irony. I wanted a watch mainly for the time. The notifications are the bonus.)
I wanted a watch anyway.) And sure, lots of smartwatches are designed to be difficult to repair or even unusable after some time. But I intend to use this particular watch as long as possible. The battery usually lasts almost 4 weeks. And when the battery eventually dies (which I believe won’t be anytime soon), I can just unscrew 4 screws and replace it. (This still requires soldering, but it isn’t that hard.) Also if you don’t like Zepp, you can use Gadgetbridge.
