If you accidentally turn on your iPhone flashlight, you are not alone – The Post

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There are two types of iPhone users. Those who inadvertently activate the flashlight and keep it with the light on in their pockets, and those who wonder why it happens to them.

According to Sarah Andrew Wilson, reader of the Washington Post and entrepreneur in the digital world, the responsibility lies partly in the pockets, and in particular in the absence of pockets in women’s clothing. Having nowhere to quickly store her iPhone, she happens to constantly swipe the screen with one hand while she does something else, and so she presses the flashlight button in the lower left corner of the screen.

«I feel judged in silence. Anyone looking at me will think that I don’t know how to use my phone. But I work on it with technology! I know how to use it! I’m a early adopterSays Wilson, who is 47 years old. “So it’s necessarily a limitation of Apple’s design.”
Wilson is not alone. Dozens of readers, and even more Twitter users, even young people as young as 22, say they have problems with the flashlight.

The flashlight key has been shown on the iPhone lock screen for several years. It is located on the opposite side of an almost identical button that activates the camera, and turns on the light with a slight press. And the flashlight turned on inadvertently can drain your phone’s battery, dazzle someone, or just be embarrassing (our tips on how to take less risk are at the bottom of the article). Apple declined to comment on the matter.

To trace the cause of the problem, I asked people to show me how they picked up and put away the phone. Those who have no problems with the flashlight are those who are careful not to touch the glass, taking care to hold the smartphone by the edges, as is done with CDs. Most iPhone owners who happen to turn on the light grab the phone from above and below, like it’s not a large piece of touch-sensitive glass.

The problem seems to affect all age groups. Tori Daniels, 25, says she has inadvertently turned on the flashlight for years: recently walking into a dark room she realized that her iPhone in her back pocket was lighting up. According to Daniels, more than a user error is a problem with the positioning of the buttons by Apple. “It’s comparable to when you have your zipper down. The embarrassment is relative. It’s more of a thing that makes you say, “Oh my God, but how many more times has this happened to me?” ”Daniels says.

Zain Jaffer, 34, doesn’t like being told by strangers that he has a flashlight on. “It seems to me that most of them say this in a condescending tone. They scapicollano to tell me “Excuse me sir … you have the torch on” and then walk away with a pleased smile. I experience it a bit like the equivalent of when you drive and you honk your horn ».

Drew Turner, 40, doesn’t think people judge him if he’s got the light on, but it still bothers him if they tell him something. He keeps his phone in his back pocket, often unknowingly shining his flashlight at everyone. “It seems like my problem alone, as it doesn’t seem to happen to everyone. But I don’t understand what I do differently, “he says.

The issue of inadvertently doing things on cell phones has a rich history, starting with the familiar calling match by mistake. Calling someone unwittingly hasn’t happened that often since they invented the screen lock. But now we activate other things on our smartphones. Divya Goel, 25, says the torch is a widespread problem in her group of friends. But the flashlight doesn’t bother her as much as her video camera, which she once recorded an entire 10-minute conversation from her pocket. “This is a little more disturbing,” she says. Another common problem among iPhone owners is the accidental activation of emergency SOS, which can occur by holding the side button for too long.

The flashlight turned on by mistake, however, seems to put most people in difficulty, perhaps because the consequence is so visible. Many hate the sensitivity of the command to such an extent that they have devised personal methods to turn off the light: some bypass the screen entirely and use Siri to turn it off (“Hey, Siri, turn off the flashlight”). To quickly deactivate the flashlight, Michael Wong, 29, founder of a virtual reality start-up, activates the camera. “I swipe a little to the right and the flashlight goes out. It’s much easier to swipe a little to the right than to hold down the flashlight button, ”he suggests.

Solutions to turn on the flashlight less

• Change the required pressure: Go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Haptic Touch. Set the duration of the tap to “Long”.
• Disable “Tap to activate”: Go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch. Disable the feature Touch to activate.
• Disable “Raise to wake”: Go to Settings → Display and brightness. Disable the feature Raise to activate.
• Hold your cell phone differently: always grab the phone by the sides and act as if the screen is always on.
• Get an iPhone wallet case – they come in hard versions that cover the screen preventing immediate access to its features.

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(translation by Sara Reggiani)