Blinky: Notification Light

Bring back the notification LED.

Phones used to have a little light that blinked when something was waiting for you. One glance across the room told you whether anything needed your attention, without picking the phone up and getting pulled into it. Blinky brings that light back.

When a notification arrives and the screen is off, Blinky wakes it to a black screen with a small light on it: a dot where the old LED used to be, a ring around your camera, or a glow around the edge of the screen. On an OLED display the black pixels stay off, so it looks and behaves like the hardware light it replaces. Clear the notification, or unlock the phone, and the light goes away.

FREE, FOR GOOD
• A notification dot in eight colours, placed wherever you like
• Size and brightness to suit your room
• Steady or blinking
• Choose which apps may light it up, and ignore ongoing notifications like music and navigation
• Stays dark in your pocket, and drifts slowly to protect an OLED screen

ONE-TIME UNLOCK
• Ring and edge shapes, traced around your camera or the whole screen
• Breathe, spectrum and wave effects
• A colour per app, cycling through whoever is waiting
• Any colour you like
• Quiet hours, so the light stays dark while you sleep
One payment, not a subscription. No account, no ads.

PRIVACY
Blinky reads which app posted a notification and nothing else: no titles, no messages. It makes no network requests, has no analytics and keeps no history. Your settings never leave your phone.

ACCESSIBILITY SERVICE
Blinky uses the Android AccessibilityService API for one optional feature, "Blink, then screen off". It is used only to turn the screen off after the light has blinked, the same way the power button does, so that fingerprint and face unlock keep working afterwards. Blinky does not use this service to collect, read, store or share any data: it cannot see what is on your screen, what you type or which apps you use. Blinky explains this and asks for your agreement before you turn the service on, the light works without it, and you can switch it off at any time in Settings, Permissions.

PERMISSIONS
• Notification access: to know that a notification arrived and which app posted it
• Notifications and full-screen notifications: so the light can open over the lock screen
• Unrestricted battery (optional): so your phone does not stop Blinky in the background
• Alarms and reminders (optional): so the light comes back exactly when you set it to
• Accessibility service (optional): to turn the screen off after a blink, as described above

Works best on phones with an OLED display. On an LCD the backlight lights the whole panel, so expect a dim grey screen and more battery use.