How to have LED Light Notification?

Question

Update: I am reworking the original post for compatibility before Android 3.0.

I am trying to create a simple notification and everything but the light works great. I do have the screen off when the notification fires. Using this deprecated code sound and vibrations works on Android 4.0 (Galaxy Nexus) and Android 2.3 (HTC EVO).

• On the 2.3 HTC EVO the lights also work.

• On the 4.0 Galaxy Nexus the lights do not work.

  Notification notification = 
          new Notification(R.drawable.ic_launcher, "My Ticker!",System.currentTimeMillis());
  notification.setLatestEventInfo(context, "My Title", "My Message", pendingIntent);
  notification.defaults |= Notification.DEFAULT_SOUND;
  notification.defaults |= Notification.DEFAULT_VIBRATE;
  
  //notification.defaults |= Notification.DEFAULT_LIGHTS;
  
  notification.ledARGB = 0xff00ff00;
  notification.ledOnMS = 300;
  notification.ledOffMS = 1000;
  notification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_SHOW_LIGHTS;
  
  notification.flags |= Notification.FLAG_AUTO_CANCEL;
  

I have also tried newer APIs that are not part of the v4 compatibility library, so I could only test this on the Galaxy Nexus. Vibration and Sound works again but not lights.

Notification.Builder builder = new Notification.Builder(context);
        builder.setContentIntent(pendingIntent)
            .setSmallIcon(R.drawable.ic_launcher)
            .setTicker("My Ticker")
            .setWhen(System.currentTimeMillis())
            .setAutoCancel(true)
            .setDefaults(Notification.DEFAULT_VIBRATE | Notification.DEFAULT_SOUND | Notification.FLAG_SHOW_LIGHTS)
            .setLights(0xff00ff00, 300, 100)
            .setContentTitle("My Title 1")
            .setContentText("My Text 1");
        Notification notification = builder.getNotification();

I have now tested this on two stock Galaxy Nexus phones and the light works on neither. The screen IS off when I run the tests and all other apps on the phones trigger the lights without issue.

Answer 1

If you use setDefaults(DEFAULT_LIGHTS) or setDefaults(DEFAULT_ALL), it will ignore FLAG_SHOW_LIGHTS and any calls to setLights(). I found that on my phone, the defaults would not light up anything. So do not use DEFAULT_ALL or DEFAULT_LIGHTS, and play with the RGB color if necessary... although 0xff00ff00 should work in pretty much all cases.

Answer 2

Came across this today..if its still useful... Only certain notifications with a priority - HIGH,MAX will be able to cause the LED to glow, while those with lower priority LOW,MIN should not. Adding this should make the LED glow...

builder.setPriority(Notification.PRIORITY_MAX)