InspectCam™Android
How to keep the flashlight on while using the camera
The fix is a camera app that drives the light itself.
By , developer of InspectCam™ · Published · Last updated
On most Android phones the flashlight goes off when a camera app opens, because the camera takes exclusive control of the LED. Which phones differ, and how, is in the per-manufacturer section below. The fix is a camera app that drives the light itself rather than relying on the system flashlight. Switching to video mode also keeps the light on in most stock camera apps.
You turn the flashlight on from the quick settings panel. You open the camera to photograph whatever you're looking at. The light goes out. Turn it back on and it goes out again, or the toggle simply refuses to respond while the camera is running.
This is not a fault with your phone, and it is not something you have configured wrongly. It is how both Android and iOS arbitrate access to the LED, and it has worked this way for about a decade. Here is what's actually happening and what genuinely fixes it.
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Why Android turns the flashlight off
The LED next to your rear camera is not a separate torch. It is the camera's flash unit, and it belongs to the camera hardware. Android exposes it two different ways, and the two ways do not cooperate.
- Torch mode is what the quick settings toggle uses. It asks the system to hold the flash unit on, independently of any photograph.
- Flash mode is what a camera app uses. It fires the LED as part of taking a picture.
When an app opens the camera, it takes control of that camera device, including its flash unit. Android's own documentation is explicit about the consequence: torch mode is turned off and becomes unavailable when the camera device the flash unit belongs to becomes unavailable, or when the camera resources needed to keep the torch on are taken by higher-priority camera activity. Opening the camera app is exactly that.
Source: Android developer reference, CameraManager.setTorchMode().
So the sequence is: your flashlight holds the LED, the camera app opens and claims the camera, and the system drops your torch to hand the hardware over. The camera app then decides what the LED does, and most stock camera apps only offer flash-at-capture for photos, not continuous light.
The obvious workaround (set flash to "on" and take the shot) produces a photo, but it doesn't let you see. You're aiming a camera into a dark space with no preview of what's in there, firing blind and inspecting the result afterwards.
It also can't solve the problem people most often describe: the shadow cast by their own hand and phone. Continuous light lets you move the phone until the shadow is out of the way. A flash that fires at the instant of capture gives you no chance to adjust.
What works and what doesn't
Every approach people try, and whether it actually gives you a live view with the light held on.
| What you try | Live view with light? | What actually happens |
|---|---|---|
| Flashlight from quick settings, then open the camera | No | The camera claims the flash unit and the system drops your torch. |
| Open the camera first, then pull down quick settings | No | The toggle is usually greyed out, or switches itself straight back off. |
| Set the stock camera's flash to "On" | No | Fires only at the moment of capture. You still can't see beforehand. |
| Stock camera, switch to video mode | Usually | Video mode offers continuous light on most phones. Works, but you're in video. |
| A camera app that drives the light itself | Yes | One app owns both, so there's no conflict to lose. The reliable answer. |
| Two apps in split-screen | No | Still two apps contending for one flash unit. The conflict is unchanged. |
| Rebooting, clearing cache, reinstalling | No | Nothing is broken. This is designed behaviour, not a fault. |
Aiming in the dark is the real problem
The table above says a flash "fires only at the moment of capture", which sounds like a technicality. In a dark cavity it is the whole difficulty.
A flash lights one instant: the one where the shutter opens. Everything before it, finding the thing, framing it, deciding what you want sharp, happens in the dark, and you don't see the result until the picture already exists. So you shoot, look, adjust, shoot again.
A light that stays on puts the steps back in their normal order: see the spot, tap it to focus, then take the picture. It is the sequence you would use in daylight, and it is the practical reason to want continuous light rather than a brighter flash. InspectCam™ keeps its light on through the photo itself, which we've checked on a Pixel 6a. The guide to keeping the flash on while taking a picture goes through it step by step.
The video-mode trick
If you don't want to install anything, this is the workaround that costs nothing.
- Open your normal camera app.
- Switch to video mode.
- Turn the flash on. In video mode it becomes a continuous light rather than a flash.
- You now have a live view with the LED held on. Take a still by grabbing a frame, or just use it to look.
The catches are real. You're in video mode, so the still-photo controls are gone and any frame you extract is at video resolution rather than full sensor resolution. Some camera apps drop the light again when you stop recording. And on a few phones the video light is dimmer than full torch output.
For a quick look under a sink it's completely adequate. For anything you need to document properly, it isn't.
If the video itself is what you're after, turning on the flashlight while recording video covers where the switch is on each phone and how to film a dark space so it shows.
If it's still photos you're after, the guide to keeping the flash on while taking a picture covers why flash mode only lights the photo, why it blinks twice, and how to aim in the dark.
Using a camera app that holds the light
The durable fix is to stop having two things fight over one LED. If a single app opens the camera and drives the flash unit, there is no conflict, because there is no second claimant. The light stays on because nothing else is competing for it.
This is what a camera app can do that the system flashlight cannot, and it's why the answer to this question is always "use a different camera app" rather than "change a setting".
What to look for:
- A light that stays on, not a flash. The app should hold the LED continuously in photo mode, not only during video.
- A live preview while the light is on. This is the entire point: seeing before you shoot.
- The screen not sleeping. If the display times out while you're holding the phone into a gap, you lose the light with it.
InspectCam™ is built for this: it holds the LED on with a live camera view, for seeing into dark, tight spaces, and it keeps the screen awake while you use it. It's free for the light, the live view, photos and video. Android users can install it from Google Play.
What people use it for
The jobs this comes up in most, and what each one needs from the app:
- Reading something you can't get your eyes on — a model number on the back of an appliance, the labels in a dark breaker box. You need the light on while you read the screen, and a zoom preset to get close.
- Finding what fell behind the furniture — down the back of a sofa, a drawer, a car seat. You need to look, not to photograph, so a live view with the light on is the whole job.
- Filming something to show someone — the drip under the sink, the cables behind the TV before you unplug them. You need the light held for the length of a short video.
More of them, with the places they come up, are on the home page. If you do this for work, see who InspectCam™ is for, or the page for home inspectors.
Samsung, Pixel and Xiaomi differences
The underlying behaviour is the same everywhere, but the details vary.
Samsung Galaxy
Samsung's camera app offers a continuous light in video mode, and the quick-settings torch reliably drops when the camera opens. Older Galaxy models let a flashlight widget hold the LED through a camera launch; that stopped working on newer ones, which is why long-time Samsung owners are often the most surprised by this.
Google Pixel
Pixel behaves the same way. Worth knowing separately: Pixels sometimes get stuck reporting "flashlight camera in use" with both the torch and the camera unavailable, usually after an app crashed while holding the camera. That's a genuine stuck state rather than the normal conflict. A reboot clears it.
Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO
These have a documented history of the torch turning off unexpectedly while the camera is active, including cases where the system still reports it as on. If your light dies a moment after a capture rather than when the app opens, that's this, and toggling the torch off and on again is the usual recovery.
On iPhone
The same thing happens, for the same reason. On an iPhone the flashlight and the camera flash are one LED, so opening the Camera app switches the torch off. Apple treats this as intended behaviour rather than a fault, and there is no setting that changes it.
There is one iPhone-specific cause worth knowing, because it looks like a bug. A slight leftward swipe on the lock screen triggers the camera shortcut, and that is enough to kill the flashlight even if the camera never fully opens. People report their torch switching off "by itself" in a pocket or a bag for exactly this reason.
To stop it on iOS 26.1 or later: Settings → Camera, scroll to the bottom, and turn off Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera. Stray touches can no longer take your light out.
Beyond that, the options are the same as on Android: use video mode for a continuous light, or use a camera app that holds the LED itself. InspectCam™ is coming to iPhone.
Using a borescope with your phone?
If you're doing this because you're inspecting something awkward, a borescope may suit you better than the phone's own camera. On Android, plug it into InspectCam™. Works with: Klein Tools ET16 (tested). Most scopes sold on Amazon won't work. If a scope isn't being detected, the troubleshooting page works through the causes in order. On iPhone, start with why USB borescopes don't work there.
Questions people ask
Why does my flashlight turn off when I open the camera?
Because the LED is the camera's flash unit, not a separate torch. When a camera app opens the camera device, it takes control of the flash along with it, and Android drops the torch to hand the hardware over. It's designed behaviour, not a fault with your phone.
How do I use the camera and flashlight at the same time on Android?
Either switch your camera app to video mode, where the flash becomes a continuous light, or use a camera app that holds the LED on itself. A single app controlling both means there's no conflict for the system to resolve.
Can I keep the flashlight on while taking a picture?
Not with the system flashlight and the stock camera app together. Setting flash to "On" fires the LED only at the moment of capture, so you still can't see what you're aiming at. For continuous light you need video mode or a camera app that drives the light directly.
Why is the flashlight toggle greyed out when the camera is open?
The camera app currently owns the flash unit, so the system won't let a second thing claim it. Close the camera app and the toggle becomes available again.
Does the same thing happen on iPhone?
Yes, and for the same reason: the flashlight and the camera flash are the same LED, so opening the Camera app turns the torch off. On iPhone there is also a lock-screen swipe shortcut that opens the camera and kills the flashlight without you meaning to. On iOS 26.1 or later, turn off Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera in Settings under Camera to stop it.
Did this used to work on older Android phones?
On some devices, yes. Older phones let a flashlight widget hold the LED through a camera launch. Android's handling of torch mode was formalised in Android 6.0, and since then the camera reliably wins the conflict.
Does turning flash to "On" do the same thing?
No. Flash fires for a fraction of a second as the shutter operates. It lights the photograph but not the preview, so you're aiming blind, and it can't help you move the phone to get your own shadow out of the shot.
Why are my photos in the dark hard to aim?
Because a flash only lights the instant the picture is taken. Framing the shot and choosing what to focus on both happen before that instant, in the dark, so you find out what you photographed after the fact. With a light that stays on you can see the spot, tap to focus on it, and then take the picture.
If your phone behaves differently from what's described here, tell us the model and what it does. Device-specific behaviour is exactly what this page should record.
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