InspectCam™

Android and iPhone

How to turn on the flashlight while recording video

Skip the flashlight tile. Open your camera, switch to Video, set the flash to On (not Auto), and hit record.

Get InspectCam™ freeFree on Android, no ads. Opens with the light already on.
InspectCam in VIDEO mode on an Android phone, held up to an open stud bay at the electrical rough-in: blue boxes on the studs with cable looped out of them, the nearest box brightest in the phone’s light. The red record button is ready and Light on is lit at the bottom left.
InspectCam™ in an open wall: the light’s on before you hit record. Photo: “IMG_0110.JPG” by Ben Loomis, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, cropped, edges darkened, and shown as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

By Andre Gaz, developer of InspectCam™ · Published · Last updated

Your flashlight goes out when the camera opens, because they share one LED. The camera’s own flash, set to On in Video, is the light you want: on phones whose camera offers it, it stays lit while you record. Same on iPhone: Video, Flash On, record.

You’re at the attic hatch, or flat on your back under a sink, and you want to show someone what you’re looking at. So you turn on the flashlight, open the camera, and the light goes out. That’s normal, and the light you want is inside the camera app.

Jump to

How to use the flashlight while recording video

This works in the camera app that came with your phone. Nothing to install.

  1. Open the camera and switch to Video. Do this first. In Photo mode, On usually means one flash at the shot, not a steady light.
  2. Find the flash control. It’s usually a lightning bolt. On some phones it sits in a menu, and some show a light icon in Video instead. The brand notes below say where.
  3. Pick On, not Auto. Auto leaves it to the camera, and the camera may decide it’s bright enough when it isn’t.
  4. Press record. On some phones the light comes on as soon as you pick On. Some camera apps lock the flash once you’re rolling, so set it first.
Close-up of the back of an Android phone in low light: two camera lenses and, below them, the small frosted window of the LED.
The video light is this small LED beside the lenses. Hold the phone so your fingers stay clear of it. Photo: Akshay / Unsplash

When you leave Video mode or close the camera, the light goes off. If what you really want is a light for photos, the video-mode trick and the guide to keeping the flash on while taking a picture cover that.

Why the flashlight goes out when you open the camera

Your flashlight is the camera’s flash. When the camera opens, it takes the LED back and the flashlight shuts off. In stock Android the Flashlight tile grays out and says Camera in use; on other brands it may just flip off. Nothing’s broken. Android does it on purpose.

Flashlight tile, then camera

A phone under a sink with a plain camera app open: the pipes, valves and a plastic tub are barely visible in a dark, grainy picture, with Photo and Video and a white shutter button at the bottom.

InspectCam™, light on

The same view under the sink in InspectCam with the light on: braided supply hoses, two chrome shut-off valves, the drain opening in the wall and a blue plastic tub, all clearly lit, with Light on lit at the bottom left.
Flashlight on, then the camera: the light goes out and you’re looking at the dark (left). An app that turns the light on itself keeps it lit (right). Photo: “mid-repair of a broken pipe” by rick, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, cropped, a price sticker removed; on the left darkened under plain camera controls (not any maker’s app), on the right shown as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frames: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

Inside Video mode it’s different. The camera app owns the LED, so it can run it as a steady light while it records. The long version: why Android turns the flashlight off.

Where the video light is on Samsung, Pixel and others

Where the switch lives changes from brand to brand, and menus move between versions.

From each maker’s help pages, plus owner reports where marked.

PhoneWhere the video light is
Samsung GalaxyVideo, then Flash. On recent models it’s in Quick controls, the four dots below the viewfinder; on older ones the controls run along the top (Samsung’s camera guide). Owners on Samsung’s forums report it stays on while recording.
Google PixelVideo, then the camera settings, opened from the bottom left. In recent versions you swipe up on the viewfinder (Google’s video help).
MotorolaVideo, then the video light icon, before you tap record (Motorola’s video help).
Xiaomi, Redmi, POCOTap the flash icon and pick the type that stays “always on” (Xiaomi’s camera help, which describes it for photos). An owner on XDA’s forums reports no way to switch the light while recording on a HyperOS phone.

Samsung has a low-light setting worth knowing for dark spaces. Samsung describes Auto FPS as recording brighter videos in low light by adjusting the frame rate. Its Pro Video mode lets you set the exposure yourself while you film.

If your camera app has no flash control in Video at all, you can’t fix that from settings. You need a camera app that turns the light on itself, like InspectCam™ (below).

If your phone does something different, tell us the model and what it does.

Turning on the flashlight while recording on iPhone

Same story. Apple says the iPhone’s LED flash doubles as its flashlight, so the Control Center flashlight goes out when Camera opens. Set the light inside Camera instead:

  1. Open Camera and swipe to Video.
  2. Find Flash. Depending on your iOS version it’s a button at the top of the screen, or in the camera controls you open by tapping the controls button or swiping up from the mode names.
  3. Set it to On, not Auto. If a tap only switches between Off and Auto, try a press and hold on the Flash button.
  4. Then press record. The light should stay on for the take.
An iPhone held up at dusk showing its lock screen, with the flashlight button at the bottom left and the camera button at the bottom right.
Turn the flashlight on here, open Camera, and it goes out. Set Flash to On in Video mode instead. Photo: Nils Benyamin / Unsplash, cropped

Three iPhone settings help in a dark space, all from Apple’s video settings guide under Settings, then Camera, then Record Video:

Before you record, touch and hold on the spot you care about until AE/AF Lock appears. That fixes the focus and brightness there. Set Flash before you start; you may not be able to change it once you’re rolling. The InspectCam™ iPhone app is coming soon.

Filming a dark space so someone else can see it

Getting the light on is half of it. The other half is a clip the homeowner, the office or the GC can follow without you there to explain it.

An attic hatch slid open in a ceiling, with pink fiberglass insulation behind it.The attic
A crawl space with black plastic over the ground, standing water on it, and insulation between the joists above.The crawl space
Under a kitchen sink: braided supply lines and a black drain hose running up to the cabinet floor.Under the sink
The back of a wall-mounted TV lit by a phone light: a column of colored audio and video ports and an HDMI port.Behind the TV
Deep in an engine bay: hoses, a metal bracket and a sticker on a part, lit by the phone light.The engine bay
An open stud wall before the drywall: a washer box with its two valves, white drain pipes and red and white supply lines running through the studs.Inside a wall
Six places you’ll film in the dark. Each one has its own trouble: shiny pipes, a far side the light can’t reach, or no room to hold still. Photos: under the sink, behind the TV and the engine bay, from InspectCam™ screenshots; the attic, “Clever attic hatch” by BillSmith_03303, and the crawl space, “crawlspace” by ssukotash, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr (attic, crawl space); inside a wall, “Plumbing for laundry is roughed in.” by shister, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr; all cropped

Close is bright, far is dark

A phone LED is small. Whatever is a foot away looks great. Whatever is across the crawl space stays black. Don’t try to light a whole attic from the hatch. Film the near part, move, and film the next part. If you can’t get closer, say so on the clip: “Can’t light the back corner from here.”

InspectCam on an Android phone looking into a crawl space with Light on lit: the white drain pipe, ductwork and block piers up close are bright, and the back of the crawl space behind the piers is already dark.
The pipe and the piers up close are lit. Behind them it’s already dark. Film the near part, then move in. Photo: “HVAC crawl space” by Jesus Rodriguez (jmrodri), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, cropped and shown as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

Tilt off shiny things

The LED sits right next to the lens, so chrome, copper, foil-faced insulation, standing water and the glossy back of a TV throw it straight back into the lens. You get a white streak right where the problem is. Tilt the phone a little until the shine slides off the spot you need. In InspectCam™ you can also dim the light, on phones that support it. Back off and zoom in rather than pushing the lens up against it.

InspectCam in VIDEO mode on an Android phone, aimed at two copper pipes in an opened wall, with bright streaks of reflected light running down each pipe. Light on is lit at the bottom left and the red record button is in the middle.
Copper pipes in an open wall. See the bright streak down each pipe? Tilt until it slides off the joint you’re showing. Photo: Kelsey Todd / Unsplash, as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

Move to see behind things

The light comes from where the lens is, so anything behind a pipe, a joist or a hose sits in its shadow. The hatch lip and your own hand throw hard edges too. If the drip is behind the trap, a straight-on shot won’t show it. Come at it from the side.

Brace the phone, focus, then pan slowly

Rest the phone or your wrist on something solid: the hatch frame, a joist, the cabinet floor. Tap to focus on the problem before you press record. Then pan slowly, and when you reach the problem, stop and hold it for a few seconds. Fast pans in low light turn into blur.

Say what you’re looking at

Name the room, the fixture and what’s wrong: “Kitchen sink, left side, the slip nut under the disposal is dripping.” Talk while you film. The mic is right there with you, so you don’t have to shout. Anything the phone’s speaker is playing ends up in the clip, so turn music down before you talk.

One problem per clip

Short clips are easier to watch and easier to send. Long videos are big files, and many messaging apps shrink them or won’t take them. Three twenty-second clips beat one three-minute walk-around. Trim the dead seconds at the start and end before you send it.

Watch the heat on long takes

The LED, the camera and the screen all heat the phone, and attics and engine bays are hot already. Phones protect themselves. Google’s help for Pixel says a phone that gets too warm may switch off the camera’s flash, or the camera itself. Keep takes short and give the phone a minute between clips.

The faster way: an app that opens with the light on

The stock way works, but you’re digging through menus with one hand while the other holds you up in a crawl space. And the flashlight you used to find the leak goes out the second the camera opens. I build InspectCam™ to fix that: it opens with the light already on, so you find the leak first, then record.

  1. Open it. The camera is live and the light is on. There’s no flash menu to find.
  2. Point at the problem and tap to focus on it. Pinch, or tap the wide and close presets your phone supports, to get close. Set focus and zoom before you record.
  3. Tap VIDEO, then the red button. The light stays on while you record.
  4. Stop, and send it from your gallery. Photos and videos go straight to your gallery, in their own InspectCam™ folder.

Focus and zoom first

InspectCam zoomed to 2x on white drain pipes and yellow cable under the floor joists of a crawl space, with the 2x and focus lock chips at the top and Light on lit.

Then record

InspectCam in VIDEO mode looking across plastic sheeting on a crawl space floor toward a block wall, with Light on lit and the red record button.
In a crawl space with the light on: zoomed in with focus locked (left), then in video mode, ready to record (right). Photos: “HVAC crawl space” by Jesus Rodriguez (jmrodri), CC BY 2.0, via Flickr (left) and “Crawl Space” by Krystle, www.homejobsbymom.com, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr (right), cropped and shown as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

Touch lock: turn it on before you crawl in, and a sleeve or a wet glove can’t tap the light off.

Get InspectCam™ free on Google Play. The light, the live view, photos and video are all free.

Other things that help on video

Explain it on camera while you film

Point at the leak and explain it in the same clip. Dual records the back camera with your face in a small window, on phones that support it. Most phones have no LED on the front, so in a dark attic your face in the small window stays dark. Here’s how to film the job and explain it in one video, and why some phones can’t run both cameras.

InspectCam in VIDEO mode with both cameras on in an attic: the rear camera, with Light on lit, shows rafters and pink insulation between the joists, and the front-camera window at the bottom left is dark.
Both cameras in a dark attic. The rear camera has the phone’s light; the front camera’s window stays dark. Photo: “The R11 attic insulation” by Ryan McFarland, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr, cropped and shown as the camera view in InspectCam™’s own screen, controls from an earlier version. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

A video update with your face lit

Recording a video update for the customer? Flip to the front camera and the screen turns white to light your face. Slide the Screen light bar to dim it. The front camera usually has no flash of its own, so lighting your face for video covers the rest.

InspectCam on the front camera in video mode: the screen is white around a small window showing a worker in a hard hat and safety glasses.
On the front camera the white screen is the light, and the camera view is the small window. Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels, shown as the camera view in a real InspectCam™ screenshot from our test phone, from an earlier version, in front of the same photo, blurred and darkened. Phone frame: Android Studio device art (Apache 2.0).

Where the phone won’t fit

Inside a wall cavity or behind an appliance, plug a USB borescope into your phone. If InspectCam™ can show it, you see the scope’s picture, and take photos and video. Works with: Klein Tools ET16 (tested). Tested and doesn’t work: DEPSTECH NTC55, Bazo DN200 and a scope sold as “Industrial scope W400”; they only work with their maker’s app. Most scopes sold on Amazon won’t work. The works-with list has the details, and borescope troubleshooting covers a scope that won’t show.

A level on the live camera

Turn on the level and it sits on the live camera with the light on, so you can check a mounted TV or a deck while you’re there. It’s a rough check, not for code or safety.

Proof of when and where Pro · Coming soon

With Pro, your photos and videos carry the date and time, plus the address and GPS when you allow location, in one thin line, so when a customer asks months later, it’s on the picture. Pro is coming soon. Dual videos carry no stamp.

Filming for TikTok or a night out instead? Here’s how to record video with the flashlight on at night.

Questions people ask

Can you use the flashlight while recording video?

Yes, but not with the quick-settings flashlight. Use the camera’s own flash: switch to Video, set the flash to On, then record. On phones whose camera offers it, the light stays on while you record. Or use a camera app that turns the light on itself, like InspectCam™.

Why does my flashlight turn off when I start recording?

The flashlight and the camera flash are the same LED. When a camera app opens, it takes the LED, and the flashlight switches off. In stock Android the Flashlight tile grays out and reads “Camera in use”. On iPhone, the flashlight also goes out when Camera opens. Turn the light on from inside the camera instead.

How do I turn on the flashlight while recording on iPhone?

Open Camera, swipe to Video and set Flash to On, not Auto. Depending on your iOS version, Flash is at the top of the screen or in the camera controls you open by swiping up from the mode names. Do it before you press record. The Control Center flashlight goes out when Camera opens, so it won’t help.

Can I turn the light on or off in the middle of a video?

It depends on the phone and the app. Some let you tap the flash while recording. Some hide or lock it once the take starts, so changing it isn’t always possible. The safe way is to set the light before you press record. To change it, stop, change it, and start a new clip.

Why is my video still dark with the flash on?

A phone LED only reaches a few feet, and a big space swallows it. Get closer, film big spaces in sections, and hold still on the problem for a few seconds.

Why did the light go off by itself during a long video?

Usually heat. Google says a Pixel that gets too warm may switch off the camera’s flash, or the camera. Keep takes short. In InspectCam™, the light turns off if the phone gets very hot, and the video keeps recording. Once it cools, tap the light to turn it back on.

How do I film a dark attic or crawl space so the customer can see it?

Get the light on before you go in, then work close: a phone’s light reaches a few feet, not across the whole space. Rest your wrist on a joist, tap the problem to focus, and hold on it for a few seconds while you say what it is. Film a big space in sections, one problem per clip. More in filming a dark space so someone else can see it.