Searchlight

Switch on (and off) your device's LED by holding the Search button, no matter which application you're in.

Or, if you prefer (or have no hardware Search button), use the Searchlight shortcut to toggle the LED instead.

You can even switch off the screen whilst keeping the LED on. Just note that you won't be able to toggle the LED with the screen off — switch the screen on, unlock it if necessary, then hold Search or tap an icon.

Are you harvesting and selling off my personal data?

I don't request enough permissions to be able to do anything like that, even if I wanted to. Note in particular that no kind of communication (Bluetooth, NFC, WiFi) is required.

I go in to more detail about the exact permissions used in the Permissions section below.

This application is for giving you light so you can see what you're doing or where you're going. Nothing more, nothing less.

Making Searchlight the default search action:

To make Searchlight the default, simply hold Search, then tick the "Use by default for this action" checkbox, then select Searchlight. This means that you won't need to select Searchlight from a list when you next hold Search.

I don't want Searchlight to be the default search action any more:

If you want that Search selection to appear again, go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications > Searchlight > "Clear defaults" button. Then hold Search again and make a new selection. It will also reappear when the list of actions changes, for example you install or uninstall an app that has global search functionality.

What's that Searchlight service all about?

Searchlight uses a Service to keep the LED on whilst the device's screen switched off. You can kill it if you like, but you don't have to — it'll close itself when the LED is switched off.

Known issues:

• Only supports devices that implement the standard flash interface. If it doesn't work on your device, drop me an e-mail and I'll see if I can get it working.

• Don't open any application that uses the camera while Searchlight is on, such as Camera, Barcode Scanner, Shopper, etc. They probably won't work — just hold the Search button to switch off Searchlight, and re-open the broken app. I'll try and fix this if it's possible to.

• As above, don't open Searchlight whilst using an app that's using the camera. I can't guarantee what might happen!

Permissions:

• android.permission.CAMERA

Searchlight uses the camera's flash to light up the LED. I'm not taking any pictures, honest! And even if I were, I don't request any permissions that would allow me to transfer them anywhere. :)

• android.permission.WAKE_LOCK

Searchlight uses wake lock to keep the LED on when the screen switches off on devices that need it.