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Forum Thread

Anyone ever seen a USB phone notification LED

1,016 248 August 3, 2022 at 06:48 PM
I don't keep my phone with me around the house because the reception in the house is lousy and I don't always grab it if I'm just going out to check the mail. But it's way too easy to forget to check it all the time and miss a work text and I really miss the old blinking LED on the home button. I tried using Samsung Dex so I at least have a flashing taskbar button I'm more likely to see, but it keeps randomly crashing and turns the phone screen on despite doing all the recommended 'change the keyboard to monitor only in multiple setting locations'. I don't want to have to sign up for accounts to use things like Link To Windows. I just want a simple solution, but the only thing I've found is an indi go go called NotiMe that was asking way too much to start with and went nowhere. I know there's apps that basically put a moving dot on the screen, but most of them have pretty bad reviews for eating batteries, likely due to ad tracking in the background. And I've heard it's not really good for the screen.

You'd think someone would have made something like this by now though. Just a low power old style 5mm LED. Doesn't even have to be a fancy RGB one for people who want a different color whether it's text/vm/other app.
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FenrirCo
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> bubble2 7,397 Posts
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jkee
08-03-2022 at 10:12 PM.
08-03-2022 at 10:12 PM.
Quote from FenrirCo :
I don't keep my phone with me around the house because the reception in the house is lousy and I don't always grab it if I'm just going out to check the mail. But it's way too easy to forget to check it all the time and miss a work text and I really miss the old blinking LED on the home button. I tried using Samsung Dex so I at least have a flashing taskbar button I'm more likely to see, but it keeps randomly crashing and turns the phone screen on despite doing all the recommended 'change the keyboard to monitor only in multiple setting locations'. I don't want to have to sign up for accounts to use things like Link To Windows. I just want a simple solution, but the only thing I've found is an indi go go called NotiMe that was asking way too much to start with and went nowhere. I know there's apps that basically put a moving dot on the screen, but most of them have pretty bad reviews for eating batteries, likely due to ad tracking in the background. And I've heard it's not really good for the screen.

You'd think someone would have made something like this by now though. Just a low power old style 5mm LED. Doesn't even have to be a fancy RGB one for people who want a different color whether it's text/vm/other app.
There are a number of apps that have potential to help you do this. See:
https://www.androidauthority.com/...d-3024941/
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/aut...martphone/

You could potentially do things like forward sms to another messaging platform or trigger a home automation system to do something like change the color or a light bulb/bar/strip, echo glow, or push an announcement out of an Echo or Google Home. Some other "glue" in the form of home automation software / hardware may be required depending on how you do it. There actually used to be some purpose built hardware that could display stuff like this, but demand / profit weren't there and the products don't exist / may not work anymore.

There's also google's messages for web https://messages.google.com/web/ with the option of enabling push notifications in chrome. It has it's flaws but is one of the simpler options.

There are a number of other software options that try to sync things with your phone:
Here's a list of some (Note: Some of these have had significant security issues in the past): https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-b...ushbullet/
https://kdeconnect.kde.org/ could be an interesting option
https://pushover.net/ also has potential and isn't in the list above
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Last edited by jkee August 4, 2022 at 03:25 PM.
Joined Jun 2005
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
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komondor
08-04-2022 at 06:22 AM.
08-04-2022 at 06:22 AM.
Maybe a smart watch would work best?
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jkee
08-04-2022 at 03:27 PM.
08-04-2022 at 03:27 PM.
Quote from komondor :
Maybe a smart watch would work best?
Well that's an obvious solution laugh out loud

The challenge is can you get a smart watch that doesn't sell data about your sleep and activity to someone.
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Joined May 2009
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FenrirCo
08-04-2022 at 11:17 PM.
08-04-2022 at 11:17 PM.
Quote from jkee :
Well that's an obvious solution laugh out loud

The challenge is can you get a smart watch that doesn't sell data about your sleep and activity to someone.
Yeah I have zero interest in a smartwatch, though I guess I could just leave it in front of the keyboard.

I just wish there was an easy way not to miss notifications. The blinking home button was always obvious. Then they gradually removed them even from the flagships. I just wish there was a cheap $5-10 gadget you could plug into the USB-C port and blink. Or a $15-20 Bluetooth sync (hmm, I wonder if there is any way to make a Bluetooth speaker do this). Or a better way to hook the phone up to the PC and have it pop up notifications. Samsung DeX was the best option because it doesn't require a Samsung Account and it has the option to work via USB, but it keeps randomly turning the phone screen on and also crashes all the time. Link to Windows requires a Microsoft Account, which annoys me, and I think only works over wi-fi (for various reasons, the phone stays off of the house wi-fi network).
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Joined Jun 2005
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
> bubble2 8,742 Posts
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komondor
08-05-2022 at 06:20 AM.
08-05-2022 at 06:20 AM.
you could sign up for the tax only OOMA or google voice and just forward your number at home.
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Joined Aug 2005
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> bubble2 2,606 Posts
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EyeBaller
08-05-2022 at 08:30 AM.
08-05-2022 at 08:30 AM.
What phone is it? Everything in the last few years has the option to turn on the always on display for new notifications. So if the screen is on you have a notification.. Look in the "Always on Display" settings menu.
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FenrirCo
08-05-2022 at 12:29 PM.
08-05-2022 at 12:29 PM.
Quote from EyeBaller :
What phone is it? Everything in the last few years has the option to turn on the always on display for new notifications. So if the screen is on you have a notification.. Look in the "Always on Display" settings menu.
Thanks, this one is my best bet for now. I wish it had its own list of which apps to notify, since I only want missed calls and texts, and not less-critical alerts from other apps, but at least it's a "built in" so it's somewhat optimized for the display and battery and isn't some terrible ad infested thing like most of the third party ones. I'd still rather have a tiny, bright LED blink that I can see from across the room. There's gotta be a relatively basic way to do this, but I'm not good at programming and I'm sure the LED itself would need to have a control board as well.

Now to find an alternative to Rocket Player. Ad banners and less features on the free version is one thing. Youtube-style 'tap to skip' videos that can lock up the app while I'm driving is a step too far.
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Joined Aug 2005
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EyeBaller
08-08-2022 at 07:13 AM.
08-08-2022 at 07:13 AM.
Quote from FenrirCo :
Thanks, this one is my best bet for now. I wish it had its own list of which apps to notify, since I only want missed calls and texts, and not less-critical alerts from other apps, but at least it's a "built in" so it's somewhat optimized for the display and battery and isn't some terrible ad infested thing like most of the third party ones. I'd still rather have a tiny, bright LED blink that I can see from across the room. There's gotta be a relatively basic way to do this, but I'm not good at programming and I'm sure the LED itself would need to have a control board as well.

Now to find an alternative to Rocket Player. Ad banners and less features on the free version is one thing. Youtube-style 'tap to skip' videos that can lock up the app while I'm driving is a step too far.
If those apps are less critical you can set them to silent notification, so it doesn't trigger. Just long press the notification and change it there.

I too miss the multicolor notification LEDs.

What does rocketplayer have that vlc or pulsar don't?
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Joined May 2009
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Original Poster
FenrirCo
08-08-2022 at 02:17 PM.
08-08-2022 at 02:17 PM.
Quote from EyeBaller :
If those apps are less critical you can set them to silent notification, so it doesn't trigger. Just long press the notification and change it there.

I too miss the multicolor notification LEDs.

What does rocketplayer have that vlc or pulsar don't?
I do want the notification on the lock screen, just not the Always On Display screen. I have Aliexpress, for instance, on silent but it still triggers Always On. Maybe someone on the Samsung UI beta can suggest to give it its own list of exclusions.

I always think of VLC as a video more than an audio player, but I haven't actually seen the Android version. I'll have to try both of those.
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